Power Inverter questions

I drive a `97 Chevy Cavalier with a 2 month old battery and a year old alternator, (with a lifetime warranty :wink: ). Do these inverters really work? How safe are they and what kind of strain do they put on the vehicle? What types of electronic products can I run off of them safely?

I found a good deal today on two Coleman power inverters. They are the portable kind that sit in a cup holder and plug into the cigarette lighter socket. One is rated at 200W, (PMP200XL), and the other at 400W, (PMP400XL). The 400W was only $5.00 more and has an extra AC outlet and also is capable of being connected directly to the battery with the provided "jumper cable" type clamps. I don't want to keep both inverters but I don't know which one to keep if any.

I'm going on vacation with the family in a few days and I thought an inverter might come in handy for charging up the camcorder and digital camera batteries while on the road. I don't plan on using the inverter to power the toaster or any "Clark W. Griswald type" Christmas light spectacular, so would the 200W model be good enough or should I stick with the big gun and keep the 400W?

I drive a `97 Chevy Cavalier with a 2 month old battery and a year old alternator, (with a lifetime warranty :wink: ). Do these inverters really work? How safe are they and what kind of strain do they put on the vehicle? What types of electronic products can I run off of them safely?

I found a good deal today on two Coleman power inverters. They are the portable kind that sit in a cup holder and plug into the cigarette lighter socket. One is rated at 200W, (PMP200XL), and the other at 400W, (PMP400XL). The 400W was only $5.00 more and has an extra AC outlet and also is capable of being connected directly to the battery with the provided "jumper cable" type clamps. I don't want to keep both inverters but I don't know which one to keep if any.

I'm going on vacation with the family in a few days and I thought an inverter might come in handy for charging up the camcorder and digital camera batteries while on the road. I don't plan on using the inverter to power the toaster or any "Clark W. Griswald type" Christmas light spectacular, so would the 200W model be good enough or should I stick with the big gun and keep the 400W?


400w won't hurt your car. i would keep that one.

especially since you have new battery and young alternator

As long as it's a good brand you should be fine. You'll want to look at the wattage output and also the amperage needed for it to work at said wattage. You don't want to put 40amp load on the cig. socket or it'll blow fuses.

BTW, those are pretty small inverters so you'll only be able to plug in very small devices. I permenatly installed a 1400w unit in my truck to mainly run the PS2 but also to run other big things in case I might need them.

It all comes down to what you want to run in the car. Every electrical device will tell you how many amps it requires. As long as you dont go over the amp rateing on the inverter you will be fine. The one I have was designed to run a laptop or a charge a cell phone. It's small and plugs directly into the cig lighter.

A 400W should run a gaming system and a LCD moniter. But again it comes down to the amp raiting on the inverter. Some devices are made to run on smaller amp's for travel so these inverters can run them.

Thanks to everyone who responded to this post. I decided to keep the 400W model just for the versatility of having both the cigarette lighter and the battery clip options.

Here is an important note for anyone who is considering the purchase of one of these gadgets ........ I did learn from reading the enclosed documentation that the cigarette lighter hookup is ONLY for AC appliances that draw LESS THAN 200W! Using the inverter for any AC appliance OVER 200W requires that the inverter be connected directly to the battery via the supplied battery clips! Understandable.

I took the inverter on vacation with me last week in the rental car but never used it at all. I have a feeling it will remain just another dust collector but at least I have 1 in case I ever need it! :)