Power Inverters - Am I The Only One?

on the original sbject, I bought a dinky little inverter the other day, 150w, just plugs straight into my car power socket, great for laptops etc.
 
I wouldn't think that'd meet Cali codes either.

A battery and an inverter and trickle charger would work, but that wouldn't be cheap.

I would think a sump pump runs at 12VDC but if it also runs at 120AC, then that should work also.
 
I tried to buy a 2400watter at an auction the other day. I ran it up to $35. Would have ben a good buy broken or not. Any more than that I wasn't willing to chance it.
 
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What would you do with something that powerful? No car battery could handle it for very long.
 
What would you do with something that powerful? No car battery could handle it for very long.

My plan was to mount it in the tool box of the truck and use it for my cordless battery chargers so they would be charged all the time.
Then the ocasional need to run a corded power tool when no power is available.
I didn't need that monster, I was deal hunting.
 
I found this on amazon

4116BZEHEKL._SL500_AA280_.jpg


I'm guessing this configuration is legal here. There are tons of garages like ours around our neighborhood. Keep in mind, these are all garages for apartments, not homes. That might make a difference. I don't know, really.

I'll talk to the lovely karina to see if she'd like to invest a little in a battery back up. I now have to contact the maker of the garage door opener to see if they can advise me as to what size battery I'd need.

Fun stuff. Karina and I have a pretty well thought out evacuation plan if some shite were to go down in LA. It starts with loading stuff up into the car. Who knew that the biggest step of our plan could be foiled in a big emergency!

love
nick
 
Instead of paying for it out of your own pocket, perhaps you could begin by asking the apartment managment if their garages meet current fire code due to the single entrance/ electrical power issue? If their answer isn't satisfactory then maybe call up the fire marshall and ask him?

hmmm.. :/:
 
I thought about the computer backups, but I wasn't sure if they'd hold a charge from the time the power went out till you decided it was time to venture out.
 
I thought about the computer backups, but I wasn't sure if they'd hold a charge from the time the power went out till you decided it was time to venture out.

And do they supply enough wattage? Door openers require quite a bit of power for extended amounts of time.
 
I would immagine startup would be the biggest kicker (punny).

A 1/2hp opener only draws what, 1200watts? At startup figure it's 2-3x eh? Computer's startup loads are closer to their running wattage.
 
our parkade garage doors are the only way to get a vehicle out, there are people doors out but in an outage I guess ramming your way out is about the only way.I havent noticed a disconnect gizmo on them.
 
Fun stuff. Karina and I have a pretty well thought out evacuation plan if some shite were to go down in LA. It starts with loading stuff up into the car. Who knew that the biggest step of our plan could be foiled in a big emergency!

love
nick

Ha. You and about 3 million other people, all packed onto the freeway, desperately trying to get out of LA as it disintegrates and begins to devour itself.
I'f you rreally thinking like that, get out now while you can...
 
First of all, there are over 10 million in LA...you gotta get the numbers straight!

Are plan isn't horrible- load up the backpacks with survival/camping gear, load up the car, put bikes on top, get outta dodge. As soon as we see that the car thing isn't working, ditch the car and get on the bikes. Chances are, we'll be safer sitting in the car going 1mph, but the bikes will be ready just in case.

And besides- I'm sure the city officials have a solid evacuation plan to keep us all safe.

:lol:

love
nick
 
Because of the fact I make my living as an electrician I have seen some huge static inverters .Some were used for critical systems on refinery boiler operations ,operating flood gates and numerious other uses .

Let me tell you a large one of say 7500-10,000 watts is extremely expensive about like buying a new Cadillac .These system have huge storage batteries and also usually have some type of generator back up ,natural gas ,propane,diesel ,methane or whatever .

The amount of wattage they produce is strictly weather or not the design for that is there .The length of time they will operate without a back up is dependent upon the size of the batteries .

If somebody had the gumption and desire plus a little bit of electronics background ,more than likely the design criteria for one can be found on the internet .The SCR's and other componets for the "gate " circuits to trigger the inversion ,likely from E-bay .

Ha ,I have the background but unfortunately lack the desire .:lol:
 
Checked the parkade garage doors, they have a handle in the chain that looks like it would be for manual raising and lowering, might be a tad heavy though.
 
I will have to look again, the gates we have are aluminium tube stuff, chain driven opener, toothed pulleys.
 
Paul, I suggest you go ahead and try opening the door manually one time. That way you will know how to do it if the need arises and you don't have any electric lights to see what you're doing.
 
not a bad idear. Actually I might suggest to the strata council to include an instruction sheet with the next meeting minutes.
 
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