Inverter question?

[Surfer]

We have a 150w inverter which we have never used. On checking it appears that if we connect it up, we are unable to close the battery box door. Secondly the gap between the top of the battery and the top of the battery box does not leave sufficient room to connect the inverter battery clamps.
As we bought the inverter in 2004 it is unlikely that it is a pure sine wave inverter and may damage our laptops or charging equipement if there is a spike etc. Can any one suggest a non Chinese made 300w sine wave inverter that is reliable? A link toi a site woudl eb useful. Thanks.

 

[JTQ]

I have only found that some of my modified sine wave inverters don't work with some laptop/phone/camera chargers not that they have ever done damage, however some combinations work. So if you are feeling brave it is probably worth a try with your own units.
Also the 150 inverter is small enought to be drawing easily handled current levels, 12.5 Amps, so a DC extention lead is practical and if of reasonably short length and goodly proportions will be of little power loss, enabling the inverter to be out of the battery box. Make sure its DC feed is switched as they drain power when not in use, and I would put a 15/20 Amp inline fuse on the postive wire.

TLC the wholesaler do a quite compact 300Watt pure sine wave inverter but I don't know the modern ones and I have suspicions that even UK or US branded ones are likely to be constructed in China.
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SK651673.html

 

[Surfer]

We have just been down to the caravan and collected the Inverter. It is a
Ring 300w 12c DC to 230v inverter and not a 150w inverter. Included are
two sets of connection cables. The one has crocodile clamps and the
other goes straight into a cigarette lighter.

I have removed it from the packaging for the first time and it states on
the instruction manual that it is a modified sine wave inverter so
should be okay with electronics.

The connection from the battery to the inverter has no fuse, but the
instruction manual states that it has a built in "Over Voltage
Protection", "Short Circuit Protection" and "Overload Protection".

Seems there will be no need to buy one for the caravan, but as we have
many power outages during winter maybe a cheapie one for the lights in
the house may be an idea as it does not have to be a sine wave model.

 

[Trevormc]

Have you thought of a 12v car to laptop lead. You can change the cigar lighter plug for a 12 volt one.

They do work and charge the battery on the laptop very well, mine you can change the supply to the laptop they all have different voltages my laptop is 19 volts.

Trevor

 

[ChrisUK]

I found that the old inverter (Maplin) worked OK with my laptop but the laptop power supply did buzz somewhat when connected - not good. So I bought the appropriate 12v to 19.5V converter my Dell needed and that is perfect. I have found that modified sine wave inverters can kill some equipment, I have done for two electric tooth brush chargers using my inverter. Once about 5 years ago, then recently I made the same mistake and did for another tooth brush charger. I think the chrage is "induced" into the tooth brush, so waveform is important. Both times this happened the charger and inverter got too hot to touch.
The word "modified" could mean anything, mines a very chunky square wave. How you buy a good one I do not know, my old one packed up this year and I need to buy a new one, but differentiating between a good Chinese one and a cheap Chinese knock off seems imposible.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Another thought which for some may be practical, but it depends on what you want to use it for would be top look at an uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) as used for computer systems. Most of these produce a high quality Sine Wave output. The down side is they usually carry their own batteries, and that means weight, but also they tend to have an audible alarm that sound when mains supply is not available.

These come in varying sizes.

On the positive side, when you are at home you could use it to protect your PC from power spikes and power cuts allowing the machine to shut down safely.

 

[Surfer]

Reading these posts I am now very wary of using my modified wave inverter to power my laptop, the iPad and also the chargers for the Three wifi modem and Nokia phones. Maybe better to sell it and buy a Pure sine wave inverter? As mentioned previously if buying over the Internet how can you tell if it is Chinese or not as the current inverter is a Ring brand.

 

[ProfJohnL]

As mentioned previously if buying over the Internet how can you tell if it is Chinese or not as the current inverter is a Ring brand.

The simple answer is you can't tell. The vast majority of electronic systems of all sorts are now manufactured in China or other far eastern low waged sources. Even if you were to find one "manufactured in the UK or Europe" then the chances are the majority of the components used will have come from the far east.

 

[Gafferbill]

For what it is worth I have used a 150 watt modified sine wave inverter over a10 year period to charge laptops, phones and run a mains TV.
I have never had a problem except with electric tooth brush chargers......they are lethal to these chargers although the tooth brush itself remain undamaged.

This company sell reliable inverters of both types.......I also have their 600 watt pure sine wave which is a good piece of kit at a good price.

You will be hard pressed to find a non Chinese make!

 

[Surfer]

Thanks people I think I have found a solution around the inverter issue. I found this for the laptop. I can charge the iPad via the USB port on the laptop. The mobile phones can be charged via the 12v charger we already have in the car which I forgot about. The only thing that needs to run on the 240v is the Sky Digi box as the TV is a 12v version. Seems I will be okay with the current inverter.