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<SLV> | 02-10-2010 12:01 PM
Should I buy these? Schumacher Portable Power 22 amp/hour battery with 400 watt 110 invertor (and 12v DC output) - clearance at Wal-mart for $36. Seven available. (I'm on my BB at wallyworld right now).

Barrettone | 02-10-2010 12:16 PM
Re: Should I buy these? good price...I'd at least get 2 of 'em.

<SLV> | 02-10-2010 12:19 PM
Re: Should I buy these? 1 Attachment(s) I'm going to try to put up a picture.

<SLV> | 02-10-2010 12:23 PM
Re: Should I buy these? Original price is $90. Can these be linked together?

etheostoma | 02-10-2010 12:35 PM
Re: Should I buy these? I am certain with a few adapters from Radio shack you could link them in a parallel wiring design which would double your stored amperage without doubling your voltage. Wait I am only considering the 12 volt output, I am not sure you would be able to link two inverters on the AC end.

etheostoma | 02-10-2010 12:43 PM
Re: Should I buy these? You could do much better for yourself by purchasing a small car battery charger, a couple of deep cycle marine batteries, and a larger inverter in say the 1200 watt range. These could be kept on trickle charge, and at optimum capacity, until an outage occurs. Hook up the inverter, and you are good to go with a much larger number of stored amps.

j-son | 02-10-2010 12:51 PM
Re: Should I buy these? http://www.mysolarbackup.com/ this one is $1600 but i think you already have something solar

Ishkabibble | 02-10-2010 01:42 PM
Re: Should I buy these? I would buy a couple, but take care what you plug into them. If they create a square wave (and they most likely do) they'll be great for lighting and some appliances. There will be some devices that fry or operate improperly when plugged in if the sine wave isn't accurate, primarily laptops and other units that convert the power to an alternate form. Square wave power doesn't filter or downstep the same. To my knowledge, low cost inverters are almost entirely square wave.

<SLV> | 02-10-2010 01:59 PM
Re: Should I buy these? I'm going to buy 2 to get some power to my grainery while I convert it to a house. I'll be careful not to power my laptop with it!

SilverCity | 02-10-2010 02:49 PM
Re: Should I buy these? I would think most newer inverters are modified sinewave (specs will tell you) and should be fine for most applications except sensitive audio equipment and possibly laptops--too much static.

ShortJohnSilver | 02-10-2010 02:58 PM
Re: Should I buy these? I have something similar I think but they are cheap crap.

gunDriller | 02-10-2010 03:23 PM
Re: Should I buy these? Quote:
Originally Posted by Ishkabibble (Post 2172771) I would buy a couple, but take care what you plug into them. If they create a square wave (and they most likely do) they'll be great for lighting and some appliances. There will be some devices that fry or operate improperly when plugged in if the sine wave isn't accurate, primarily laptops and other units that convert the power to an alternate form. Square wave power doesn't filter or downstep the same. To my knowledge, low cost inverters are almost entirely square wave.
i thought if you put a 60 Hz filter on the line, it would help soak up some of the higher frequencies contained in the square edges of the square wave. as far as where to get a 60 Hz filter, the primary winding of a step down linear transformer would be one place to look. it is designed to be hooked up to 115 VAC & output, for example, 10 VAC. if you put such an inductor in series on the output of the 60 Hz square wave, will it blow up ... or clean up the power line ?

hoarder | 02-10-2010 03:58 PM
Re: Should I buy these? I'm off grid and have neither a sine wave generator nor a sine wave inverter. I run the laptop off a cigarette lighter adaptor (DC in DC out transformer). If I want to print I start the generator and it works fine. My answering machine/cordless phone uses 12 VDC. So what would I need pure sine wave for?

<SLV> | 02-10-2010 04:03 PM
Re: Should I buy these? Quote:
Originally Posted by hoarder (Post 2173036) I'm off grid and have neither a sine wave generator nor a sine wave inverter. I run the laptop off a cigarette lighter adaptor (DC in DC out transformer). If I want to print I start the generator and it works fine. My answering machine/cordless phone uses 12 VDC. So what would I need pure sine wave for?
There is a cigarette lighter port on these batteries. I figure if I own a couple I can use one while the other is charging and rotate them during my construction process.

hoarder | 02-10-2010 04:43 PM
Re: Should I buy these? Unless you have something you plan to run with the 400 watt inverter (they are usually way over-rated), I would just get a couple 6 volt golf cart batteries (sometimes you can find good used ones).

