Skip to main content

Alright, we lived through our 1st comp but also had our eyes opened. We lost power at 2 in the morning and were woke by a team that knew we had to have power. It was partly my own fault for not running power to the generators in the 1st place but thought the circuit wouldn't trip with just me on it. Apparently during the night a few others pigtailed off me and the circuit went. We quickly made a run to the generators about 200 feet away and everything was fine.

What do you use for power at comps ?

Thanks

Scot
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Sine wave, not sine wave, that is the question.

I bought a Tripp Lite on recommendation of several Q'ers and it's worked like a champ. They have lots of versions, based on how big/little you need to power.

Here the one:

I hooked it to two marine deep cycle (want enough power for both my FE's). When I first get ready for the weekend, I plug the trailer in. The charger detects that the batteries need to be charged, it does it all, automatically. I tested it at my first contest and the auto cut-over works perfect.

Tripp Lite Inverter/Charger

Last edited by Former Member
I use a Samlex 600W True Sine Inverter with 2 Sam's Group 31 Marine Batteries for my 2 FE's. I can cook two contests back to back with this setup. I do have to charge the batteries with a Sears battery charger which takes some extra work. I am leaning towards a Xantrex RS400 now as it has an automatic transfer switch and will run on AC power until it sense that the power is off and switches to battery.

One thing to watch with inverters is that most inverters output a modified sine wave which is essentially a step wave output. Most electronics do not like a modified sine wave and it can shorten the life of the equipment. True sine inverters are more expensive but provide better power. You can fry cell phones and other items that use a transformer type charger if you run them off of a modified sine wave inverter.

Mark

Add Reply

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×