Power for FEC 100

12v deep cycle battery and 500w inverter from Sams.

Perfect, thanks. Second question.. Do you cover the exhaust when the wind/rain is a factor with something ?

I have the cookshack covers for the FEs, and I shove the inverter in a garbage sack to keep it dry. From experience, inverters don't take well to water. Other than that, nothing other than the way I might position the smokers so that the wind is not blowing directly into or across the exhaust.

Hey EZ,

You might want to give Bruskee the name of the inverter manufacturer. The FECs can be a little sensitive to certain inverters. I myself have a 400W/800W Vector MaxxSST inverter that I picked up at Lowes and it has worked for me for the past two years.

Are you partial to a certain battery and how long will one last?

I picked my marine battery up at Sam's and it has been good for two years now. I picked up an inexpensive charger from Harbor Freight and recharge it after each contest.

Thanks for the info guys.. Do you use the battery the entire contest or change to it ? I'd assume from your response that it's more than enough power to get through a contest?

Check out this all in one unit. Power Inverter

I have a power inverter/charger that detects the battery level, charges the battery and cuts over if the external power drops.

Now that's what I'm talkin about.. Can you link me to what you have Russ ? Is it similar to what's linked above ?

Thanks for the info all..

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

For that price, it should sign your shoes too! Looks nice but us poor people can't afford setups like that.

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