# picked up an inverter today



## budgetprepp-n

I picked up an inverter today. The guy that had it said he had no use for it and was going to put
it in a yard sale this weekend. I got it cheap and it was still in the box. It looks like it had never been
used it still had the wrapper on it and it was all there cabels, instructions, and they looked undisturbed.
Problem is it's a China made thing. I'm going to hook it up later today and see if I get a puff of smoke
or 120 volts. I'll let you guys know what happens. Anyone ever hear of Accurate tools? Sounds like something from harbor freight to me. 
It's a 12 volt Boy,,I hope this is good one


The previous owner said he got it with some other stuff when he was doing some trading
and knew nothing about it.


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## rickkyw1720pf

Most of the electronic things Harbor Freight sell has the name Chicago Electronics on them. If it is made in China it probably came from the same manufactures, actually if it is made in America it probably came from China and assembled in America.


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## Montana Rancher

A good prep no matter how you slice it, the batteries and solar panels will probably cost you more than the inverter.

Pure sine wave is a bonus.


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## budgetprepp-n

I hooked up the inverter today,,,,,,,, I must be getting some crappy electric back here in the mountains 
maybe the lines are old or something. When I hooked up the inverter I powered the tv with it and it has
never been clear but on the inverter it's got a super sharp picture. The inverter works great


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## HuntingHawk

Just looking at it, its one of the better ones coming out of china. Glad it works for you.


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## Montana Rancher

budgetprepp-n said:


> I hooked up the inverter today,,,,,,,, I must be getting some crappy electric back here in the mountains
> maybe the lines are old or something. When I hooked up the inverter I powered the tv with it and it has
> never been clear but on the inverter it's got a super sharp picture. The inverter works great


Not unusual as a pure sine wave inverter will make your appliances function better than under normal AC


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## budgetprepp-n

I found these "accurate Tools" inverters on ebay they go for about $160 for the 1500 watt
That's not a bad price,,,,,,If they last


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## Doc Leafman

Can you use an inverter on a small bank of batteries if wired right? How would adding a small solar panel for trickle charging the batteries do if added? I'm not to good with electricity so any help or suggestions would be great.


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## rickkyw1720pf

Doc Leafman said:


> Can you use an inverter on a small bank of batteries if wired right? How would adding a small solar panel for trickle charging the batteries do if added? I'm not to good with electricity so any help or suggestions would be great.


Simply hook the 12 volt solar panels to the battery bank (all 12 volt batteries in parallel ) and hook the inverter to the battery.


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## budgetprepp-n

Doc Leafman said:


> Can you use an inverter on a small bank of batteries if wired right? How would adding a small solar panel for trickle charging the batteries do if added? I'm not to good with electricity so any help or suggestions would be great.


 yes just so long as you have a battery thats charged up an inverter like this will give you 120volts
The trickle charger might take a long time to charge up the batteries but when they do get a full charge this will work. 
Some of the small watt ones even come with cables that look like jumper cables on the end so you can hook them
right to the battery in your car. But if you are going to run electronics like a computer or TV get a pure sine wave inverter.


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## GTGallop

budgetprepp-n said:


> I hooked up the inverter today,,,,,,,, I must be getting some crappy electric back here in the mountains
> maybe the lines are old or something. When I hooked up the inverter I powered the tv with it and it has
> never been clear but on the inverter it's got a super sharp picture. The inverter works great


Thats the benefit of the PURE Sine Wave. Super Clean Power.


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## Doc Leafman

This is awesome, you folks are right on top of things here. Thanks again.


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## srtayl

A quick reference on What/How Series and Parallel batteries look like and are wired.

Connecting Batteries in Series or Parallel

You are also going to have to provide more than a trickle of PV charging power... your TV is going to eat more than you can supply most likely.


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## BigCheeseStick

An interesting phenomena is laptops are especially picky about the sine wave. I've tried several laptops and several inverters, but have consistently run into a problem where the laptop will run off the inverters power, but not charge it's battery while plugged into the inverter. Other than the sine wave being off a bit I can't think of the cause. But it's something you might want to be aware of and check your own equipment for before a day comes that you have the same problem unexpectedly.


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## solardavid

Can you tell me if these or really pure sine wave and if so how much will it really run and how much is the no load draw thanks


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## budgetprepp-n

solardavid said:


> Can you tell me if these or really pure sine wave and if so how much will it really run and how much is the no load draw thanks


How much it will run depends on what size inverter you get. And my inverter draws .2 amps or 2.4 watts


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## LDSreliance

BigCheeseStick said:


> An interesting phenomena is laptops are especially picky about the sine wave. I've tried several laptops and several inverters, but have consistently run into a problem where the laptop will run off the inverters power, but not charge it's battery while plugged into the inverter. Other than the sine wave being off a bit I can't think of the cause. But it's something you might want to be aware of and check your own equipment for before a day comes that you have the same problem unexpectedly.


There is no way to know if it is a pure sine wave inverter or not without hooking it up to an oscilloscope and looking at the wave form. There are a lot of Chinese made inverters out there that claim to be pure sine wave but when they cost 1/3 of what the reputable ones on the market go for I would take it with a hefty dose of skepticism.


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## PaulS

the "modified sine wave inverters are a stepped square wave inverter and they should not be used for any electronic devices or inductance motors. You will be miles ahead paying the extra cost for a true sine wave inverter.


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