12v to 240v inverters

Hello all, sot of a tech qu. hope its in the right area....

need an 12v to 240v inverter for my "mobile office". it'll run printer, scanner and external hard drive and small 240 fluro light.
laptop and other stuff is all 12v so that will come straight off the aux battery in the majority of cases.

so, with everything going, draw will be minimal. maybe a 150w-300w would suffice??

the real qu is that will a cheapo modified sine wave inverter be OK. from my reading i recon it would be OK as the negatives i've foind with MSW inverters relates to them damaging the batteries in laptops and making downstream power supplies run a bit hotter. this leads me to think a MSW should be OK but for the fact that the external HD will be on for extended periods and that it holds very important info... i dont really want to be frying its power supply or frying it...

this leads me toward a pure sine wave unit but expense is the issue.

i notice jaycar have rebuilt PSW units for under $200 and new ones for $320.

what do people think:

-do i need a PSW unit?
-how many watts?
-where to price options/buy (online)?

thanks

why not ring up jaycar and ask one of their "technical" people - if they have them... they may have a better understanding of your requirements and potential stuff ups etc between using the two types.

my personal preference would be to go the pure sine wave

Jaycar is good.
You will need at least 500 watts and a good battery and charging system to support it all. Pure sine wave is good, get the best you can afford.

>>> the external HD will be on for extended periods and that it holds very important info

I think you've already answered your own question...

What kind of printer do you have? MSW* inverters don't generaly agree with laser printers. The fluro light might be a problem too if it's an older/cheaper unit.

Most stuff with a modern switch-mode power supplies should be ok. I do agree with modulus about the hard drive, if it's that important I'd pay the extra for a FSW inverter.

Chris

*This really should stand for "Modified Square Wave" because that's all it really is.

BajaChris wrote:*This really should stand for "Modified Square Wave" because that's all it really is.

thanks.. that sounds 100% correct

[ Edited on 4-5-2006 by helterskelter400 ]

why not get a 12v fluro?

as for the rest i dunno, but if its only $100 extra for PSW ide go it, especially if its so important. As stated before you would want a good battery setup and charging system, deep cycles etc.

115A/h DC battery and smart relay in place. PSW inverter investigations continuing. have a 12v fluro but it isnt very effiecient and interferes with radio/phone reception.