I'm pondering backup power for my apartment and am considering buying a pure-sine inverter large enough to run a microwave (it being the most useful heating appliance). My microwave uses 1,700W (measured at the plug) so I'm guessing an inverter with 2000W continuous rating is required.
Battery-wise I don't intend to haul around the kind of batteries needed to reliably run this much power. I was thinking of using my car. The problem is 1700W @ 12V = 141A. I'm fairly certain the battery can take it (a microwave only runs 30 seconds at a time and starting current in normal car use is probably 200-400A).
The question is, if I keep the car running to take some load off the battery, and assuming an alternator rated say 80-120A, will the alternator's output voltage dip safely to the level where it only delivers up to its current limit, or will it stupidly try to maintain normal charge voltage (14-14.5V) and burn itself out trying to power the inverter by itself?
Battery-wise I don't intend to haul around the kind of batteries needed to reliably run this much power. I was thinking of using my car. The problem is 1700W @ 12V = 141A. I'm fairly certain the battery can take it (a microwave only runs 30 seconds at a time and starting current in normal car use is probably 200-400A).
The question is, if I keep the car running to take some load off the battery, and assuming an alternator rated say 80-120A, will the alternator's output voltage dip safely to the level where it only delivers up to its current limit, or will it stupidly try to maintain normal charge voltage (14-14.5V) and burn itself out trying to power the inverter by itself?