Power Inverters

I've bought this power inverter for use in my truck to power my laptop and charge my phone .

http://www.bestekltd.com/Product_v44.html

Problem is it doesn't charge the laptop just the phone via the usb port .I noticed that the inverter i got is the 230v model not the 240v one so can i assume that i have the wrong one and it will not work

[Uncle Peter]

Shouldn't make a great deal of difference. I would question whether or not the 3 pin outlet is faulty on the unit you have bought.

[Gary L]

I wouldn't have thought the difference of 230/240v would make any difference.
does it power the laptop?
I doubt if the laptop power supply is anymore than the rated 150w

can you check the output on the power supply with a multimeter thing?

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter

Shouldn't make a great deal of difference. I would question whether or not the 3 pin outlet is faulty on the unit you have bought.

Thanks ,actually i have just tested it in my car and it would appear that there must be something wrong with the 12v outlet in the truck as it charges my lappy just fine in the car .It must be the short circuit protection in the inverter tripping in

[Uncle Peter]

Ah is your truck 24v with a 12v stepped-down outlet? might be worth prodding it with a multimeter to see what's coming out of there, then again you're not testing it under load but would be interesting to see if there's any wild variations from 12v.

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter

Ah is your truck 24v with a 12v stepped-down outlet? might be worth prodding it with a multimeter to see what's coming out of there, then again you're not testing it under load but would be interesting to see if there's any wild variations from 12v.

Yes ,there are 2 types of outlet ,Hella 24V and the standard cigarette lighter type 12V .The inverter i bought plugs into the 12V outlet but shows a red light so i am assuming that ,since the USB outlet on the inverter is working,that there must be a fault in the wiring somewhere .I have used the same outlet to run my sat nav ok though but that connection does not have a safety trip in it .

For that truck i might have to get a Hella to 12V converter to plug this inverter into

[Graham M]

Reading the stuff on the web link your provided states that the led should be green if ok and red if there's a fault, the transformer for the USB will be different to the mains as its going down in voltage rather than up which is obviously easier.

Originally Posted by martyh

Yes ,there are 2 types of outlet ,Hella 24V and the standard cigarette lighter type 12V .The inverter i bought plugs into the 12V outlet but shows a red light so i am assuming that ,since the USB outlet on the inverter is working,that there must be a fault in the wiring somewhere .I have used the same outlet to run my sat nav ok though but that connection does not have a safety trip in it .

For that truck i might have to get a Hella to 12V converter to plug this inverter into

[Kymmy]

Mains voltage in the UK can vary tremendously and most equipment these days will work anywhere from 220-240v

The USB will work as it's just a 5v regulator dropping down the 12-24v dc so it doesn't even go through the inverter itself.

As for the truck the 12v supply is probably current limited, that will depend on if it's fed by a drop down circuit or just attached to one battery (instead of the two batteries) If fed via a drop down circuit then there will never be enough power to feed the inverter as it'll be designed for simple charging phones/running satnavs and other low power equipment.

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Mains voltage in the UK can vary tremendously and most equipment these days will work anywhere from 220-240v

The USB will work as it's just a 5v regulator dropping down the 12-24v dc so it doesn't even go through the inverter itself.

As for the truck the 12v supply is probably current limited, that will depend on if it's fed by a drop down circuit or just attached to one battery (instead of the two batteries) If fed via a drop down circuit then there will never be enough power to feed the inverter as it'll be designed for simple charging phones/running satnavs and other low power equipment.

I'm not sure what the circuit is ,i have a suspicion it is fed by a separate connection on one of the 12v batteries as there is a separate cable coming off one battery that is not present on the other .There is only the internal lighting and the power supply that is 12V all the external lighting/ignition etc is 24V.The Hella socket (24V) is what would normally be used for running high power items such as TV's,kettles,fridges and microwaves but i would not have thought that charging a laptop would require that much power

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by martyh

I'm not sure what the circuit is ,i have a suspicion it is fed by a separate connection on one of the 12v batteries as there is a separate cable coming off one battery that is not present on the other .There is only the internal lighting and the power supply that is 12V all the external lighting/ignition etc is 24V.The Hella socket (24V) is what would normally be used for running high power items such as TV's,kettles,fridges and microwaves but i would not have thought that charging a laptop would require that much power

No but to start the inverter might take more power (even with no load)

Also remember that the laptop PSU might be rated at a a couple of amps, take into account that you are converting from DC to AC then back to DC with an efficiency of about 70-80% and the amerage conversion means that the current draw (even with just 1amp on the PSU) may be in the region a few times that on the 12v, most car DC 12v sockets are only rated at 8-10amps with a lot rated a lot lower