inverter help

I also am thinking of an inverter but are unsure of the size required for a Toshiba Saterlite 1400. According to the transformer input is 100-240v @ 1.5A and output 15v at 4A. I need a 24 volt inverter for my Nissan Safari.
Any electrical personnel able to assist?
John

1. Type :There are two types of inverters - Pure Sine Wave ; Modified Sine Wave.
Numerous threads discuss the difference.
The modified is aprox 1/2 price of the pure sine wave.
The experts say that some electronic gear will be damaged on the modified
Sine wave. Many users, including myself, use them without problems.

2. Capacity.
When a device is turned on, it _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx a 'start-up' current.
This can be many times higher than the running current.
Your inverter will have a 'Max capacity' , and a 'Peak' or surge capacity.
For example - Max 300W with a surge of 1000W.

3. I run my ASUS laptop on my 'Power Boss' modified sine wave inverter .
These are distributed by Redark Electronics from Adelaide (I think).
Cost me $175 from Ashdown electrical in Qld, 12 months ago.
Specs as above (300W / 1000W).
Has all the usual thermal protection; Overload; Low battery shut down etc.

4. The Jaycar unit (in my 2005 catelogue) looks identical - the case (shape), the size and location of the switch, leds and outlet; even the size, number and placement of the ventilation holes and slots looks identical.
Co-incidentally, their 300W unit is also 1000W peak.
I checked the specs sheet on mine (thermal; shutdowns etc) - same as Jaycar.

(if it looks like a duck; sounds like a duck; walks like a duck...)
Jaycar unit is called a powertech (the lable on mine is Powerboss).

The Jaycar catalogue for this item states ' Suits laptop computers....'. $119.95
Your call..........................Regards........Keith

got a modified sine wave one on ebay for $75, works fine for the laptop and phone charger, stereo, etc.
NickR

As Keith has mentioned, Powertech is the brand distributed by Jaycar.

I have a Powertech 300 watt modified sine wave unit and yes, it will power my older IBM Thinkpad X. I don't use it for that though.

I have mine for the rare occasion when I need to recharge the battery for the Video Camcorder. Everything else runs or charges from the 12 VDC sockets.

Alex, the best thing is to be clear what you need to run off the Inverter and whether the accessory requires pure sine wave input, or will run happily from the cheaper modified sign wave Inverter. Having decided that, buy one with sufficient capacity for your primary needs.

A 300 watt modified sign wave Inverter is a good, cheap compromise and should suit most applications and The Powertech brand from Jaycar is as good as any.

If you need to run a Laptop from 12 VDC the better solution IMHO is a dedicated Auto/Air Adaptor such as the Kerio 90W, or something similar. The Kerio is much more compact and is available from Dick Smith's for about $148.

I got one from suppercheap about 4 years ago and it's still going. It's a little rusty from all the beach trips. The only thing I had to change on it is a couple of fuses. I run my 100w lights at night from it...works a treat. I have used it for the lappy as well

Regads

Hi, we have ben running two 300w modified sine wave inverters from PowerCom since 1998, first one just failed (it gets used far more frequently, at 2 to 3 times a month for many hours at a time). They both are used for laptops primarily(Toshiba Portege) and various other things including 240v 4' flouro light at the same time as the laptop. I just bought another unit to replace it and didn't hesitate to buy the same brand. Unit was $89 from PowerCom in Brisbane.

Regards, DB..

I have a Dick Smith 300 W MSW (on special $99 last year) which runs everything fine except my faster laptop. My Dell 5150 is a 3.2Ghz pentium4 & _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx 10Amps constant when under load, so it is a beast. Even so, I took it into Val at Fridge & Solar and we tried it on a few different units up to a 500w MSW, and the laptop didn't like it. The Charge indicator kept flicking from A/C to Batt every second or so.

We chucked it on a 600w Pure sine wave and it worked fine. We left it at that. I didn't buy the 600 watt unit as it cost about $800 and I figured I'd rather put that money towards and honda & yammy gennie. Anyway was back there last week buying another 120 A/hr AGM batt for the trailer and we hooked the laptop up to a 150w Pure sine wave and it worked fine, drawing 10Amps constant. The 150W PSW units cost about $330, or about $400 for a 300W pure sine wave.

So the moral of the story is... take your gear in and try it out if possible.

Aaron.

Thanks for all your responses, Sandman I think I think I will be going down the same track as you. I will buy a 300w inverter for charging various batteries from phones to elactric tooth brushes and then buy a 12v power supply fror the laptop.

Cheers Alex

I got the powertech 400W inverter from ebay, have been using it
for 2 weeks in simpson to run laptop, external hard drive and charge batteries at
the same time. Haven't got any problems with it in last 8 months or so that I got it.

Ebay link

Make sure if you buy an inverter that it is "Electrically isolated"

i.e. 240v can't get through to 12v and vice versa.

A lot of cheap inverters are not isolated and could potentially be dangerous.

Incidentally i bought mine from Jaycar. (300w electrically isolated)

Regards
David