Do I need an inverter?
You need an inverter if you want to run mains (230V) appliances from your battery — anything you would normally plug into a household socket. If everything you use runs on 12V or USB, you may not need one at all. The real question is not just whether to have one, but what you intend to run, because that decides everything about the size and the system behind it.
What does an inverter do?
Your leisure battery stores 12V (or 24V) DC power. Household appliances run on 230V AC mains. An inverter converts the battery's DC into 230V AC, so you can run mains kit without being plugged into a campsite hook-up. A combined inverter/charger does the same job and also charges your battery from hook-up when you do have it — two functions in one unit.
Do you actually need one?
Make a list of what you genuinely want to power away from hook-up. Many camper essentials — LED lighting, water pump, most fridges, phone and USB charging, even some TVs — run on 12V directly and need no inverter. You need an inverter for mains-only items: a laptop charger, induction hob, kettle or toaster, hairdryer, coffee machine, power tools, or domestic appliances. If your list is all 12V, you can save the money and the complexity.
What about heavy items like kettles and induction hobs?
This is where it gets serious, and where most under-sized systems come unstuck. High-heat appliances — kettles, toasters, induction hobs, hairdryers — draw a lot of power, briefly but hard. Running them needs a large inverter and, just as importantly, a battery and wiring that can deliver that current without sagging or tripping out. An inverter rated high enough on paper is useless if the battery bank behind it cannot supply the draw. This is the make-or-break calculation on a gasless van, where induction cooking is the norm.
What size inverter?
Size is driven by the largest load you will run, plus anything running at the same time, with headroom for the surge that motors and heating elements pull when they switch on. Going too small means it trips under load; going too big wastes money and draws more idle power. We do not believe in guessing this from a brochure figure — it should come from your actual appliance list and how you cook and live in the van.
The part people forget: it is a system, not a box
An inverter is only as good as everything around it — battery capacity, cable sizing, fusing and the charging that refills what the inverter draws. A big inverter on a small battery just flattens that battery fast. That is why we always size the inverter, battery and charging together, never in isolation.
How we would help
Tell us what you want to run — especially how you want to cook — and we will work out whether you need an inverter, what size, and what the battery and charging behind it need to be, so it actually works in use rather than just on paper.