<SLV> | 02-10-2010 04:45 PM
Re: Should I buy these? Quote:
Originally Posted by hoarder (Post 2173153) Unless you have something you plan to run with the 400 watt inverter (they are usually way over-rated), I would just get a couple 6 volt golf cart batteries (sometimes you can find good used ones).
Add an invertor and charger to that and compare it to $72 for a pair of these at Wal-Mart.

hoarder | 02-10-2010 04:50 PM
Re: Should I buy these? Quote:
Originally Posted by <SLV> (Post 2173159) Add an invertor and charger to that and compare it to $72 for a pair of these at Wal-Mart.
That depends if you would actually use the tiny 400 watt inverters for anything. A motor that draws a running 200 watts will probably be too large at start up with those inverters.

Lovemonster | 02-10-2010 05:27 PM
Re: Should I buy these? j-son...you know anything about these guys? http://www.mysolarbackup.com/playvideo.html

dupontcobb | 02-10-2010 05:34 PM
Re: Should I buy these? Quote:
Originally Posted by Lovemonster (Post 2173242) j-son...you know anything about these guys? http://www.mysolarbackup.com/playvideo.html
What watts are the panels? You could probably get something like that setup for less than 4k.

Ishkabibble | 02-10-2010 06:16 PM
Re: Should I buy these? Quote:
Originally Posted by dupontcobb (Post 2173255) What watts are the panels? You could probably get something like that setup for less than 4k.
Comes with one 90 watt panel... significantly overpriced IMHO. As for 'square waves are fine' comments... I fried both a laptop and an MP3 player learning this is not the case. The manufacturer of my inverter advised me their device was the cause, then pointed out the devices I fried would have required a proper sine wave. They covered nothing. At minimum, anyone plugging such devices into cheap inverters had best have an unconditional warrantee. I was able to get my lappy repaired affordably... but others may not be so lucky. The guy at the electronics repair shop said my problem wasn't uncommon... that he repairs several devices every summer that suffer similar fates.

Lovemonster | 02-10-2010 06:18 PM
Re: Should I buy these? Quote:
Originally Posted by Ishkabibble (Post 2173314) Comes with one 90 watt panel... significantly overpriced IMHO. As for 'square waves are fine' comments... I fried both a laptop and an MP3 player learning this is not the case. The manufacturer of my inverter advised me their device was the cause, then pointed out the devices I fried would have required a proper sine wave. They covered nothing. At minimum, anyone plugging such devices into cheap inverters had best have an unconditional warrantee. I was able to get my lappy repaired affordably... but others may not be so lucky. The guy at the electronics repair shop said my problem wasn't uncommon... that he repairs several devices every summer that suffer similar fates.
Thanks for the info. I also thought it seemed pretty expensive or I was missing something. j-son posted the link so I thought he might have some sort of insight.

MaxGravy | 02-10-2010 09:59 PM
Re: Should I buy these? Quote:
Originally Posted by Ishkabibble (Post 2172771) I would buy a couple, but take care what you plug into them. If they create a square wave (and they most likely do) they'll be great for lighting and some appliances. There will be some devices that fry or operate improperly when plugged in if the sine wave isn't accurate, primarily laptops and other units that convert the power to an alternate form. Square wave power doesn't filter or downstep the same. To my knowledge, low cost inverters are almost entirely square wave.
I use my laptop in the vehicle all the time. Over the years, I've run several laptops on the cheapest inverters I could buy, even under the power rating. I've done this since '04 and never had a problem with an inverter or otherwise. YMMV

TTAZZMAN | 02-11-2010 11:27 PM
Re: Should I buy these? Quote:
Originally Posted by <SLV> (Post 2173059) There is a cigarette lighter port on these batteries. I figure if I own a couple I can use one while the other is charging and rotate them during my construction process.
dont plan on running much more than a light or two on those......i guess one of those would run a 100w lightbulb a day it takes a lot of juice to start a good circular saw or other 110v construction tools sometimes i send a very very small gennie out with the guys to rural no powered jobsites just to recharge their battery packs for thier battery type tools.

auto245667 | 02-12-2010 12:18 AM
Re: Should I buy these? Quote:
Originally Posted by Ishkabibble (Post 2172771) I would buy a couple, but take care what you plug into them. If they create a square wave (and they most likely do) they'll be great for lighting and some appliances. There will be some devices that fry or operate improperly when plugged in if the sine wave isn't accurate, primarily laptops and other units that convert the power to an alternate form. Square wave power doesn't filter or downstep the same. To my knowledge, low cost inverters are almost entirely square wave.
Square wave inverters died off the market a decade ago, most are modified sine wave and they work pretty good with just about anything except heavy inductive loads, even then you just bump up to a larger MSW to get the job done.

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