Stupid Electrical Question

[gottaluvlasers]

hey all-

i got 2 12VDC power inverters to hook to a car battery. they are both 10A cont.

If i wire them both together and then cobine their outputs as show below, i can *SAFELY* operate this technically as 1 20A inverter correct?

Is it safe to do this? i would actually just be using 2 regular household plugs and combining those together for the 120VAC output. (2 plugs into 1).

I know this is a basic question, but never really used these inverters before and not sure if it can cause damage or anything. Also, if i only turn 1 on at a time, this wont cause any problems either will it?

-Marc

[dnar]

Don't try this! The inverter outputs are AC and will NOT be synchronized.

Try this and you will definitely let all the magic smoke out!

Getting the smoke back in is very very difficult and expensive.

With both inverters output not joined you can run appliances from either inverter, but not a single appliance on both.

[laserdj]

Don't do it! As dnar said things will go UGLY.
I don't recommend you using two at the same time even if you don't connect their outputs.
Usually their AC output is square wave, and running two at the same time, say, one for a projector and other for a computer, can cause damage if you will connect the 2 devices.
Cheers!

[dnar]

Most inverters I have used/seen are modified square/sine - as are cheap UPS's.

He should not have a problem IF both inverters provide a common mains earth, which is questionable. Better to use a single larger inverter.

[gottaluvlasers]

thanks guys.

kinda figured this was gonna be a no no.

glad i asked first.

-Marc

[dnar]

No worries Marc.

If you decide to prove us wrong then please post pics/video of the smoke!!!

[buffo]

He should not have a problem IF both inverters provide a common mains earth, which is questionable.

Are you saying that it won't pose a problem to use them separately? If so, I agree that a common ground should help smooth out any circulating currents in the ground circuit, but there may still be interference. (You'd still have a ground loop that could pick up other stray signals.)

Marc, here's a link to an affordable inverter that should give you close to 20 amps of continuous A/C output. (I'm assuming you've got a Harbor Freight store near you.) Remember though that a 2000 watt inverter is going to draw over 160 amps of DC from your battery when running at full power. Make sure you've got a very robust battery bank!

Adam

[beamann]

Don't try this! The inverter outputs are AC and will NOT be synchronized.

Try this and you will definitely let all the magic smoke out!

Getting the smoke back in is very very difficult and expensive.

With both inverters output not joined you can run appliances from either inverter, but not a single appliance on both.

Not that I doubt you, but I am interested to know how then do they take individual solar PV pannels that each has it's owen D/c to A/c inverter all connected to the roof Bus?

[VJ AIWAZ]

i know you can do it with 2 Honda generators/inverter and the cross over cable they sell

http://www.steadypower.com/catalog/p...oducts_id=2010

[dnar]

Not that I doubt you, but I am interested to know how then do they take individual solar PV pannels that each has it's owen D/c to A/c inverter all connected to the roof Bus?

Those systems sycnhronise to the mains frequency.

2 x 12V inverters will be free running (asynchronous).