Pure sine wave inverter Vs modified wave

Paul, I had a D.Smith modified square wave inverter and it used to run by battery drill recharger, video camera battery charger and 34cm colour TV ok. The only thing that it wouldn't run was my electric shaver, although it did run my electric hair clippers! Cheers.

Paul,

Modified sine wave inverters produce more harmonics than pure sinewave inverters, this is why they are not suitable for harmonic sensitive equipment such as laptop computers. Other devices such as battery chargers that use capacitors in the circuit can also be damaged by cheaper modified sine wave inverters. Fridge compressors don't like modified sinewaves either and on startup the initial surge can also damage an under rated inverter.

Paul,We run laptops (always on power whenever the vehicle is running), video battery chargers, Sat phone chargers, Coleman rechargable lights, 240V light bulbs, sleander blenders and a just about anything else you can imagine on our DSE 300Watt cheap inverter. I am an electronics engineer and we could argue the toss about modified wave vs pure wave systems all night however, I have never had any problems with the modified wave equipment. Additionally, I am in the IT business supporting large computer network systems with a mix of UPS systems with modified and pure wave equipment and I can not really in todays market find much that will not run with the modified inverter systems. If your equipment uses a transformer based DC output then you really will not have any problems, some AC supplied system may need to be looked at bit closer but really lets be practical power supply systems today are far superior and will handle a lot more poor input power than in years gone by.I would be interested to hear from anyone that has had a problem with modified wave inverters as I would think the occurance's would be far between. Just make sure you do not overload the system. As for shavers I do not use electric shavers but if it has a battery in it ie. rechargable you would not have a problem.All the best David

Thanks David. That has just cleared up a heap of issues for me in one hit. Especially seeing as I need to aquire an inverter post haste for a trip I am heading off on in about a months time. From what you have said, the 300W DSE unit will be perfect for my requirements. Many thanks. cheers, Sam.

David, in addition to my last post. How have you connected the unit up to the vehicle's power supply. Do you use the cigarette lighter plug (if it comes with one - the DSE site doesn't mention/picture it), and if so, do you find it over heating? or have you modified it to use a heavier duty 12v connection? cheers, Sam.