Powering stuff from a car battery

Toby · 11-05-2009, 14:18

How much current can I safely draw from a car battery before I need to worry about actually starting the car?

Basically am going to be away from a mains power source for five days and will need to use an invertor to charge things like cameras, phones & laptops. Whilst I can run the engine, it's far more convenient to just leave such things on charge in the car overnight. I can't imagine such items would draw much current so I'm hoping I'd be safe leaving things like this charging without the battery running without fear of flattening it?

I have a power meter so I could measure the actual draw with various items plugged in but how do I find out how much is safe to pull before I need to start the engine?

11-05-2009, 14:18	#1
Toby Absinthe Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,023	Powering stuff from a car battery How much current can I safely draw from a car battery before I need to worry about actually starting the car? Basically am going to be away from a mains power source for five days and will need to use an invertor to charge things like cameras, phones & laptops. Whilst I can run the engine, it's far more convenient to just leave such things on charge in the car overnight. I can't imagine such items would draw much current so I'm hoping I'd be safe leaving things like this charging without the battery running without fear of flattening it? I have a power meter so I could measure the actual draw with various items plugged in but how do I find out how much is safe to pull before I need to start the engine? __________________