Inverters and audio

**EnglishPaul** · 10-14-2007, 02:57 PM

Just wondering if anyone had experience of including audio equipment powered from an inverter?
I know that there are far better audio tools designed to run off of mains, but I do not know whether they work off of inverters (modified sign waves) and whether they produce lots of audio signal interference.

jaggerwild · 10-14-2007, 03:20 PM

Hello English Paul!
You mean taking 110 power and turning it into 12 volts?Not sure I understand the question is why I ask. I have used power inverters in auto applications for play stations and the like. Just need you to rephrase the question, or make it more simple for me.

**EnglishPaul** · 10-14-2007, 03:30 PM

OK. Firstly I have to say that my day job is sound and lighting, and so I know far more about mains sound equipment than 12v car equipment.

Over here mains power is 230v, in the USA it is 110v. An inverter is, as you thought, the equipment that turns a 12v dc supply into a mains ac supply.

The thing is that to make ac from dc, a sign wave has to be created. But most affordable inverters make a pseudo sign wave (sign wave like thing) instead of the real thing. But as far as I understand, audio relys quite heavily on sign waves (and video more so). So I was wondering in practical experience, whether people have used mains audio devices in their cars with an inverter, and whether they have had any problems.

Specifically I am less interested where an inverter is used to power a portable device such as an ipod, because there the ac is reduced to a dc voltage to charge and power the device. And dc to ac to dc either works or it doesn't; it is unlikely to produce audio interference.

jaggerwild · 11-12-2007, 08:40 PM

Yeah OK

,
So you want an inverter that will not cause wave interference? With audio out side the car but running from it. You would have to use a generator for this much draw as I assume your talking about, it's not practical to use an auto inverter to try this. And I can't really think of a way to do it, unless its running 110AC.
Only thing would be a generator, and it would have to be a special one unless over there they are already 230V. Or essentially two of our generators run together to make the 220V AC, then you would need a device to combine the two currents as one or two stage Phase changer if you will.
We got home depot give me your list I'll ship it FedEx for ya, lol

.
If you need more let me know.

10-14-2007, 02:57 PM	#1 (permalink)
EnglishPaul Still no avatar Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Sheffield Posts: 989 OS: XP SP2	Inverters and audio Just wondering if anyone had experience of including audio equipment powered from an inverter? I know that there are far better audio tools designed to run off of mains, but I do not know whether they work off of inverters (modified sign waves) and whether they produce lots of audio signal interference.

10-14-2007, 03:20 PM	#2 (permalink)
jaggerwild Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: NY Posts: 480 OS: Windows XP My System	Re: Inverters and audio Hello English Paul! You mean taking 110 power and turning it into 12 volts?Not sure I understand the question is why I ask. I have used power inverters in auto applications for play stations and the like. Just need you to rephrase the question, or make it more simple for me. __________________ JAGGERWILD

10-14-2007, 03:30 PM	#3 (permalink)
EnglishPaul Still no avatar Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Sheffield Posts: 989 OS: XP SP2	Re: Inverters and audio OK. Firstly I have to say that my day job is sound and lighting, and so I know far more about mains sound equipment than 12v car equipment. Over here mains power is 230v, in the USA it is 110v. An inverter is, as you thought, the equipment that turns a 12v dc supply into a mains ac supply. The thing is that to make ac from dc, a sign wave has to be created. But most affordable inverters make a pseudo sign wave (sign wave like thing) instead of the real thing. But as far as I understand, audio relys quite heavily on sign waves (and video more so). So I was wondering in practical experience, whether people have used mains audio devices in their cars with an inverter, and whether they have had any problems. Specifically I am less interested where an inverter is used to power a portable device such as an ipod, because there the ac is reduced to a dc voltage to charge and power the device. And dc to ac to dc either works or it doesn't; it is unlikely to produce audio interference.

11-12-2007, 08:40 PM	#4 (permalink)
jaggerwild Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Location: NY Posts: 480 OS: Windows XP My System	Re: Inverters and audio Yeah OK , So you want an inverter that will not cause wave interference? With audio out side the car but running from it. You would have to use a generator for this much draw as I assume your talking about, it's not practical to use an auto inverter to try this. And I can't really think of a way to do it, unless its running 110AC. Only thing would be a generator, and it would have to be a special one unless over there they are already 230V. Or essentially two of our generators run together to make the 220V AC, then you would need a device to combine the two currents as one or two stage Phase changer if you will. We got home depot give me your list I'll ship it FedEx for ya, lol . If you need more let me know. __________________ JAGGERWILD Last edited by jaggerwild : 11-12-2007 at 08:43 PM.