CAT.NO: MI5127
Fits in the car's cup holder, plugs into the cigarette lighter socket and outputs 230VAC to power a variety of 230VAC equipment from a battery cha…
Not available online. Please check your local stores for stock levels.
NOTE: This product is discontinued. Please see our replacement MI5128
The replacement has an extra 5V 2.1A USB port but $30 dearer.
What is 150 watts for exactly?
wont power much…
Laptops mainly. Sound systems and TVs.
Modems, routers, NBN connection boxes.
In the car!
Fridge then.
If you have a jump starter with a car cigarette lighter port. I use this combination during my last power outage at home.
In the car!
A lot of uses for this are outside the car. On a building site, you can run an electric drill or other tools (although you'd probably want a higher-power inverter than this one). Small tools like Dremels or soldering irons will work with this inverter, or the chargers for your cordless tools.
Joe888's suggestion of NBN box is a good one - it can keep your NBN and WiFi operating through a blackout. Inverter in the car, long mains extension lead to the NBN box and WiFi AP.
Just make sure you also have a set of jumper leads, in case you run the battery flat. And also make sure your car is in a position where you can use those jumper leads. Parking your car nose-in, in a 1-car garage, means you'll have to push the car out of the garage, which may not be possible depending on the slope of your driveway.
I can't think of anything this won't power beyond the obvious (kettle, microwave, etc etc)..?
Are you guys joking?
Discontinued replacement is $59.95
They discontinued the $59.95 replacement?
I got one for charging batteries and a tablet. Well attempting to anyway, couldn't handle it and would cut out after 30sec or so. Make sure it will work first.
Sure it wasn't just the acc port switching off after a bit once your engine is off.
Had it plugged in for a 2hr drive and got no charge. Possibly not powerful enough but just pointing it out so people don't buy just to find its not suitable.
I got one for camping since my last broke. Tested and can power an air pump. Have tried charging my Dell xps 15 yet. That will be a test since that charger is 130W.
This would be Great for non-computerised devices. Anything with a smart chip in it the modified sine wave can cause damage as it doesn't replicate AC power exactly.
https://www.lifewire.com/modified-sine-wave-inverter-damage-…
That's the opposite of what your linked article says:
"There are only two types of electronics that you need to be concerned about when using a modified sine wave inverter: appliances that use AC motors and certain classes of delicate medical equipment. If your electronics don’t fall into either of those two categories, then it's extremely unlikely that a modified sine wave inverter will do any damage."
Computers are usually fine with this type of inverter.
Guys you're not going to get more then 150w out of a Cigarette Lighter plug. Those plugs are usually rated at 10a/120w.
Any more than that has to be direct wired or connected via a heavy duty connector (e.g. Anderson).
Cigarette lighter plugs and sockets can be rated higher, Jaycar sell a 15A socket:
https://www.jaycar.com.au/15a-cigarette-socket-to-8mm-eye-te…
15A-rated plugs available here:
https://www.autoelec.com.au/cigarette-lighter-plug-12v-12-vo…
I just checked my car, the accessories fuse is 15A, so the cigarette lighter socket in my car must be rated that high or higher.
With 15A x 12V, you have 180W available as DC, so it's possible the inverter can provide 150W continuous, it just needs to exceed 83% efficiency.
Square wave output is not good for sensitive items. This one is a poor quality build and will fail, possibly taking whatever it is powering with it.
Exactly. Better to buy something decent, or convert to 12v accessories/uses.
No Snikers or Mars bars in that set.
I'm not sure on the appropriate uses of this thing?
It's not a sine wave inverter so it's not as good as a pure sine wave inverter for sensitive devices like laptops, but it doesn't really have enough power for a TV or camping.
Being that it's marketed to fit in the drink holder, it's aiming squarely at the traveling while charging small electronic devices market- but I wouldn't charge a tablet or laptop on anything other than a pure sine wave inverter.
I'd avoid this like the plague. I can see why it's discontinued!
Yes Pure Sine Wave is more expensive than Modified, but not when you consider the value of the devices you are plugging in to it.
I have charged a laptop on a MSW inverter from Waeco and it worked well, but I agree with your concern.
A lot depends on the actual waveform. Is it a square wave or stepped? How many steps? etc.
sensitive devices like laptops
Laptops are not "sensitive devices". The power supply in most consumer electronics turns the incoming waveform into high-voltage DC, and then runs a switchmode converter from that DC. The only thing that may be affected is the filter on the incoming mains - if it's poorly designed, that may get warmer than normal, but not so warm that it fails. That filter is designed to stop the switchmode signal from leaking out - a signal that is 50kHz or higher. "Modified sine wave" at 50Hz is 1000 times lower in frequency than the filter is designed for. Yes, the "modified sine wave" will have harmonics compared to pure sine wave, but the amplitude of those harmonics drops rapidly as frequency increases.
I can see why it's discontinued!
And yet the recommended replacement part is also modified sine wave.
A quick google search of "modified sine wave inverter laptop" tends to disagree with your notion.
I'm not saying you can't use an MSW, I'm saying that you'll probably shorten the life cycle and or performance of the electronic device you use with it. It'll work, but at what cost?
Unfortunately "the internet never forgets", and it was true a decade or two ago, when laptop power supplies had a transformer that operated at mains frequency. Such power supplies haven't been made for a decade, the newer types are cheaper, lighter, and are tolerant to "non-ideal" mains supplies.
@Russ: Agreed that some of the articles are old. But whilst MSW's are getting better (and so are the chargers that come with devices!), I still reckon for the value of the items you are potentially connecting, that PSW's (even though expensive) are worth it.
would the power inverter have the claim "pure sine wave" description ?
which products do you know of, will be "pure sine wave" and suitable for the car ?
EDIT: i just found them on eBay. it's clearly marked "pure sine wave" .. ^_^
except that they are not that compact nor cheap!
Unfortunately not :(.
Modified sine wave convertors are cheap to make and are accordingly MUCH cheaper than pure sine wave variants.
I just think that if you're plugging in devices potentially worth thousands (1 iPad, 1 iPhone, 1 decent laptop isn't cheap), then skimping out on a power supply is the wrong thing to do.
Pure sine wave inverters are as close as possible to mains power. Not exact, but very very close. MSW's aren't.
Each to their own. If it was a cheap device that I didn't care about then no worries, an MSW would be fine.
But I've got a car of kids and their iPads etc plus my own devices. And I'm not plugging them into a cheap power supply.
I don't do it for a pc build, and I won't do it for other electronics either.
is this sine wave 'pure' enough?
—> https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/331626528975 | AU$ 120+
surge power: 2000 W
maximum power: 1000 W
frequency: 50 Hz
no-load current: 0.5 ~ 1 Amp
@whyisave: No way of knowing unless you have an oscilloscope. But Giandel is a decent Chinese brand. I'd expect it to be fine.
Is there a Pepsi version?