• Welcome to Jetboaters.net!

    We are delighted you have found your way to the best Jet Boaters Forum on the internet! Please consider Signing Up so that you can enjoy all the features and offers on the forum. We have members with boats from all the major manufacturers including Yamaha, Seadoo, Scarab and Chaparral. We don't email you SPAM, and the site is totally non-commercial. So what's to lose? IT IS FREE!

    Membership allows you to ask questions (no matter how mundane), meet up with other jet boaters, see full images (not just thumbnails), browse the member map and qualifies you for members only discounts offered by vendors who run specials for our members only! (It also gets rid of this banner!)

    free hit counter

Power inverter use

stevenk2

Jet Boat Addict
Messages
135
Reaction score
24
Points
107
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2019
Boat Model
AR
Boat Length
19
Does anyone have experience using a small/low-power AC inverter on their boat? I'm not looking to power anything large with it, just looking at options for providing myself and my passengers with AC power for small 120v electronic devices if needed in a pinch. I have one in my Jeep, and it's come in handy on more than one occasion. It's pretty limited (about 150W/1.3 amps), so I can't even run my AC-powered inflator off of it, but we've used it for laptops and tablets and things like that. I just didn't know if running something like that off of my AR195's 12v outlet would be recommended or not.
 

Beachbummer

Jetboaters Admiral
Messages
3,960
Reaction score
2,877
Points
332
Location
Houston TX
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2008
Boat Model
SX
Boat Length
23
Only the smallest ones run directly from the cigarette outlet. I've used a small one to power a PC before. It was to run diagnostics on the Yamaha YDS when I was test driving it. The pc I had was not holding a charge. It was a cheap one from oreilly that I had bought the night before. I've since lost track of it, but it worked in a pinch.
 

Beachbummer

Jetboaters Admiral
Messages
3,960
Reaction score
2,877
Points
332
Location
Houston TX
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2008
Boat Model
SX
Boat Length
23
If it's a one time thing it's ok. If you want to use it a lot, I'd hard wire it to the boat.
 

stevenk2

Jet Boat Addict
Messages
135
Reaction score
24
Points
107
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2019
Boat Model
AR
Boat Length
19
So no harm to the boat's circuit or anything? I know that the one in my Jeep is fused, so if you overload it, the fuse just blows and no harm done to the Jeep.
 

Beachbummer

Jetboaters Admiral
Messages
3,960
Reaction score
2,877
Points
332
Location
Houston TX
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2008
Boat Model
SX
Boat Length
23
Mine did not blow the fuse. 12v x8amps = 96 watts.. 2 amps loss for conversion, right at 10 amps. Check the breaker size on the plug.. If it's 10amps or more it should hold.

Better to know than trial by fuse failure :)
 

stevenk2

Jet Boat Addict
Messages
135
Reaction score
24
Points
107
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2019
Boat Model
AR
Boat Length
19
Thanks - that helps. I may print a sticker to put on the inverter to help remind me of those limits (on top of whatever limits the inverter already has printed on it from the factory). And of course, I need to right-size the inverter when I buy it as well so as not to exceed the boat's limits.
 

Ronnie

Jetboaters Fleet Admiral
Messages
8,468
Reaction score
11,232
Points
637
Location
SF Bay Area
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2010
Boat Model
Limited S
Boat Length
24
I got a small one for Christmas two or three years ago. It clips directly to the battery. It’s been sitting in my boat unopened since I got it. This string has motivated me to test it, just so that I know it will work if I need it but I can’t think of a reason I would. I installed a few extra usb and 12v charging ports throughout boat, when I need power it’s usually to top off the charge on a phone or for the towables pump but I have other options like jump packs and cordless pumps. For now I will just treat it like the flare gun, that is, hopefully never need it but don’t object to having it onboard.
 

2kwik4u

Jetboaters Fleet Admiral
Messages
7,352
Reaction score
9,384
Points
532
Location
Georgetown, IN
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2017
Boat Model
AR
Boat Length
19
Back in the late '90's early '00's I used to do a LOT of automotive tuning. I would spend HOURS sitting in the passenger seat with a laptop working on fueling and timing maps, burning chips, etc. I used a CHEAP Autozone power invertor to keep the laptops and equipment running. Laptops back then that were strong enough to do the tuning had abysmal battery life. It worked, but I kept a pack of of fuses in the backpack as I would regularly pop the fuse on either the invertor or vehicles cigarette lighter. It worked, but wasn't great.

My '15 Sierra had a power invertor built in somewhere and I could plug right into the dash. That was SUPER handy when working on site and keeping a laptop charged. Never had a single issue with that device, and my laptop has a 65W charger on it. I think the manual said I was good to 125W or something like that. Was always nice to have if we wanted to "quick charge" a device as well. Plug the wall charger in instead of using the USB ports, and you could fire more power at the device. Was helpful with the little one a few times when we needed to recharge a tablet before walking into a restaurant or something.

More of my stories......purchase the appropriate device, and hardwire it in with proper lines and circuit protection. If you are actually going to use the thing, it's worth the effort to do it right in this case.
 

Babin Farms

Jetboaters Admiral
Messages
3,569
Reaction score
11,619
Points
477
Location
Lower Alabama
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2009
Boat Model
AR
Boat Length
23
I have one like @Ronnie that clips to the battery posts. It works great and have had if for years. We bought it to use a 120V blower for inflating tubes & such and is all we were hearing is that the 12v inflators were too weak. Now there are so many other options out there with DeWalt, Milwaukee, Ryobi and all of the other manufacturers that have blowers/inflators that work as well if not better than what I have. Other than the inflator I really have no use for it on the boat but it's there if needed.
 

HangOutdoors

Jetboaters Admiral
Messages
7,160
Reaction score
8,219
Points
472
Location
Royal Oak, MI
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2020
Boat Model
AR
Boat Length
21
If you think it would get more than a once in a great while use, I would hard wire it to battery or additional fuse block and put a a resettable circuit breaker in and call it good. That way you could just disengage the circuit breaker for most of the time and just reset it when you need it on. That way it always off in your battery/switch area. Also I would put caps in the outlets if it doesn't have them to help keep moisture out.

At least that is how I think I would do it.
 

JOAN ROJAS

Jet Boat Addict
Messages
69
Reaction score
74
Points
102
Location
Miami, Florida
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2009
Boat Model
212S
Boat Length
21

biffdotorg

Jetboaters Admiral
Messages
3,311
Reaction score
3,622
Points
357
Location
Pelican Rapids, MN
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2011
Boat Model
Limited S
Boat Length
24
would this run a small blender?
Ahh, the blender question comes up. I like your style.

Blender is a loaded question. As some will pull many more watts on start up, than they do once they are spinning up to speed. That initial spike will many times pop an inverter, or not allow it to operate until rebooted.

Special 12v blenders are the answer. Gas operated blenders are usually a gag, but they are out there. (smile)
 
Top