PS2, and Charger Battery consumption

Question

I recently just bought the Xentrex Powersource Mobile 100 power inverter plus rechargeable battery seen here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000VMR21C/themussou02341920-20

And it works great with powering my PS2 and other game systems that dont go above 60w needed for power (or 80w if plugged into the car with a maximum spike protection of 160w, 100w continuous). Under the battery I timed it and powers my PS2 for about 1hr and 20min which is great also considering it's an inverter so if the battery goes out, I can play and charge in my car. The question though is regarding the vehicle battery consomption.

In the manual, it claims that running off the battery, you'll probably get about 4 to 5 hours off a regular car battery before the low car battery charge shut off in the unit activates which kind of "erks" me a bit as to I'm not sure if I want to do that.

My question is, if I were just to get a regular power inverter with no battery for just my car, would it preserve the charge in my vehicle battery longer than this unit or will it be about the same? Is it a big concern?

Answer 1

If you bought a regular inverter, there would be no advantage to your car battery.  Either device would take only the charge it needs from the battery to power the PS2.

The reason your Xentrex shuts down prematurely, is that it is not designed to run off of too low an input voltage.  As the car battery runs down, the Xentrex will run hotter, and will shut down to protect itself.