Power Inverters and Solar Blog for OutsideSupply.com

Summer Fun, Hot Coffee and Frozen Drinks by Power Inverter

Summer Time Can Mean Outdoor Fun! 

Boy how great is it to get outside when it is Sunny and Warm! Outside Supply knows all too well how much fun an outdoor event can be. Hot dogs and daiquiris in the middle of a park or Snow cones and Volleyball in a field. Whatever your in to this Summer, we can help outfit you with the proper setup for mobile power.  You see many of the conveniences of life require power. We sell power inverters that will provide this power when needed. Simply add battery power to a power inverter and you are off and running. With the proper power inverter and the proper configuration nothing is out of your reach.

Here is a perfect Example of one thing we have done this Summer for fun using a power inverter:

I love to fishing early in the morning. Sometimes I go in my kayak while other times I fish from a local pier. Unlike me, fish wake normally up early in the morning. So I need a little help, COFFEE!! I have been the Thermos route. I have used them tons of times and broken them or I have left God knows what to grow inside of them. So instead, I take a small 120 Volt Coffee Pot, Coffee, Coffee Filters, a Gallon of Water, Mugs, My 1500 Watt Sine Wave Power Inverter, and a Deep Cycle Marine Battery Mounted in my fishing Wagon. So once we get there I go about the morning fishing routine, Making Coffee! 

Just as normal, I fill the water, Measure the Grinds, Haphazardly of course, and turn on the power inverter and coffee pot. The wonderful smell and coffee brewing sounds can be heard echoing down the foggy pier. I have made quite a few friends offering a fresh brewed cup of coffee. i have to say, I have sold a few inverters this way as well.

While you may not be making coffee at 4:00 AM on a fishing pier, you could be in your RV watching TV while dry camping or microwaving Pizza on the soccer field. The plans are up to you, the power is available.

Check out this article to help you choose a Power inverter and here to calculate power inverter wattage! 

 

Small Solar Setup for Home

How to Go Solar Without Breaking the Bank

I get a lot of calls at Outside Supply from customers and individuals tired of high utility bills, energy surcharges, and the whole mess. They call me looking for a solution to their problems. They want to go all solar for their homes to get rid of their bill and also become more green in the process. Having had a little experience with attempting to go solar on my house, I have usually start with a question regarding the person's average electric bill. Invariably, I get numbers from $200 dollars to $800 dollars a month. I am then quick to explain that it will be very roughly estimated at a cost of $40,000 per hundred dollars of actual energy charges.I can usually hear most individuals jaw hit the floor as I tell them the estimated number. It is almost funny how far we all think our alternative energy technologies have come. Unfortunately, they haven't come far enough for us to continue to live in super inefficient homes that waste tons of power.

Power Inverters

Power Inverters

Power inverters are great devices that  can really make a lot of applications easy and quiet for the RVer. A lot of time when an Rver wants to run his or her  microwave when drycamping, they need to power up their generator. This is both noisy and requires fuel. Once an RVer installs a power inverter in their unit, they can just go ahead and run that microwave off their RV's batteries. Outside Supply carries a full line of power inverters and accessories to get the job done right with strong reliable equipment.

A power inverter is a device that converters DC power to AC power, or in simple terms, Battery Power to Household Electricity. A good clean power inverter will allow you to run a variety of electronics ranging from laptops, TVs, Microwaves, Coffee Pots and more off your batteries.

Sailboat Power Inverters

Having done a decent amount of sailing, I know Sailboat Power inverters are very important for both sanity and convienence. Many larger sailboats already have solar and wind generators to keep their batteries on board charged. Harnessing this power allows the sail boat to stay more self sufficent and greener. While this is great and enviromentally friendly step, it is only good for 12 volt devices. This 12 volt system won't help out with the AC devices we all love to use. By simply Installing a nice power inverter on your sailboat, you can then convert your Sailboat's reliable battery power to AC or household power. All without having to start you on board generator. Power inverters convert you stored DC power in your batteries to AC power quietly and efficiently.

This will allow you to run items like laptops, TVs, Microwaves, and much more. Sailboat inverters range from 150 watts to 3000 watts. There are both modified and true sine models available, but I recommend true sine inverters for these applications now. We have sailboat inverters at Outside Supply that work with both 12 volt DC and 24 volt DC input voltages as well.

If you haven't added solar panels or a wind generator to your sailboat, we can help with that as well.

Check Out our selection of Sine Wave Power inverters that would be perfect for your Sailboat!

 

Oxygen Concentrator Woes Fixed By True Sine Inverter

A customer called Outside Supply about problems he has had with buying an inverter for his oxygen concentrator. He has purchased five inverters before calling us. None have worked. The last inverter that was sold to him was a 3000 watt model that required huge installation and connections in his vehicle. After all this trouble it did not work.

This customer was a bit timid of any recommendations but was very pleased to hear that I knew exactly why the other power inverters did not run his oxygen concentrator. I explained to him that all inverters are not alike. That there are two main kins to be exact. Sine and modified Sine Wave.

He never heard of of this before so was a bit off struck. We went over the electrical specs and I determined the full proof inverter for him was a 1000 watt True Sine Wave Power Inverter. This inverter would easily handle the 4.7 amps that the oxygen concentrator used. It would also run his laptop as well. More information on Power Inverters can be found here.

He was a bit disappointed that he had not called us first. He advised that once it was hooked up and running. All was well and his Oxygen Concentrators Woes were no more. Outside Supply had gotten him the proper inverter for his needs, A True Sine Wave Power Inverter

Geocacher uses Sine Inverter to Geocache

Wouldn't you know that one of the best games going now is an elaborate treasure hunt involving you and your GPS. One of Outside Supply's customers is an avid Geocacher. She wanted a power inverter to run her laptop when she went off with freinds in search of hidden treasure (Usually a metal box with trinkets and a place to sign). This laptop would allow her and her friends to find new locations to search and also help with satellite map views.

Since her main goal was running a laptop on these Geocaching adventures, I recommended the Go Power 150 Pure Sine Wave Inverter and the Go Power 300 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter, Both inverters are great, One main difference is the type of connection available. One has a cigarette lighter plug and the other has a hard wire setup. Since she is always in her car she opted for the hard wire model because it offered more power and was only a few dollars more.