Power Inverter

"Inverters can be a great thing to have around. They are especially important when the power goes down during bad weather. Although not as powerful as generators, they do have a big purpose for powering light loads. They are wonderful for powering up RVs electronics when you don’t have access to electric power for your camper." - Power Bright 400 Watt Power Inverter
 One thing that comes in handy camping is a power inverter.  A power inverter is a device that take a 12V "car battery" source and turns it into household 120 AC.  They are do this very well.  They usually run around 85% to 95% efficency depending on the brand.  The one that I use supplies 300 Watts of power.  This is more than enough to supply power to a small LCD TV, Laptop computer, charge rechargeable batteries.  Also when you have finished camping you can use this a small backup power source in your home if the power goes out.  It work power anything heavy duty but I will power a radio or a TV so you can see what's going on during the storm.

Here are the AC plugs where you plug in you household items.  I really think inverters are cool.

This is the end that plugs into a 12V cigarette light of your RV or Vehicle.

Here I have my inverter connecting to my truck cigarette lighter to show how a inverter works.  I have 12Vdc going into the inverter and I will get around 120Volt AC household voltage out of the electrical outlets.  It's not a pure sinewave but it will do fine for applications that require 300 Watts of continous power.

So here it is.  Around 120Volt AC,114.5Volt AC this is close enough for powering up 300 Watt applications.

"One thing to keep in mind is that there are limits to the AC power available from Inverters that are designed for a car. Many of them will not run a toaster or a vacuum cleaner for example… The thing to know is that everything is measured in ‘Watts‘. This is the key to determining which devices you can plug in without blowing a fuse." - DC to AC - Modern Survival Blog