Inverter question

[Troy]

I was considering using a 1500 watt Power converter to power my boat lift. Currently, I am using standard 120 AC power that is supplied to our dock. I may not have access to this power in the future.

My lift motor is 3/4 HP and pulls about 10.5 Amps. Using the amps X 120 formula, I would need an inverter that is at least 1260 watts.

I was wondering if I purchased a 1500 watt inverter, how much draw this would put on my batteries. The boat will have to be off obviously. Would using the batteries to lift the boat and lower the boat (about 5 minutes total) put enough stress on the batteries, to where I would not have enough juice to start, or will it be a non issue?

Thanks for any help.

[Jimmy Buffett]

I did something similar. I used an inverter and a spare battery to raise teh boat lift (didn't need power to lower it). It worked fine. Just had to make sure to keep the battery charged between trips. The battery was good for a couple of cycles but drained pretty quickly.

[RTS]

Are you planning to hook the inverter straight to the battery, or is it one of those that will plug in to an accesory outlet on the boat? If you hook directly to battery, 10 amps for 5 minutes will not kill your battery, but if you're going the "cigarette lighter" route, you may want to check to see what size breaker serves those outlets. If it's only a 10 amp one, you may trip it.

[Troy]

Are you planning to hook the inverter straight to the battery, or is it one of those that will plug in to an accesory outlet on the boat?  If you hook directly to battery, 10 amps for 5 minutes will not kill your battery, but if you're going the "cigarette lighter" route, you may want to check to see what size breaker serves those outlets.  If it's only a 10 amp one, you may trip it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree, I was thinking I would go straigt from the battery with a 1500 watt inverter.

Thanks for the help

[aneal000]

Let me put this in prespective for you. If you have a true 1500 Watt inverter and it's powered off of 12 Volts, the basic Ohm's law formula tells you at rated output it will draw 125 Amps - out of your battery. A true 1500W inverter is not something you could hook up to the cig lighter. You need a lot of power to lift your boat. You should be fine going up/down once or twice for a few minutes. They make 12V motors for lifts that run directly off the battery in the boat, while those are slightly more efficient since you take the inverter efficiency out of the system, they still lift and lower the boat without draining the battery severly. Another option is to put a battery on the dock with a solar panel. You could still hook up the inverter to this battery.

[BlastRlxi]

Would a small portable generator be a better choice?