Hurricane Harvey hacking

Status
Not open for further replies.

Thread Starter

ThirtyWest

Joined Jul 15, 2017
150
can two 300w inverters , run from different vehicles, be wired in series to produce 600w to a single line.

Got a small 4.5 amp fridge to hold the last of the perishables before it's rice time :)

Doesn't need to run long. Just keep the thing cool for short durations.
 

AlbertHall

Joined Jun 4, 2014
12,345
If you connect them in series you will get double the voltage which I presume isn't what you want.
To get the same voltage but more current they should be connected in parallel but that probably isn't a good idea unless they are the same model number and the manual says it is OK to do this, otherwise they will probably argue about the voltage, frequency, etc.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
No. The clocks that create the AC output are not synchronized.

Should have planned ahead for the hurricane. I live in the middle of the continent and I had heard about the tropical storm brewing and likely where it was going to hit nearly a week ago. Plenty of time to do prep work for it given hurricane related inconveniences and damages are a well known and understood concept.

Also despite being small those refrigerator take a considerable amount of current to get their compressors started to which ait very likely event 600 watt inverter power you would not have be able to get it to run. Most people I know who use small refrigerators for camping and such have 1500+ watt inverters because of the startup power requirement issues.
 

Thread Starter

ThirtyWest

Joined Jul 15, 2017
150
TCMtech if you don't understand a person's particular situation keep the verbal vomit to a minimum. Did you know the other gen died? Did you know any number of other details that gave you such amazing insight? No. And I didn't need to list all the ingredients of this cocktail.

I'm asking a question to which others have been kind enough to weigh in on. To you folks, thank you.

[unnecessary personal attack removed]

MOD NOTE: There is no need to escalate a personal confrontation using gratuitous personal attacks, even if you have a legitimate complaint.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

JohnInTX

Joined Jun 26, 2012
4,787
TCMtech if you don't understand a person's particular situation keep the verbal vomit to a minimum. Did you know the other gen died? Did you know any number of other details that gave you such amazing insight? No. And I didn't need to list all the ingredients of this cocktail.

I'm asking a question to which others have been kind enough to weigh in on. To you folks, thank you.

I wouldn't tell you up in the "middle of the continent" to think hard before chose between your sister or sheep: we expect you know that answer already and we wouldn't rub your face in it given your choices. Then again you are obviously a tactician; we shouldn't ever expect a question on here that you couldn't have answered months in advance.

You should start your own forum.
Just one page with a gif of you nodding at the user.
I agree. Good advice from @tcmtech but we can do without the attitude from tcmtech. If you can't see your way to that, maybe we can get along without you.

Edited for clarity. It is tcm's attitude to which I was referring.
 
Last edited:

Thread Starter

ThirtyWest

Joined Jul 15, 2017
150
Do what you must.

good to know that mech's kind of attitude goes without repercussion, but a newer member gets the roast.

Nice group of buddies.

Delete the account if you must.
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
can two 300w inverters , run from different vehicles, be wired in series to produce 600w to a single line.
No. that won't work for a number of reasons. Tcmtech explained it nicely and others have hit on the reasons why this will not work. Don't let anything else get to you! My and my wife's heart, and thoughts go out to all of you in harms way. Hopefully the rains will subside. Till then it is a matter of sitting tight and know that this nightmare will end.

Ron
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Do not insert politics into discussions.
TCMtech if you don't understand a person's particular situation keep the verbal vomit to a minimum. Did you know the other gen died? Did you know any number of other details that gave you such amazing insight? No. And I didn't need to list all the ingredients of this cocktail.

I'm asking a question to which others have been kind enough to weigh in on. To you folks, thank you.

I wouldn't tell you up in the "middle of the continent" to think hard before chose between your sister or sheep: we expect you know that answer already and we wouldn't rub your face in it given your choices. Then again you are obviously a tactician; we shouldn't ever expect a question on here that you couldn't have answered months in advance.

