Electrical Question!

JARED PANEK

MEMBER
2008 BUICK LESABRE
AUTOMATIC
85,000 MILES

Can I run a small tv with Input Power: AC 100-240V 50/60Hz 30W off of a power inverter 1.74AMPS 200watts off of my cigarette lighter as my car is running? Will do any damage to the battery or alternator? I just want to run it for a short period of time thank you

2 Replies

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
108,269 POSTS

Hi,

You should be fine. The inverter will change the DC voltage to an AC current. As far as the power needs, you have more than enough wattage. It shouldn't hurt a thing. Actually, if there was an excessive power draw, it would cause the fuse to fail before damaging anything.

Let me know if this helps.

Take care,

Joe

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Monday, September 18th, 2023 AT 8:47 PM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,752 POSTS

Sure. I did this for a couple of years when I was away from home but couldn't bear to miss an episode of Last Man Standing! The only question has to do with the fuse for that circuit. Both the cigarette lighter and the power outlet are fed from fuse # 10, a 25-amp fuse. If your tv uses 30 watts, (power = volts x amps), that's.25 amp. That seems awfully low unless this is a really tiny tv.

Regardless, since the inverter runs on one tenth the voltage, it needs to draw ten times as much current to deliver the same power. .25 x 10 - 2.5 amps. That's well within the fuse rating for the power outlet. 2.5 amps x 12 volts = 30 watts.

There was no LeSabre model in 2008. This diagram is for a LaCrosse, but it should be similar for other models.

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