What do you guys think is a good sized power inverter. I dont need a really big one, but I would like it to use It for a laptop, charging drills, possibly an air compressor.

 

You'll need a huge one to run a compressor. All the rest of that stuff should be fine on a 400W unit.

 

How much are you thinking..I usually just use my 12v volt one, i just want to get one a little bigger

 

It really depends on how many amps the compressor draws, but I think even a smallish one would draw at least 10 amps. So you would need an inverter in the 1500 watt range. Something like that would suck your battery down pretty fast.

 

Stepping up to 110v AC just to run an air compressor is not very efficient, in terms of what it would cost you and the power usage, and the fact that it just overcomplicates it... You'd be better off using a compressor that runs off 12v DC. A good quality DC to AC inverter that will reliably put out enough wattage to run even a small 110v AC compressor is going to cost more than just a 12v compressor setup. If you're handy with electrical and are a little crafty, you could get a 12v DC compressor used for air suspension, maybe a second hand one from a junk yard, and run it's air to a small 5 gallon tank and use that. It might pull 30 amps at most, and it might not run air tools for very long, but you should be able to put 100+ PSI in it and inflate tires pretty quick with it.

 

Blazen, I think I know someone who has an wrecked lincoln mark viii. I could see if I could use that. I'm going to be adding alot of electrical upgrades soon. Luckily for me, I'm an electrician and have a collection of wire , terminals, heat shrink from work. If I ever use a compressor, I always have the engine on...always. as we speak I'm talking to a coworker to help me make a holder for 2 small batteries to go in stock jack location.

 

I have a plan for on-board air in the works. I have a Firestone brand 12v compressor that's used for air bag helper springs that I pulled off a dually in the junk yard, and also have a 20-30 gallon (not sure exactly how large it is...) tank that came out of an LPG converter car, it's round and was mounted in the spare tire well, and since I moved my spare tire to the rear carrier, I have the perfect little space under the rear for it

 

I carry a CO2 tank. It airs tires up faster than any on-board compressor, and doesn't take any battery power.

 

Co2 tank... I've never thought of that. Blazen red, have you ever considered putting secondary batteries in the spare tire area?