Hair care on a small generator

How to look good while boondocking!

A question from the Rockwood Facebook Group

I've searched for an answer to my question, but didn't find one. We are boondocking for a week for Thanksgiving and have a 1800 Watt generator. Would I be able to use a flat iron on my hair a couple of times?

Thanks all! - Linda W.

Hey Linda,

I just looked up power requirements of a typical flat iron, which is listed as 330 watts at 120 volts. So as long as you’re not running your microwave oven or the electric element in your water heater (either of which could be iffy with an 1,800 watt generator) the flat iron should work just fine. - Mike Sokol

Hey Mike Sokol,

My wife uses hers on the inverter which is only 1000 watts... Generator should be good, like Mike said, only about 300 watts. Bigger issue is blow dryer, microwave and coffee pots. -Josh C

How much battery charge would an inverter use?

As Josh noted, a 300-Watt Flat Iron should work well on a 1,000-Watt inverter. I’m not sure how much energy it would use from the battery to do your hair, but I’m guessing less than 100 Wh (Watt-hrs), so maybe 8 Ah (Amp-hrs) from a 100 Ah battery.

Let play (and style) safe out there… Mike