Can you use a 12 volt battery with a 48 Volt inverter?

Answer 1

Using a 48 volt inverter on a 12 volt battery almost certainly won't work. In all likelihood, the inverter won't even try to "come up" and drive a load. Let's look at inverters and then figure out what's up. An inverter (in the "usual" sense) converts some fixed DC voltage to an AC voltage which, though it doesn't have exactly the same wave shape as the stuff coming out of a wall outlet, approximates it well enough in voltage and wave form to run, say, a blender out on a tailgate party somewhere. (That would be a 12 volt inverter with appropriate wattage and plugged into the car's lighter plug. Something like that.) The electronics takes the DC voltage and runs it through a "switch" or "chopper" to turn it on and off. The semiconductor device which does this has converted the DC to AC (but not exactly to an AC sine wave like on the power grid). The "chopped" AC is stepped up through a transformer and the appropriate output voltage is thus generated. A bit of "wave shaping" is accomplished along the way, and final result is something that can pass for "household" power and drive that blender for the tailgater we mentioned. So we have an inverter powering up an AC appliance. It's got appropriate wattage to drive the thing. But we're running off a battery. What happens when the battery starts to run out of "juice" while we're working with the blender? Well, as the stored energy drains down, the output voltage of the battery will sag or fall off. And at some point the inverter, because of the electronics package that controls it and what it is set up to do, will decide that the input voltage is "too low" and it will shut down the inverter. It's a design consideration that most inverters share. How does that affect our problem? Read on. Try to drive a 48 volt inverter with a 12 volt source and it's unlikely the inverter will even power up because the electronics control circuits will nix the drive to the switch as a "safety" consideration. You're dead in the water. That's arguably the most correct answer. But there is a ray of hope. Several, actually. Suppliers of the 48 volt inverter would be the solar power industry, the so-called "survival" supply industry, the Golf car or electric vehicle industry or possibly the RV industry. Suppliers commonly vend inverters in 12, 24, 36 and 48 volt flavors. If you have a 48 volt inverter and want a 12 volt one, call a nearby company of one (or more) type and see if they'll make a trade. Odds are that they'd be happy to talk to you. Ask about an inverter that was a demo or one that was pulled from a system that was upgraded (and has been tested and deemed "good" by the shop). The bigger outfits usually have something in the "standby" or "backup" equipment locker. Run with those options and see what you can work out. Your inns of last resort may be eBay or Craig's list. As always, good luck with your project.