- Converts 12-volt DC power from your vehicle battery into 120-volt AC electricity
- Fast 2.1 Amp USB charge port charges iPads and other power hungry USB products
- Includes battery clips to power and charge devices requiring more than 120 Watts
- Three-prong AC outlet accommodates most chargers and adapters for mobile electronics
- Ships in Certified Frustration-Free Packaging
First of all, what's an inverter?
The electrical system in your car, boat, or RV runs on a 12 volt DC system. Your cigarette lighter outlet provides power at 12 volts DC. This is fine for things like a phone charger that have a 12 volt DC plug, but what about items that you normally plug into the wall in your home or office? Those devices run on 110 AC power. The role of the inverter is to change (or "invert") the output from your car's electrical system from 12 volt DC to 110 volt AC.
This AmazonBasics inverter provides a grounded 110 outlet for plugging in those household devices as well as a USB outlet for things like iPhones, iPads, etc. (which is a nice bonus).
So what makes this inverter different? First it's important to know that your vehicle's electric wiring isn't intended to run your toaster or hair dryer. Even though an inverter might be designed to provide a high output for larger devices (like a TV or satellite receiver), your vehicle's poor little cigarette outlet can't handle the load. I've used inverters that claim to support a higher load, and they either blow their own internal fuse, blow a fuse on the vehicle, or (worst case) don't blow any fuses and just burn out the wiring to that outlet. That's bad.
So the difference with this inverter is that it supports loads up to 130 watt through the cigarette lighter outlet. For loads from 131 watts to 175 watts, there is a set of alligator style clips to connect directly to the vehicle's battery.
There are plenty of other inverters out there that connect directly to the battery, but I've never seen one this compact and this inexpensive.
Warning: Only use the direct connection to the battery while your vehicle is parked. Don't try to prop open your hood and drive down the road watching TV.
Here's a little tip. Before you purchase any inverter, look at your devices and see what their loads actually are. Sometimes those specs are written in gobbledygook and are hard to decipher. And some devices have two loads: the initial startup load and the actual running load. The startup load for this inverter cannot exceed 175 watts. To be absolutely certain of the draw from your device or appliance, consider using something like this Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor. You plug the monitor into a wall outlet and then plug your device into the monitor. The readout shows you the peak usage and the running usage. If the peak draw is under 175 watts, then this inverter is OK for you.
Bottom line, I'm very happy with this inverter. It's the first one that I've ever had any success with at this wattage. Just make sure not to overload the 12 volt DC outlet with more than 130 watts. And don't use your toaster while you're driving down the road.The Amazon basics 175W pocket power inverter is the lightest I've seen, weighing in at only 6.1 oz. with the cigarette lighter plug attached. It is also quite small at 4" x 8" x 0.8", perfect for packing in your computer bag. Besides powering your laptop, it also includes a USB port capable of supplying 2.1A, which plenty for charging a phone, iPad or just about any USB accessory. I tested the little unit on my Dell laptop. It powered it easily. Next, I plugged in a 100W light bulb. Again, no problem. The unit has a fan that comes on as necessary to keep the unit cool. With a 100W load (the light bulb) the fan ran continuously. I found the fan to be rather loud and high pitched. In a car, you may not care but the noise level is significant at 58dB at 1 foot (measured with my audio meter). What I found odd is that the fan ran much faster when the load was reduced or removed. For some reason, the voltage to the fan must drop significantly once a load is placed on the inverter. While the inverter is rated at 130W continuous, you can't (or at least shouldn't) do that from a cigarette lighter socket.
The manual is a little confusing. It says you can run the inverter from the cigarette lighter for loads under 130W but also says for 120W-130W to use battery clamps (included) to hook it directly to the car's battery. Personally, I wouldn't advise running it over 90W from a cigarette lighter socket. At 90W output, the unit draws 10A from the socket. That's okay, since most laptop power adapters require no more than 90W. At 100W, it drew 11Amps, which is over the maximum continuous power most lighter sockets are rated (and fused). I didn't test the unit it past 100W.
If the unit was quieter, I would have given it 5 stars but for using in the car, you may be very happy and you will be hard pressed to find a more compact and light inverter.The concept is simple: turn 12 V DC from your car into 120 V AC to power things you would normally plug in at home. Useful in an emergency or on road trips.
You plug this into the 12 V socket in your car (what used to be called the cigarette lighter, but most cars today don't even come with the lighter part). A little blue light comes on, and you are ready to plug something into it. I tried a radio, a shop light, and even a handheld jigsaw, and all ran fine.
It also has a USB charger port, which is nice is you don't already have an adapter for that.
I have an old, clunky-looking one piece inverter. The Amazon one looks cooler, but once you add the size of the cord it's not that much smaller. The old one is rated 150 W continuous, this one 130 W. The big difference I noted was in surge capacity. This device is rated to 175 W, while my old one is rated 450 W. It won't make a difference with most small appliances, but something with a big start-up surge or that surges for other reasons may overload this device.
It includes clips to attach it directly to the battery, which will save some loses through the electrical system, and doesn't require having any other parts of the car running to use it. Do use caution when attaching anything directly to the battery.
While not the ultimate in inverter technology, this is a useful thing to have in your car in an emergency.I took the new unit out of the box and it blew a fuse in first vehicle, tried a second vehicle and it blew that one as well. I had no accessories plugged in at the time. Unit failed right out of the box.
