Power Inverter

Gadgeteer Hands On Review

March 25, 1999

      Well this page is about gadgets and what better to review then a power inverter, that allows you to use all of those nifty gadgets on the go.

    First some people don't know what a power inverter is, ok I will explain. A power inverter takes the 12 volts DC from your car and inverts them into 110 Volts AC. You can run you PC in your car. How it does this I won't go into, all you need to know is that it works

    I bought my power inverter on Aug 7, 1997 and have loved it from day one. I bought the PC300HS by power-to-go for $59.00 at Wal-Mart (California). PSC300HS will supply 300watts of continuously, and will
peak upto 600watts. I own 3 power inverters, a 50 watt given to me by a friend, this 300watt, and a 1600watt and my favorite of the 3 is this one.

    You have two options on wiring it to your car, they first is simply plug it into your cigarette adapter, they second is connecting it directly to your battery with the included cables. There are 2 outlets on the back of the inverter that allow you to plug in household items (if you need more then 2 outlets you can use a power bar, just make sure
the total watts of all items does not exceed 300watts). Other nice features that it has are auto shutoff, when watts peak too high for too long, fuses that are designed to blow before your cars fuses blow (much easier to replace fuses in inverter then most cars) Battery protector is a feature that I have only seen in this inverter, the inverter monitors your battery and if it drops near the point where the car won't start the inverter shuts off.

    Will power cell phones all laptops, stereos, fans, lights, TV's computers, even a microwave oven, and much much more.

    This inverter also saved me from embarrassment. During our homecoming parade we got caught in the worst storm that I have ever seen in my area. a lot of the floats were destroyed and one even blew away but our float survived the downpour, except the gas generator shorted out and started fire, we did get the fire out but the generator was gone for good, what good is a light float without lights. Then I remembered my power inverter, decided why not, the worst that can happen is my inverter dies. Well it pulled through powering all 10,000+ little lights for over 3 hour powered by the battery in the truck pulling us.

    I rate this great tool:

Construction: A+ (worked great in a raining downpour, UNIT DOES NOT CLAIM TO  BE WATERPROOF, AND WE ISOLATED THE WIRE POINTS)
Battery Life: A+ (Depends on what you are powering)
USABILITY: A+
Overall Rating: A+

    I think this is the single most practical gadget I own.

Andrew Baker
ab082@cvip.fresno.com