Ninja 1000W Smoothie Maker

Kamate

My wife would like to use her Nutri Ninja Pro BL481 for her smoothies, it pulls a 1000W.  Before we got our 2021 T@b 400 BD, she used the Ninja to make her smoothies at home but she then got a Vitamix for the house and she asked if we could move the older Ninja "Bullet" blender to our T@b.

We picked up our T@b the first week of March and blew out the inverter fuse on our second day when I thought it was ok to plug the 1500W "small" space heater while on battery power alone.  We got that fixed but now ANYTHING electrical freaks me out and I'm REALLY super concerned to plug the Ninja in and see if it works.  Basically my questions are:

1.  Would it be safe to use a 1000W small blender when on just battery power (Boondocking)?
2.  Would it be safe to use the 1000W small blender when plugged to shore power at home via dog bone?
3.  Would it be safe to use the 1000W small blender on generator power if nothing else is running (Honda eu2200i)?

My thoughts are "Yes" to all the above but I'd love to get some reassurance.

Thanks in advance for your continued help!!!
AJ

Dutch061

Yes to all 3, it is going to suck some amps to do it though.

I brew coffee with a 4 cup Mr Coffee on our 2020 400 BDL and as long as I have enough battery it is not a problem.


Brad

pthomas745

Which inverter do you have?  I hear there is a 2000w version out there.  If so....that 1000 watt blender will work on battery. But:  the issue here is the "start up power" or "surge" of the blender.  That is a big motor to jump start.  So....watch for that. 

At 1000 watts...the blender  would use 83 amps from your battery in an hour.  (That is a simple calculation:  1000 watts divided by the 12V).  In reality...it is probably a bit more due to the inverters need for power, and various electrical engineering things.     I doubt you would use a blender for an hour...but even 5 minutes would mean about 1.5 amps per minute.  Completely doable..but just pay attention!

Denny16

The TaB400 comes with a 1200watt inverter.  The 2000 watt unit mentioned in a different discussion was a AIMS warranty replacement, for a defective 1200 watt.  The blender may or may not work very well with the 1200 watt inverter.  A small microwave did not.
cheers

GaryMak

Question: Have this 2022 320S for 4 days now.  Wanted to test out using my Nespresso machine.  Just read the comments in this discussion chain.  Took my inverter from my Subaru, plugged it in to the 12v cig lighter / inverter outlet, and immediately blew a fuse!  Didn't even use it, just plugged it in... So clearly there's more to it than that... I see that the cig lighter outlets are 15 amps.  I saw the inverter was 20 amps.  Methinks that's the cause, but I don't see any mention in any of the discussions that you first better match the inverter amp rating to the 15 watt amp rating of the cig lighter outlets...  We just want to make a decent cup of coffee when we get up in the morning...  Any suggestions on how to set up the coffee maker?  Thanks!

pthomas745

Welcome to the Forums!  How big is the inverter from the Subaru In Watts?  Yes, that is kind of strange behavior...the fuse it should have at least waited for you to plug your Nespresso machine in! Because it would have blown then.

The math is simple:  a 15 amp circuit on a 12V system means the maximum usable watts for the 12V ports are 180.  (15a x 12v=180w). In reality, the actual maximum can be much less, depending on the initial "surge" of the device you plug into the inverter, and, the power needs of the inverter itself. 

I use several inverters in my 320, one a 300 watt.  But, mostly, I'm running a laptop (only about 50 watts) through a 120 or 200 watt inverter.  It works well, costs me about 4 amps or so if I run it for an hour.

So: the biggest device you can run on the 12V port wired to a 15 amp fuse is 180 watts.

If you have an inverter connected directly to the battery, which does not have to go through that 15 amp fuse, you can go bigger.  The trailer discussion above was about the Tab 400, which has an installed inverter wired directly to the battery. In the responses, the larger wattage items worked with the 1200 watt inverter. The 400 has large battery banks, and most have solar to recharge, so the owners can splurge with some electrical items, as long as they have a good handle on the wattage of the devices and cost to their battery amps.