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Disclaimer: I used this inverter in extreme conditions not normally encountered by most users. Please take this into account when reading the review.**********
General Overview
I recently took part in a meteorite search expedition in the desert of Oman that was organized by the local university and natural history museum. The expedition consisted of 18 days in the desert with only the supplies of food, fuel, water, etc. that we brought with us. Temperatures ranged between 6C (42F) to 35C (95F), humidity ranged from below the detection limit of our equipment up to around 90%, though it never rained. In many cases, winds were strong and drove substantial amounts of dust (often sheeting off of the vehicle windows like water). After a matter of hours the interiors of the vehicles were liberally coated with a thick layer of dust, which remained and grew thicker during the entire expedition. Dust and heat are the mortal enemy of electronics, and it's not uncommon for otherwise-robust devices to die horribly in the desert.
I purchased the inverter to run certain basic electronics like battery chargers for AA-size batteries, computers, mobile phones (no service in the desert, but it's good to keep them topped up), two-way radios, and scientific equipment, and other similar uses. Due to the hostility of the environment, I was expecting that this inverter would be "disposable" and didn't expect it to survive the trip.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that not only did the inverter survive the trip but it did remarkably well. While I can't explicitly recommend using the inverter in extreme environments as it's not rated for such purposes, it performed well and would likely serve the average person very well in more ordinary conditions.
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Tech Details
Like most inverters produced for the North American market, this one produces 120V 60Hz AC power with a "modified sine wave" waveform that differs from the ordinary "true sine wave" waveform produced by mains power available from your wall socket.
In general, modern electronics that have "worldwide" power supplies (that is, they accept ~100-240V AC power) will have no problems at all using the power produced by the inverter. Laptop computers often have such power supplies and should work fine. Incandescent light bulbs and other simple resistive loads will have no problems at all, though you should make sure they don't have a startup surge current that exceeds the ability of the inverter or the car's electrical system to supply. Electric motors are unlikely to work as effectively with inverter power (if they run, they'll run less efficiently, hotter, etc.) and shouldn't be used with inverters. Many motors often have very high surge current when starting, which may overload the inverter. Certain devices like compact fluorescent light bulbs may or may not work well. You should test them beforehand. Your mileage may vary.
When in doubt it's often more efficient and a better idea to use electronics designed for 12V power directly (such as 12V CFL light bulbs, as often used by RVers, or air pumps that clamp directly to the car battery) rather than using an inverter to power household-voltage devices. You can often find a DC-to-DC converter for things like laptops, mobile phones (particularly those that charge using 5V DC, such as those using a USB plug), etc. that allows you to use or charge them using the 12V power socket in a car (or using battery clamps) directly rather than using an inverter, though not everything (like chargers for a $70,000 x-ray fluorescence analysis scanner) has such converters and an inverter is a necessity.
I experienced no problems with the "modified sine wave" produced by the inverter.
There is a small fan on the side of the inverter to aid in cooling. It will come on automatically when needed, so ensure it's not blocked. I found that the inverter starts with the fan off, then switches it to 100% when the internal temperature reaches a set point. After a minute or so, the fan turns off again. This repeats for a few minutes until the inverter gets a sense of how effective the fan is and then adjusts it as needed to maintain a good working temperature. When operating at full power the fan has a distinctly high-pitched whine that some may find slightly annoying, though it can often be masked by turning on the car radio and/or putting it in the rear of the car.
If you listen very closely you can hear a rapid clicking sound (though it's quite faint and you need to have your head very close to the inverter to hear it -it's not the least bit disturbing or annoying beyond a few centimeters from the inverter) as the internal electronics do their work.
The lighter socket plug and battery clamps are both of good quality and connect firmly and securely.
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Safety
It appears that the inverter does not have inrush current limiting on the 12V DC side, so you may experience some sparking when connecting the included battery clamps to the battery as it needs to charge its internal capacitors. This is evidently normal and doesn't pose a problem insofar as the electronics are concerned, but you should ensure that the battery is well-ventilated (as car batteries produce explosive hydrogen gas when charging though not when being used) when connecting or disconnecting the battery clamps. You should use the same safety precautions as when jump-starting a battery.
It's probably a good idea to connect the inverter to the 12V power source first, ensure the blue "on" light is on, and then connect the turned-off load to the inverter, and then turn on the load. It's probably a bad idea to have the turned-on load plugged into the inverter when you connect it, as this would require a substantial rush of current to power.
Additionally, the inverter is not rated for outdoor use, so don't expose it to rain, moisture, etc. In my case, the major threat was dust. After using the inverter for a few hours (regardless of whether it was used inside the car with the power socket or when used outdoors and clamped directly to the car battery) I would unplug it and blow sharply into the vents to clear out accumulated dust. While this worked fine, it's probably not a good idea to expose it (or other electronics) to dust for extended periods of time as it would have a harmful effect on the electronics and the moving fan.
It's not clear if the inverter has an internal fuse -the supplied lighter socket plug and battery clamps are unfused. There does not appear to be any sort of user-accessible fuse on the device.
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Possible Improvements
The only three improvements I'd propose for such a device would be to eschew the fan in favor of an aluminum body that passively dissipates heat, to have inrush current limiting on the input side to minimize sparking, and a user-serviceable fuse. The former would eliminate the one moving part and increase durability a bit, though likely at increased cost. The second should be relatively cheap and easy to implement but isn't a major issue. The third helps prevent potentially unsafe conditions and allows the user to replace the fuse if it burns out.
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Conclusion
The inverter performed really well in the Omani desert in extreme conditions and is likely to perform well in less-extreme conditions. The price is quite good, it's backed by Amazon, and includes both the 12V lighter socket plug and battery clamps. It's comparable in terms of output power and quality to other similarly-priced inverters.
It's a good general-purpose inverter and I strongly recommend it.
If you need higher output power or pure sine wave output, you'd do well to look at other, more suitable products.
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