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guidance needed for using power inverter?


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jwarren808 
Copper - Posts: 63
Copper spacespace
Joined: May 22, 2011
Location: Texas, United States
Posted: March 30, 2013 at 2:51 AM / IP Logged  
i wanted to see if anyone can confirm if this should work or not ?
i have a 1500 watt heat gun thats 120volts,   and i got a power inverter thats 750 watt continuous / 1500 watt peak
i wanted to run it off my car battery while car is running to use heat gun and heat shrink some window tint to form it to the window better, and car is 90 honda crx with regular size battery for car & i have no stereo in car or any additional electronics.
if the power inverter says 1500 watt peak, does that mean you should be able to run something off it thats 1500 watts such as my heat gun??
i tried to use it earlier, and i did like it said and hooked red clip to + battery and black clip to clean, bare metal part of the chassis, and i clipped it to the frame where it was sanded to metal, then i tried turning the heat gun on and it did'nt work ??   
i also had a 25 ft extension cord connected between the heatgun and inverter so it would reach the windows i was tinting, it was a thick cord good for outdoor use and had 3-prong, would it not work as good if using extension cords ?     
any thoughts or info about why it did'nt work for me would be cool, cause maybe theres some things i did'nt do right? or things i can try,    or maybe its best to return it before messing with it anymore?
oldspark 
Gold - Posts: 4,913
Gold spacespace
Joined: November 03, 2008
Location: Australia
Posted: March 30, 2013 at 5:39 AM / IP Logged  
No.
In fact "peak" ratings are useless. Everything has a peak power/wattage rating that is double its power/Watts (RMS) rating.
So your heatgun needs a 1500W inverter.
In practice it may require a much larger one (eg, 2x = 3kW) due to the nature of the load. (Many claim pure motor loads need 3x the motor rating.) That depends on what the inverter is designed for, but those "rules" assume the common stepped-wave aka modified-sinewave types.
So your problem was that your gun required (at least) twice what your inverter could supply.
Note that your 1500W gun (thru an inverter) will pull ~150A from the battery, or alternator & battery.
That's a similar current to a reduction starter motor, and maybe half that of a normal starter motor.
I once faced a similar situation. I bought a 2.8KVA (2.4kW) petrol generator.
jwarren808 
Copper - Posts: 63
Copper spacespace
Joined: May 22, 2011
Location: Texas, United States
Posted: March 30, 2013 at 9:41 AM / IP Logged  
thanks for the reply and the usefull info,
the reason i started looking into power inverters was cause i don't have access to an electrical outlet to use when working on my car, cause i live in an apartment built into the 2nd story of a house, which has 2 other apartments built into the 1st floor.
the only solution was to connect three 25ft extension cords, having it going under the crack of my front door leading to the car, but if i got a power inverter i could work on my car anywhere i want, away from neighbors, so i can concentrate better, plus so i don't bother them making noise etc..
i got the heat gun to help remove old tint, and use to heat shrink new tint, so fits better, also to smooth any creases or bubbles left afterward.
but after finding out it does'nt work with the inverter i got, and that i would need a more powerfull inverter, it makes me realise that its probably best to forget about trying to use the heatgun running off the inverter on the car battery, and to just use the heatgun from an outlet either at a friends garage or using the extension cord method i mentioned above (as long as its not wet out), and i can keep the inverter and use it for all types of other devices.
if i could find a heatgun with lower watts then i could possibly use it, but most are in the range from 800,1000-1500 watts, and one thing i don't get is how my regular hair dryer says its 1865 watts ??, which is higher watts than the heatgun ??,   why would that be ? cause the heat gun puts off way hotter heat than the hair dryer ??, so seems like should be the other way around ?      
oldspark 
Gold - Posts: 4,913
Gold spacespace
Joined: November 03, 2008
Location: Australia
Posted: March 30, 2013 at 5:32 PM / IP Logged  
Not sure why hairdriers are more powerful, though I've heard women like things bigger. But they are more compact, and other factors play a part, eg the volume of air.
There are 12V hair guns. Not that they are that hot, but they are good as window demisters.
And also petrol and gas etc heat guns.
Though I am DIY for everything from engine rebuilds to tax returns, window tinting was one thing I decided to give to the pros. I've seen enough amateur bubbles and wound windows to convince me it isn't worth doing DIY. Maybe when I get to actually tinting I might change my mind, but it also seems the pros also have films that are not available to others.
jwarren808 
Copper - Posts: 63
Copper spacespace
Joined: May 22, 2011
Location: Texas, United States
Posted: March 31, 2013 at 12:44 AM / IP Logged  
not sure if i want to keep the power inverter i just bought or return it
i gave up trying to power the heat gun off my car battery, and ended up plugging into an outlet at a friends apartment using a long extension cord.
im new at tinting, im using cheap Gila film which is good enough and heard last up to 4 yrs.      
this was the first time i tried applying tint using heatshrinking with a heatgun to smooth out the bubbles and stuff.
i was tinting the rear side windows, i applied the tint, pushing all the moisture out and smoothing it out good, then used the heatgun to heat and smooth any remaining bubbles or creases left til they all stayed down, which was hard cause they kept popping back up!, but i finished and managed to get the window on pass. side perfect but drivers side still had 4-5 creases at bottom edge, but ill let it set and dry more so theres no moisture underneath, then try smoothing them out again tomorrow.

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