I installed a 600W inverter in my Mom's two vans as she's on oxygen and uses either a bottle or a concentrator.
If you plan to power anything more than 200-300 watts, here are a couple of things to consider:
1) Use the largest gauge copper wiring you can get. I went with what I believe was either 4 or 6 gauge battery cable from my local NAPA parts store.
2) It's also recommended that you keep the wiring from the battery to the inverter as short as possible.
3) They also recommend the use of an inline fuse to protect the inverter.
I can't remember for sure, but I either couldn't find a fuse large enough to handle the load or the fuses available were rediculously priced, so I went with a 50 Amp (?) breaker that I picked up at my local RV store. The electrical technician I talked with highly recommended the breaker over a fuse since if it does happen to trip, it will reset and you don't have to worry about replacing fuses.
She's been using it for a couple of years now with no problem, other than a bad battery. The inverter started shutting itself down fairly regularly. I did a little investigating and found that her Diehard battery was defective. Once we replaced the battery the inverter worked fine once again.
On her Previa, I just installed the inverter next to the driveline hump or bulge on the passenger's side. It's by no means a clean installation, but it's within easy reach for her to turn on and off as needed.
Good luck,
T
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