I have a 2017, and I've used an 1000 watt inverter attached directly to the battery with alligator clamps.  It works, but using 1/3rd of my battery capacity for 12 minutes with an InstaPot is not something I would do every day.  I measure everything I use on my inverters, so that I can try to make a basic prediction of what percentage of my battery capacity this "convenience" will cost me.

Some 320 owners have installed their own inverters, wired directly to the battery, so it can be done. It is a convenient thing.  But, battery capacity is still the key. 

GaryMak

Well, thank you for the welcome and thank you for the advice and insights.  Electrical work is a bit beyond my comfort level.  What's confusing is that there is there are 2 amp figures given - plus the maximum wattage of the unit itself, and how many watts it puts out - which is different and seems like a bit of hocus-pocus.  The unit says "20amps" and puts out 200 watts.   I've uploaded an image of the Subaru inverter.  I guess I need to find one that is 15 amp and outputs enough to drive the Nespresso which is 1255 watts.  Hmmm.... I'm now guessing that that might be an electrical impossibility (unless on shore power of course, then I can just plug the darn thing into the outlet... I was imagining a nice cup of coffee in the morning somewhere NOT in a camp ground...)

pthomas745

A 200 watt inverter "might" run an item that uses 200 watts of power.  It will never run a 1255 watt device.  To run your Nespresso, you will need an inverter rated at least 1500 watts (I'm assuming this, look at Denny16's comment above, he knows more about this than I do) and that inverter will have to be attached directly to the battery.

Start checking out all those little labels on electrical devices, or look for the numbers in the manuals.  If you try to use this inverter with an item that uses 300 watts of power, it will shut off or blow a fuse on the inverter itself.  But, as I said above, it would easily handle a laptop or some other small electrical device.  Just...check the wattage requirements.

All that stuff means is (in my bare grasp of it all):  It takes a 12V "direct current input" (from the "cigarette"  12V plugs in the trailer). The inverter does its magic, and "outputs" (through the "household plugs" on the unit) regular 115 volts "alternating current" just like your home electrical system.

"12V DC" means the battery power in the trailer.

Look up 1000 watt inverters on Amazon, etc.  They are physically much bigger than the smaller inverters.

GaryMak

Thanks for your explanation! (And willingness to draw large pictures for someone who doesn't grasp all this stuff.)

One thing I am still confused about is the max wattage draw on the 12v cig lighter with a converter.  The cig lighter outlet fuse is 15 amps.  That would mean, according to my elementary understanding of what fuses do,  that drawing more than 15 amps is no good and will blow the fuse, such as I did on Day 4 of ownership when I plugged in that converter  with nothing attached to it.) But nowhere can I find how many watts that equals.  Most devices

Since my 200 watt inverter blew the fuse - with nothing attached to it - that leads me to believe that those 12v cig outlets can't handle anything but some number of watts below that (<200.)  Are there specs in the owner's manual somewhere that I missed that tell you how many watts they can handle before blowing?  I've read through them and done a search on the PDF version and there is can find nothing.  Instructions for devices usually just give volts & watts info, not amp.  The fuse just gives maximum amps.  

I think my iPad charger draws (25 watts) and my laptop charger draws (85 watts.)  Yes, that's significantly less than the 1225 watts of the Nespresso, but at this point, it's a guess.  It would be great if there was something from Nücamp that says "Maximum wattage load for models equipped with a converter is XXXwatts."  That's very clear.  Then we'd know: "Hmmm, 1225 watts.  Says 'no more than 600 watts through the 12v socket with a converter.' Guess I can't do it." (Then, of course, be sure to tell us owners exactly what kind of converter is in our units!).

Bottom line I guess, no coffee when we're not hooked up to shore power.  Bummer.

Dutch061

Okay, to make this as simple as possible.

