another inverter issue!! HELP!!

I had one of those Cobra 1575 inverters and had nothing but problems. Have since upgraded to a huge one...all problems are gone now.

 

Anyone that equips their truck with the goodies needs to invest in a 2500W inverter. Many can get by on a 2000 Watt. But why not spend a few extra bucks for peace of mind. You never know what you might add. Inverters are an investment and tax deductible.

Cobra makes alot of average products, but they make an exceptional inverter.

I don't know why they even rate the surge on an inverter as it can only handle a microsecond of surge.

Microwaves need about 600 watts above it's rating for start up surge. That means the basic rating of an inverter and not it's surge rating.

Dorm fridge is about as big as you go. They run on about 70 watts and 150 on start up.

TV's, gameconsoles, DVD's, laptops all use very little wattage.

The only other wattage hogs are appliances like a coffee maker. Use them seperate from the microwave and you'll never have problems.

Always mount inverters as close as possible to the batteries. Under 4' leads is recommended and use extention cords from there. Long leads cause power drops and surges. Always double protect floor hole penetrations as that is where most shorts/fires happen.

 

Where are you grounding the inverter at?

 

Microwaves are rated by the power delivered to actually nuke the food. A 1000 watt microwave will probably consume 1200-1300 watts from the inverter.

My company only allows inverters up to 1000 watts. I tried an 800 watt microwave and it would overload the inverter. Eventually I found a 600 watt microwave at Walmart that works but it takes 5 minutes to nuke a bowl of Campbells soup.

 

It's possible you can have a bad inverter flyin scotsman. Another topic not covered is the size of the supply cable. A good rule of thumb is the cable has to be the size of the mount hole. You can't expect 6AWG wire to supply an inverter that requires 4AWG, if that's the case. And like stlwaco said, the unit has to be properly grounded. Run a seperate chassis ground to the ground lug on the unit.

5 minutes for soup?

 

Here is a link to a page about matching amp load to wire gauge.

http://www.skingco.com/portable_power/wiring_size_chart.htm