Reddit mentions of Maxboost 300W Power Inverter Dual 110V AC Outlet and 2.4A/24W USB Car Charger [Aluminum & PC Body] DC 12V to 110V AC + DC 5V USB Battery Charger for Laptop,iPad,iPhone,Tablet,Phone

Hey I'm not the OP, for more info please go to the original post to congratulate them. :)



Personally I DO live in a van, it's a 1992 Chevy G20 Gladiator. I have a memory foam mattress on top of a wooden platform, totes and cardboard boxes for storage (food, clothing, etc.) underneath. having the mattress off the floor gives space for storage, and also insulates the mattress from the heat or cold of the ground.

For privacy I have tinted windows, non-adhesive window film, collapsible foil sunshade for the front window, and black bug screen mesh like this for the side windows.

For water I use sturdy Arizona tea jugs. I have a basic Coleman camping toilet for nighttime and emergency uses - some people simply use pee bottles or five gallon buckets.

If it's cold at night I have a [12V electric blanket](https://www.walmart.com/ip/TREKSAFE-12-Volt-Heated-Travel-Blanket-White/54609929] and/or a 12V "car seat" warmer that I put under the mattress. I also have a propane Little Buddy heater which I have not yet used.

My main luxury item is an Alpicool C15 refrigerator powered by two 35AH "house batteries" (in parallel) which are charged using a Battery Doctor isolator. The Battery Doctor is run by my alternator when I drive-it only starts charging the house batteries after my van battery is full. The fridge uses 5.8AH per day. I used a cooler for a year, but the drawbacks are constantly buying or procuring ice (like from soda fountains), and food spoilage from it getting waterlogged, plus having to drain it frequently.

For hot meals, I use a 12 volt "lunchbox cooker" (works similar to a crock pot) which is powered in my cigarette lighter while I drive (or I can run it with the house batteries through a 12v splitter - the Alpicool is plugged into the other side. I also have a propane camping stove which I have never used.

I have a USB mini fan to run at night, or I can run my small regular fan through the 300W power inventor where I can also charge my laptop and/or phone (I usually charge the phone in the cigarette lighter).

I don't make any money if you buy from any of these links, but I only used them for illustrative purposes - I encourage you to shop around on Craigslist, eBay, Amazon, Walmart, check yard sales, etc. find the best priced similar item that works best for you. You don't have to get everything all at once - I didn't. But if you can get a basic minivan or van (seats removed), a mattress (or sleeping bag even) on a frame, and some jugs of water, it's a start.

>Hi, thanks for the reply! Dealing with AC power seems a bit scary for a completely unexperienced person like me. I was trying to stay away from inverters, but I may not have a choice with my laptop. How much efficiency is lost from going from 12v to 110 to 19?

Each step is >90% efficient. So you don't lose much energy.

A little inverter like this will do the trick. If you get one with 2 terminals on the back, you can easily hook up a Powerpole cable to it.

>On a separate note, have you had any experience with wiring 5v usb charger ports to the battery? Could I just use dc to dc converters with heatsinks?

For my USB charging of my phone, I got one of these and use my car USB charger in it. That gives me 2 USB charging outlets, with QuickCharge 3.0 which is what you want for really fast cell phone charging.

>Also, I'm a bit confused about the fuses. Right now I'm planning on hooking up the battery to 3 switches (master, 12v cig outlets, and usb), two 12v cig outlets, and two usb ports (usb on one connection). Between those things, I was thinking of setting up a fuse box with one of these with a 3a fuse for the usb ports and possibly 5a for the car chargers? I don't know if it would be better to use 3a since I'm just going to have a dew heater and maybe (if I can find an adapter) a charger for my laptop.

One fuse coming off that battery is plenty. These things RARELY short out.

You don't need switches, just unplug stuff you don't need.

>If I were to use the kind of fuse setup you mentioned, how would that work? It says it includes 40a fuses, would I just replace those with 10/15a? Also, if I were to use those wire fuses for each connection rather than a box like that, is there any downside to using different gauge wires? The website mostly says those wire fuses are 10 or 12 gauge while I was planning on using 16. I'm honestly not sure if I even need 16 for the setup or if I should just go with a thicker wire like 12 gauge for the entire setup.

Stick that fuse thing mentioned earlier on the battery. Yes I would swap the 40A fuses for 15A fuses. (Charging your laptop will take about 7A at 12V, so you need more than 3A for all the rest. That fuse thing is 10ga which is fine. 16ga is fine for all the wiring you add.

>I'm very interested in those powerpole connections.Do you have an example on your setup on how they are connected to the different components both inside the battery container and outside? Did you use the powerpoles on the inside or just normal wiring with insulated terminal connections?

I will take some pics. There is nothing in my battery box except a fuse holder that terminates in a Powerpole connector. That goes to an 8 position distribution block. Everything plugs into that block.

>Edit: For external use of those powerpoles, would you remove the 12v adapter male end from the wires on the device, connect the wires to their associated powerpole connection, and then plug that into the powerpole box?

I bought a number of 6' long cables from Digikey with a 2.1mm x 5.5mm connector on one end. I cut the bared end to length, and crimped on a Powerpole. Like in this pic. That was a 6' cord, but I only need 6" so it was tidier to chop it off. Note those are 18ga - thick enough for any one device. I like the red&black look.

>Thanks!

You are welcome.

One more thing. I do recommend buying the crimp tool. I have NEVER had a problem with reliability of connections using this. You might get away with crimping with pliers, but an intermittent connection in the dark will drive you nuts.