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5000 watt Power Inverter

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34K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  Seven-Delta-FortyOne  
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#1 ·
I need a higher watt power generator for film. The biggest problems with power generators though is that they are very loud (nixes sync-sound) and hard to load onto a cargo van without a ramp. I was surprised to see that power inverters that I could mount in side the van (a Ford e-350) go up to 5000 watts, and are quite cheap... some brand called AIMS is only $419.

Has anyone ever used these? It almost seems too good to be true. 5000 watts is allot of juice and I'm skeptical that a car battery could pump that out.
 
W
#2 ·
I use a 2k watt 4k surge invertor in my enclosed trailer for charging batteries, running a laptop and small power tools. When it was in my last truck i could run a 13amp circ. saw as long as the truck was idling. You have to run the proper size wire recommended for it and a good size alternator too. Right now the invertor runs off a 770cca marine battery that gets recharged off the truck through the trailer harness. I had trouble with the fuses blowing in the truck for the power circuit so i installed a 30amp breaker instead. This way the invertor can draw up to 30 amps off the truck but will automatically kick off and reset itself so there is no wire harness damage. The invertor will also shut itself down if you pull to much wattage off it. I bought it through Harbor Freight for $149, well worth the money in my book. :thumbsup:
 
M
#3 · (Edited)
You're going to fry your alternator if you don't upgrade it when you hook up the bigger inverters. A 5000 watt is huge. You absolutely need a dual battery setup, and you'll probably need the engine at idle to keep from flattening the batteries. When you're up into the 5K watt range, it's more like an ambulance setup. They often have dual alternators. 5,000 watts from 12 volts is 416 amps. That's going to require parallel 4/0's from the battery. A total of four of these whopping cables. Parallel 4/0's for pos and parallel 4/0's for neg.

I seriously doubt that this is a "real" 5,000 watt inverter you see advertised. They play games with peak output for marketing, and it might only be a 1,500 watt continuous inverter.
 
K
#4 · (Edited)
First you are going to need a lot of batteries and a high amp alternator.

Now lets suppose you are only going to draw 4000 watts from that 5000 watt inverter. If you had (8) 12 volt group 27 battteries and the van was not running, you could run that inverter for 1 hour. If the van was running and had a high amp alternator you could run a little longer but not that much. Because the alternator could not keep up with the amp draw on the batteries. 4000 watts is going to draw 333 amps at 12 volts.

So it is really going to depend on how many watts you are using, the batteries, and what is going to keep the batteries charged. You could go to the expense of dual high amp alternators to get close to keeping the batteries charged as they draw down. But this whole system will get very expensive if done right and will not be as cheap and reliable as a generator.


We have a Xantrex Prosine 2.0 Inverter/Charger (2000 watt) in our motorhome with 4 group 27 batteries. The most we can usually run is around 4-6 hours just using the satellite and watching TV, and using the computer. Then we have to fire up the generator to get everything charged back up.

Go to this page below at the Xantrex website to see how long the batteries will last at whatever wattage.

http://www.xantrex.com/support/howlong.asp
 
M
#7 ·
Kgmz said:
I forgot about the expense of wiring.
Click to expand...
I'm certain that you'd pay the stereo shop or RV shop a good grand or more to wire up a 5,000 watt inverter in a truck or van. There's way, WAY more to consider than just the inverter. Wiring, fuses, the receptacle, battery bank, additional and upgraded alternators, etc. A generator starts to sound more appealing. Check out some of the RV generators in sound attenuation enclosures. Many of them are downright quiet, particularly the 1800 rpm models.
 
T
#8 ·
I use a 1000w continuous inverter for running my recip saw and hammer drill. It also functions as a charging station for my cordless tools. Hooked it up through a heavy duty starter solenoid under the hood and a pull switch in the cab. Seems to run all other tools pretty good but won't even kick over my worm drive saw.

I may upgrade to a 2000w continous but I may also downgrade to a 10 amp circular. What's the opinion here?
 
R
#11 ·
The engine just being at idle would probably not be enough to keep up the 5kw.

As mentioned earlier, ambulances have dual alternators, AND high idle switches. I'm a full time firefighter and we also run ambulances. We have 2 ambulances with shot alternators because the high idle switches don't work. You will need at least 2500-3000RPM probably to keep up with the demand.

I have a generator in my trailer and a 25' cord for it. I just wheel it out and around to the front so it's not so loud and I do fine. And with that, I can wheel the generator anywhere I need it and not have to rely on long extension cords which rob voltage.

just my $.02 :thumbup:
 
T
#13 ·
I had a bank of 4 6V golfcart batteries on my boat that would run everything for 8-10 hrs. That's all of the electronics, lights, reefer, electric head with a boat full of beer drinkers, two radios and often a small TV. You will suffer some loss due to conversion.

Boat pic.

Image
 
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