1000 w inverter

[grooving grandpa]

I have a 2005 2955RL with a Toshiba 27A34 T.V. I purchased a 1000 watt inverter at Costco for $30.So far a good deal. Now please bear in mind, I am not electrically smart. It will not run my T.V. My manual says the T.V. draws 120 amps. My friend drew me a picture of a normal sinewave and said, maybe the inverter puts out more of a flat sinwave and the T.V. can't work with that. It could also be my inverter, however it will run a work light and my impack wrench. If I tell my wife I need to get a different T.V. I will hear about that. However, if that is the case any suggestion on what to buy. Can someone help out this Rocket Scientist. Also the inverter says it will handle a 2000w surge. Thanks Lou

[H. John Kohl]

You said your TV draws 120 amps. That is a lot of current. I ask you to recheck that statement. Watts is calculated by multiplying Current and Voltage. Using this we look at the 1000 watt inverter. It takes 12 VDC and converts it to 120 VAC. So, 12 VDC times 83.33 amps current equals 1000 Watts so it produces 120 VAC with 8.33amps of current. That assumes the inverter operates at 100% efficiency. The signwave discussion with your friend is a more technical topic. First I suggest you find the Watts (power) drawn by the TV and see if the inverter will support it.
Cheers,

[OntMont]

I have run our Toshiba TV with a 400 watt inverter. It is an ordinary "modified sine wave" inverter. I would think that your 1000 watt version should run your TV. You do need to make sure that you have good wiring of adequate size though. I attach mine directly to the battery posts, and then run an extension cord to power whatever it is I choose to run. I have connected the whole trailer to it, after making sure that all the heavy power users (including the on-board converter) were either off or on gas. I think that with a little more tinkering, you will get it working.

[ols1932]

That inverter should run the TV easily. Most inverters, even the cheap ones, provide some kind of modified sine wave. I would suspect that either the wiring is not large enough or there may be something else on the circuit that you're not aware of. As OntMont says, " I have run our Toshiba TV with a 400 watt inverter." Your TV should not be drawing much more than three amps, four at the most.

Orv

[grooving grandpa]

Now you know why I am a Rocket Scientist. I meant to say 125w, not amps is the power consumption. I turned off the A/C breaker, the W/H breaker and the converter breaker. The inverter still will not run the T.V. Tomorrow I will take it back to Costco and exchange and post again with results.

[grooving grandpa]

I ran the battery cables that were supplied with the inverter directly to the two 6 volt ,in series, batteries, The cables are approx 18" long.Used my 30amp land cable to the inverter. I think I have covered all your suggestions and ideas. Will do the inverter exchange.

[mtheo]

I had the same problem, was told that the TV takes only 125 watts to operate, but a large TV takes a 1500 volt surge to charge the screen at first. I tried 3 different brands from 400 to 1200 watts with no luck. Made no since to me, I used to run a small TV on a 400 watt inverter.
Final gave the TV to my college son who was in need of TV and just bought a new 26' LCD, needed to go to digital any way.

[Carl n Susan]

I have a cheap (Harbor Freight variety) 1500W inverter (just slightly larger) and the past winter I used it to power my 27" Toshiba & Direct TV DVR along with RPHOWARDS 27" Toshiba and Direct TV box. It should work just fine.