Hi everyone
I have a mystery I'd like your help with.
A little while ago I bought a cheap 1500W 12v-240v inverter from Amazon to use for occasional camping trips. I initially hooked it up to my car battery and everything appeared to work fine, powering everything I needed for several hours at a time. Maximum power consumption never exceeded 100w AC. So far, so good.
I then decided to invest in a 75Ah deep cycle battery to make the system a bit more portable and avoid dependence on the car battery. However, the first time I hooked it up to the inverter (without any load), there was a fizzing sound, a little cloud of blue smoke and the inverter closed down, never to work again. A quick peak inside showed that one of the voltage regulators was burnt out. The battery was freshly charged and producing a nice, steady 12.7v and the inverter was supposed to have over/under voltage/current/heat protection, so I put it down to a faulty component and sent it back for a refund.
Next, I decided to buy a replacement inverter from a different supplier (Ebay this time), choosing a 1000W unit with a different brand label on it. As soon as I connected it to the deep cycle battery, there was a hiss and a tiny cloud of smoke, but everything appeared to continue working so I put it down to some stray solder paste burning off and connected up an audio amplifier drawing about 11W AC. However, 20 mins later, the warning buzzer sounded and the unit closed down. On further tries I realised that the cooling fan did not appear to be operating so contacted the supplier to explain what had happened and he kindly sent a replacement. Unfortunately, when this arrived, exactly the same thing happened. No cooling fan and the unit operates for a short while until it shuts down.
I'm now really confused. Can I possibly be this unlucky? Are all of these units faulty? Have I done something wrong? Or is there something different about the deep cycle battery (still supplying a steady 12.7 v) that could cause this to happen when the original inverter worked fine with the car battery?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Matt
P.S. The Ebay seller had told me that he did not want the first unit back so I opened it up and investigated the problem myself. The pins connected to the fan appeared to be supplying 12V but as soon as a load was applied, this disappeared to nothing. Connecting the fan directly to the battery input made it work and the unit now works perfectly without overheating and closing down.
I have a mystery I'd like your help with.
A little while ago I bought a cheap 1500W 12v-240v inverter from Amazon to use for occasional camping trips. I initially hooked it up to my car battery and everything appeared to work fine, powering everything I needed for several hours at a time. Maximum power consumption never exceeded 100w AC. So far, so good.
I then decided to invest in a 75Ah deep cycle battery to make the system a bit more portable and avoid dependence on the car battery. However, the first time I hooked it up to the inverter (without any load), there was a fizzing sound, a little cloud of blue smoke and the inverter closed down, never to work again. A quick peak inside showed that one of the voltage regulators was burnt out. The battery was freshly charged and producing a nice, steady 12.7v and the inverter was supposed to have over/under voltage/current/heat protection, so I put it down to a faulty component and sent it back for a refund.
Next, I decided to buy a replacement inverter from a different supplier (Ebay this time), choosing a 1000W unit with a different brand label on it. As soon as I connected it to the deep cycle battery, there was a hiss and a tiny cloud of smoke, but everything appeared to continue working so I put it down to some stray solder paste burning off and connected up an audio amplifier drawing about 11W AC. However, 20 mins later, the warning buzzer sounded and the unit closed down. On further tries I realised that the cooling fan did not appear to be operating so contacted the supplier to explain what had happened and he kindly sent a replacement. Unfortunately, when this arrived, exactly the same thing happened. No cooling fan and the unit operates for a short while until it shuts down.
I'm now really confused. Can I possibly be this unlucky? Are all of these units faulty? Have I done something wrong? Or is there something different about the deep cycle battery (still supplying a steady 12.7 v) that could cause this to happen when the original inverter worked fine with the car battery?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Matt
P.S. The Ebay seller had told me that he did not want the first unit back so I opened it up and investigated the problem myself. The pins connected to the fan appeared to be supplying 12V but as soon as a load was applied, this disappeared to nothing. Connecting the fan directly to the battery input made it work and the unit now works perfectly without overheating and closing down.