12v power inverter and little 110v welder?

[Sberry]

I have one in my pickup, the danger can be overheating the alternator and harness wiring. I only use it intermittently but used number 2 wire, used a disconnect and one of the black wires is a piece of 14 so wired to a gfci outlet on the front of the truck. The unit has 2 recepts, I usually reach down and plug it in if needed.
I also hook a set of wires to 12V lugs for jumper cable hookup, this is handy and a saftey deal. I do it to most of our work trucks, this is a simple version in the lug pic.

[DSW]

Sberry We use forklift disconnect plugs for the same basic thing that you use the terninals for. Our jumpers are all set up with std clamps on one end and the male disconect on the other. I actually run mine thru the power cable that runs the plow motor. Same disconnect idea.

I'm somewhat surprised by your comment on the alt. wire. I would think that it should handle that out put that the alt produces. I'll make a point on talking to they who rebuilds our alternators and sells us our batts. I've got a diesel with the heavy service alt. so I doubt I'll have to many problems. I figured to go a pair (2 hot 2 neut) of 1/0 or 4/0 welding leads to the front batts, but again I'm going to see what our guy builds and see what might work best.

[Megawatt]

Nice post... interesting !

[kylediv]

it doesnt seem like anyone actually tried it so i went outside and plugged my dynasty 200 into my 2000w inverter off my car. its only really 1000w with a 2000w peak but will just barely run a microwave. i tried a 1/16 6013 at 35 amps and it wont even run that.

[spotsineyes]

I tried it last summer. I have a Coleman inverter, rated 2000W with 4000W peak. I was using my Maxstar 150.
I couldn't even strike an arc, the power inverter shut down as soon as the stick touched the steel.
I had to load up my 5500 watt generator and take it to the job, it doesn't flinch at the little Maxstar.
I would like to rent an inverter, if that was possible, to see how small of one I could get away with buying. After my experience, I would start with a 5000W/ 10,000W surge unit.

[hockeyguynick]

Once ya get pwr out to it, welding it should not be a problem. Like someone mentioned, there are few thick pieces of steel on containers. Their strength comes from the courogated walls and lift stacks(the only fairly thick part of it). I used to weld on em quite a bit repairing leaks, usually with stick metal though off a little generator/welder

[wrench3047]

Army contact trucks run a 2500W inverter to run a 200 amp inverter based CC/CV machine. It works fairly well with a extra set of batteries for the inverter to keep from killing the truck if you let out magic smoke on system.

[Sberry]

I tried it last summer. I have a Coleman inverter, rated 2000W with 4000W peak. I was using my Maxstar 150.

Yes, I must have the same inverter, I had 3 new batteries, hooked them all together and it barely strike an arc. I would like to do some more looking, would be handy to be able to burn a couple rods from the pickup.

[Keith_J]

I cannot see any productive welding from batteries alone that would weigh less than a generator. Even large truck batteries are in the 120 amp-hour range for a 20 hour discharge. Which for that 120 amp-hour battery is a 6 amp load. Boost the discharge to 60 amp load and you are looking at a 50 amp-hour battery due to a quirk called Peukert's Law.

You might be able to tack a few times before the batteries are discharged. Rent a generator.