Voltage = pressure (IE water pressure)
Amps = flow (IE gallons per minute)
Watts = Voltage x Amps

So, 200 watts = 16.66 Amps (200 / 12 = 16.666) or in AC =  1.66 Amps (200 / 120 = 1.6666)

Why it blew the fuse if it was not turned on or anything plugged in I can't explain. There is an "in rush current" that may be higher for a very short period of time to charge capacitors etc. but should drop very quickly. Typically fuses are not "fast blow" for this reason.

As @pthomas745 mentioned when you look at higher watt inverters you will find they are hard wired directly to the batteries. This is because of the amperage draw. Even if inverters were 100% efficient, they still take 10 x the Amps at 12 volts to produce 120 Volt AC power.

Hopefully this short explanation helps!

Brad

GaryMak

    Much obliged!  I can work with those as base formulas.  I'm beginning to see that all the stars are seemingly aligning up not necessarily according to my desires, so we may have to boil water and do a French Press... messier than just tossing those little Nespresso modules, but good coffee.  Thanks for your patience and details.  

pthomas745

A 12V circuit...with a 15 amp fuse:  12V times 15 amps= 180 watts.  That is the maximum the 12v outlets in the trailer can draw before blowing the fuse.

There are some 10 amp fuses in the trailer, too.  12V times 10 amps= 120 watts.  That is the maximum that circuit can  draw before blowing the fuse.

Your ipod charger says 25 watts?  You want to use the charger on a 12V system.  25 watts divided by 12V = 2.08 amps.  Well below the 15 amp limit of the fuse.

Laptop charger?  85 watts divided by the 12V= 7 amps.  Still good.  (That means 7 amps an hour out of your battery...plus the extra power required by the inverter to do the work of conversion for you.)

Took me a while to get these really simple math tricks in my head.  Also remember, the power labels on the devices are usually the maximum the device "might" draw.  My laptop is a 80 watt charger also, but it has never come close to drawing that much power.

Towhee

We had a 1500 watt inverter on our boat that ran out Nespresso very well.  The inverter must be true sine wave type to run the Nessie.  Our previous inverter was a "modified sine wave" and did not work.  On our Tab we stick with shore power to run our Pixie.

GaryMak

Towhee- Thanks.  "Modified sine waves." Gosh, who would have thought?  And where would I get that info? It would be a wonderful world if the manual would just tell you what the parameters are.  Perhaps that's the industry I come from (medical) - as a manufacturer, you have to put every last detail and warning and spec in your instructions and manuals, and be prepared to be the expert of last resort - as you are the one responsible for misunderstandings or misuse due to failure to inform.  Sigh.  I guess I expect too much of other industries to do the same... At this point, I've ordered a small French Press for non-shore power situations.  It just seems like it's the path of least resistance ( pun intended!) Thanks to you - and AJ, PThomas, Dutch & Denny for tips and advice! Much obliged.  It helped a lot.

ChanW

@GaryMak, the way I've seen it, if its output is true sine wave (the preferable wave, closer to normal AC current, something like you might see on the packaging of a woman's shampoo - as opposed to the cheaper square wave output that so often comes from rectified DC, more like Jughead's hair-style), the literature will brag about it.

IOW, if it don't say true sine wave, it's more-n-likely not true sine wave. (Also go with a better brand, whatever that is - which might give you actual specifications!).

tabiphile

Does anyone know how many amps my Bass-o-Matic draws? 

dragonsdofly

@tabiphile, if you have to ask, you don't have enough and can't afford it. Besides, I  don't actually see the product as a tasty breakfast or happy hour beverage. But, maybe in the wee hours, during a daring overnight fridge raid............

pthomas745

Well, it is the WHOLE bass, but it only takes a few seconds to do.  I'd say go for it!

SubaruLou

@GaryMak I can’t wrap my head around all the electrical calculations so I travel with a Goal Zero Yeti 1500X lithium power station. GZ just came out with a 1000X with the same surge power capacity. I have run my rice cooker and 3qt InstantPot on it as well as my home fridge during a power outage, so your Nespresso should run fine. It also allows me to power a Dometic cooler for days since I don’t trust the 3-way fridge off shore power. There are other brands, just look for pure sine wave.