Questions about choosing and installing an inverter

What are the good brands of inverters and what size should I be looking for? I've been doing some reading on here and see some people have larger units(no puns here people..... ), but others say all we can run are 400watt or so. I'm probably only going to use it to charge a laptop, cordless drill, or run a worklight.

Is there run to put one below the cupholders or similarly in that area so that I can pull the cupholders and be able to switch it on and off? I am wanting to pull the plugs and usb port(if the model I get has one) and move them to another location. If anybody has any good ideas about that, please let me know.

How would I go about wiring this up direct from the battery? Would just an inline fuse be sufficient or would I need something else?

 

bump for some info

 

I'm curious as well.

 

I suggest you go to the Xantrex and Blue Sea websites.
Both are good brands of inverter and related wiring stuff.
I'd strongly suggest adding an auxiliary battery, so as to not kill your engine start battery, if you go up to a really useful size inverter like 700-1000 watts.
400 watts is fine for chargers and running a computer.
For halogen work lights, AC air compressor, power tools you really need more.
Figure any AC load by multiplying AC amps by 120 to get watts required - i.e. 5 amp drill motor x 120 = 600 watts.
Figure battery load by dividing watts by 12 - 500 watt halogen light will draw more than 40 amps of battery.
In line fuses on draw and charge side.
Good luck.

 

I'll be sure to check them out.

 

anybody else?