inverter strangeness.

 I bought a couple of 85 Watt inverters a few years ago.  They were
pretty cheap, came in a 2-pack from Sam's.  They've served me well
powering laptops, cell chargers and the like, until last night.

I plugged the 10w power supply in for my pda.  It is a switching
supply, I suspect, because it is very light.  I plugged the supply
into the inverter, inverter into car and was just getting ready to
plug in the pda when the inverter started hissing.  It had no fan or
anything with which to make a noise.  It was stinking as well, so I
unplugged it and tossed it out of the car before it decided to do
something worse.  I haven't found it yet, so I don't have a clue what
might have happened.  I'm wondering, do inverters have electrolytic
capacitors?

What is the deal with inverters anyway.  I've owned four in sizes from
85 to 1500, three out of the four are dead.  Do I need to quit buying
the cheap ones or what!  Maybe I'll try a small sinewave unit next
time.

 

Was the "hiss" more like a sizzling or like the sound of escaping gas?  And
what did the stink smell like?  Have you ever used the PDA supply with that
inverter before?  Did your PDA supply survive the encounter?

Some switchmode power supplies just flat won't get along with modified sine
inverters.  The most annoying device in my electronic stable is the DeWalt
power tool battery charger.  It flat won't work.  It doesn't damage anything
but it doesn't charge either.


I have in excess of 20 inverters, ranging from those little cigarette lighter
units like you have to the 2500 watt one in my MH.  Each of my 3 other
vehicles has a 1500 watt inverter mounted permanently.  Handy for all sorts of
stuff including running the microwave at picnics :-)

I've only smoked two.  One was a real POS Vector 1kW that Northern Tool used
to sell.  I forget what smoked it but it shouldn't have happened.  The other
was a ChiCom no-name 1 kW inverter that I had in my MH.  I had a DPDT
contactor set up to transfer from shore power to inverter power when the
inverter was turned on.  The switch happened so rapidly that power was applied
to the refrigerator compressor while it was still turning, it acted as an
induction generator, the two fought for an instant and the inverter lost.  Two
contactors with a 1 second delay between them solved that problem.

Something in the way you're using them is killing them.  Either that or you've
had an incredible run of bad luck.  A sine wave inverter will certainly solve
all the compatibility problems but whether it will solve the failure problem
is unknown.

JOhn
--
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.johndearmond.com  <-- best little blog on the net!
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
Risk: $20 hooker, year old condom.

 

It sounded like gas escaping, not like something ac current might do.
It didn't smell like burning electronics either, the stink was
different.  The power supply is fine.  The inverter has been found.
It even has screws holding it together.  I hope to open it up soon and
find out what the heck happened.  I'd never tried the power supply
with these inverters.  I don't think I will try it with the other one
either.  I found a cig lighter doubler that also has a usb charging
socket, so I may just buy that for the pda.

I seem to have all the luck when it comes to inverters.  Maybe if I
avoided the cheap stuff and the referbs I'd be okay, but dropping two
bills on a 125w inverter just plain smarts.

 wrote:



http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/puresine.html

Wayne

 On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:48:57 -0700, wmbjkREMOVE@citlink.net wrote:


Definitely worth checking out.  I think I'll have to pick one of those
up.  My other inverter doesn't seem to have the cap problem, but it
would sure be nice to have something I could plug the pda into without
wondering if I'm going to get a show.