Identifiy Inverter Please

[shovenose]

Got this one, but I am wondering if anybody has seen this type and knows brand, model, quality, wattage, etc. Thanks!

If it's not a piece of junk I want to put it in my truck.

[stj]

Re: Identifiy Inverter Please

open it, lets see what the board says.

and dont put the power in like that.
if those are socket-posts for a 4mm banana plug then get a pair of plugs and solder them to the wires.
using posts like that at hgh current is asking for trouble.

[shovenose]

Re: Identifiy Inverter Please

I'm using a cut apart pci-e signle molex adapter connected to some old seasonic psu. it works ok but input voltage drops to a bit above 11 and the wires are certainly quite toasty

not a good solution permanently but ok to test. running an hp desktop without a hard drive and a random dell laptop ok... but if i put a hard drive in the hp desktop the laod is too high and it starts to beep. either that or the input voltage drops too low.

will open it up and check. anything in particular i should be looking for?

[shovenose]

Re: Identifiy Inverter Please

Not world's most inspiring photography, but this looks cheap inside (not that I know what I'm looking at)...

[stj]

Re: Identifiy Inverter Please

general inspection really.
soldering quality, cap quality,
part numbers on power transistors can be used to calculate maximum theoretical wattage.

obviously anything printed on the pcb could be searched.

[stj]

Re: Identifiy Inverter Please

it looks pretty good for what it is.
all parts soldered flat down, wires well soldered etc.
even uses a microcontroller.

i'v seen much worse.
does it have an input fuse/breaker?

[shovenose]

Re: Identifiy Inverter Please

It has three 35A fuses.

[budm]

Re: Identifiy Inverter Please

All fuses in parallel? They do that a lot.
Single input fuse 12V @35A is 420W, but if the fuses are parallel then it sure does not look like 1000W unit, the input wires are small and connected in parallel.

[shovenose]

Re: Identifiy Inverter Please

So it's either a great 300W unit or a terribly over-rated 1000W unit? lol

Should be fine to charge the occasional laptop. What gauge wire do I need to bring 12V from the battery? I want to put an inline fuse near the battery, then bring some decently thick wires through a pre-drilled hole somebody made in the cab from the engine bay, then break it into a sort of 12v "power strip" if you will... two cigarette lighter sockets, a 5v usb, and the inverter.

[stj]

Re: Identifiy Inverter Please

probably a 600 - 750w

[budm]

Re: Identifiy Inverter Please

10AWG at least to have less loss in the wires.

[ben7]

Re: Identifiy Inverter Please

10AWG at least to have less loss in the wires.

Yeah. You can use thinner wire to a certain degree, but you will have more losses.

probably a 600 - 750w

Yeah, I was thinking somewhere in that range. I'd probably say 500W to be safe xD

Looks generic to me, no manufacturer labels anywhere that I can see.
Cheap looking caps.
Also, some of the chips are in sockets, not sure that I like that, but they don't look corroded (from what I can see). So they are probably fine.

LOL!!! Look how they removed the dust cap/tab thing from the buzzer/speaker and stuck it on the transformer! Lazy workers! xD

Also, I'm not sure why the input power wires go to the side with the small heatsink. I would think that the other side, with a whole bunch of transistors, would be the input side. Plus, I would also think that the input side transistors would have more losses, so they should be on the case, where they can have more heat dissipated.