You should start your own forum.
Just one page with a gif of you nodding at the user.
[MOD NOTE: Political tantrum removed]

Anyway, Yes, I apply tactical analysis to my life's decision making so that when thing go bad I am actually somewhat prepared for it.
Why didn't you? Obviously you know of the concept and the fact that you don't wait until your house is on fire before going out and buying a fire extinguisher do you? :(

You have hurricanes that statistically will hit you maybe 1 - 2 time son your lifetime and various tropical storms that will hit you way more often than that.
Personally I have blizzards of deadly proportions that hit me 1 - 5 times a winter every winter.

Where you live you can go without heat or electricity for weeks and live. Where I live there are times where I can't go without it for more than 5 - 10 hours before I am in serious trouble.

And, BTW. I did answer your question anyway. ;)

Do what you must.

good to know that mech's kind of attitude goes without repercussion, but a newer member gets the roast.

Nice group of buddies.

Delete the account if you must.
Really? Bening ambiguously teased for having not planned in advance for such things warrants a temper tantrum and requesting your account be closed here? o_O

Seems like pretty over the top reaction, to me, for something you misread the intent of. :oops:

With that said, and as others will likely agree with, The problem is your refrigerator's compressor motor is a common induction type unit which, unfortunately, by design typically has a start up current draw of 3 - 5+ times it's nominal rated running current. Because of that high starting current the ~4.5 amp rated current draw may peak at well over 12 - 15+ amps which is way beyond what any common cheap 600 watt inverter can handle and even pushing the limits of what a cheapr made 1500 watt unit might take repeatedly.

However, on the bright side once it up and running the overall current draw is not that high and likely well within the range most modern vehicles electrical systems can easily handle, with all other non essential loads turned off, which would mean at worst you would just have to leave your vehicle idle while you run your refrigerator to cool down every few hours. ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

ebeowulf17

Joined Aug 12, 2014
3,307
Do what you must.

good to know that mech's kind of attitude goes without repercussion, but a newer member gets the roast.

Nice group of buddies.

Delete the account if you must.
I don't think anyone's giving you the roast, being buddies, or threatening to delete your account. The moderator "liked" your comment, so you've gotten some support here already.

Tcmtech gives good advice and in my experience usually has a good attitude. In this case he was unfairly harsh, judgmental, and unsympathetic... although even then the electrical advice he gave was accurate. I'd say your response, while in many ways understandable, was also a little harsh. We'd all do better to give the benefit of the doubt whenever possible.

I'm very sorry for your situation, and wish you and everyone else down there good luck getting through this.

If you have more electronics questions in the future, please don't discount this forum because you caught one guy on a bad day. It's a generally helpful and supportive community.
 
and the fact that you don't wait until your house is on fire before going out and buying a fire extinguisher...
You might be surprised:( -- Sadly, 'out of sight out of mind' would seem an all-pervasive perspective - even where 'safety nets' are all of inexpensive, abundant and available - go figure?:confused:

Best regards
HP
 
Last edited:

Jazz2C

Joined May 27, 2016
52
With that said, and as others will likely agree with, The problem is your refrigerator's compressor motor is a common induction type unit which, unfortunately, by design typically has a start up current draw of 3 - 5+ times it's nominal rated running current. Because of that high starting current the ~4.5 amp rated current draw may peak at well over 12 - 15+ amps which is way beyond what any common cheap 600 watt inverter can handle and even pushing the limits
@ThirtyWest Just some additional advice. Inverters with a "soft start" feature will not help bootstrap induction motors (with the exception of shaded pole types which are never used in high starting torque motors such as compressors)! Also make sure to use a tsw inverter otherwise the compressor windings will overheat and burnout after abt twenty minutes of operation.
 

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,389
can two 300w inverters , run from different vehicles, be wired in series to produce 600w to a single line.

Got a small 4.5 amp fridge to hold the last of the perishables before it's rice time :)

Doesn't need to run long. Just keep the thing cool for short durations.
Hello there,

This may be too little too late but if you can get a hold of one of those 12v refrigerators you can run that directly off of 12v without the need for an inverter. They run off of 12v so no need for one.
They are not as good as a 'real' refrigerator, but they will be better than nothing. They probably dont have any freezer either but you dont always need that.

Dont want to step on anyone's toes here but due to the little disagreement that came up in this thread here's a funny video...enjoy.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top