Power Invertors???

[LaVoi]

I have a question I hope some of you may be able to answer. I recently bought a used permanent house that came with a 400 watt (800 peak) power invertor, to hook a tv and such up to while in the ice house. I hooked it up to a tv this afternoon that says it draws 76 watts. It worked fine for about five minutes, then the red (fault) light came on and the tv shut off. Thinking maybe the battery was low I charged it up for a few hours, I forgot to add that the battery I am using is a 12 volt marine deep cycle. After the battery was charged I tried it again, the red light was still on, no power to the tv and after a few seconds smoke began spewing out of the invertor. Is the battery too big for the invertor? I want to be able to use a large battery that holds a good charge so I can have use over a day or possibly two out on the ice. Thanks for any help.

[bigb56303]

well smoke is not a good thing, sounds like the invertor shorted out, the size of the battery doesnt matter as long as it 12volts either it shorted or maybe you blew a fuse, check polarity and make sure all the basics are right if they are then you need a new invertor

[upnorth]

Another thing to consider is the size and length of the wire from the battery to inverter. The shorter and heavier the wire the better. With DC you need some pretty stout wire to carry the load. I would try some heavy gauge wire. I have something similar in our RV, being they are set mainly to run lights and other small stuff it doesn't work too well.

[beer batter]

I had to change batteries once in the dark of the night for my inverter. Got the connections crossed and the inverter popped and smoked just like you described.

I would also disconnect the inverter while the battery is charging.

Time for a new inverter.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Anytime you let the smoke out there is a part inside that just plain isn't as happy as it used to be.

400w inverters are cheap. Save yourself headache and buy a new one.

[fishermn]

Boilerguy is right on the money. It usually isnt a great idea to run any electronics right at their max, because a lot of them are pretty marginally designed...

Buy one thats 4 - 5 times higher rated that way you will have plenty of margin to run a few other smalll accessories as well. There isnt really a big price diffenernce until you start getting into BIG units...

And remember smoke is what make electronics work. You let the smoke out, and they just dont work anymore