Customer Reviews

Black & Decker VEC049DCB Inverter

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We have had a winter with several power outages here, usually lasting a day or so. We considered buying a generator but the cost & need for upkeep made me consider buying an inverter instead. I already had the Cobra 875 inverter which works well for the most part but couldn't reliably pull up a couple of key motors in the house - the heating system's oil burner and the fridge. Once running, these don't consume more than a few hundred watts as confirmed by my kill-a-watt but motor startup always blew the fuse in the Cobra. So I found this one here, not much more sustained Watts (1000 vs 800) but "soft start" specifically for inductive loads. This is great! This completely replaces a small generator now, without the cost / worry about it starting / maintenance, and having to run out to get canisters of gas every day. Check out the review for the "AIMS 1000 Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter" titled "Prius UPS". This is almost exactly the arrangement I have, except with a different inverter. The more expensive inverters give you sine wave (which is nice for TVs etc. but no real difference for motors, laptops etc.) and of course more power. Since I also have a Prius, I specifically didn't want more power since that would endanger the Prius battery's fuse. Instead, should there be an overload, it'll just shut down the inverter which can then just be reset. Prius + this inverter = great generator. I also used it on our Odyssey, the only difference is that it uses a bunch more gasoline because it's a 3.5L V6 and has to run all the time whereas the Prius is a small 4-cylinder and starts/stops automatically when the battery gets empty/full.
I love this thing. If you have a car (which I assume you have) and have occasional power outages, this is the thing to have. They should just bundle these with every Prius sold ;-)

This inverter is the best that I have ever used. I use it in my truck, I have an Alienware laptop that needs 400 watts of power minimum, and this is the only solution!

I have used this on a mobile video set in a field, running two 450 watt Aries Video lights.(make sure your vehicle is running, or your battery will die very quickly) I made a portable lighting solution with a single Arie 250w light and this unit strapped to the side of a car battery (45m-hour of life)

I have also had an Xbox Rock Band Party in the parking lot at my college, running an Xbox and TV off of the bed of my truck! (lasts about 40 minutes on a full car battery without starting the vehicle)

On a final note, you can run this unit off of your car's cigarette lighter for portability, HOWEVER do not exceed 300-400 watts on the meter or you will burn out your car's fuse, or worse. (Optimally, Wire this unit like you would a big car stereo Amp, directly from the battery to use its full potential.)

We've loaned one of these to my sister in law, who is currently still blacked out from the hurricane.
It's keeping her refrigerator running quite well and has a fair amount of reserve available to power other necessary items, as needed.

I bought this as a replacement for the Black & Decker PI800BB inverter which was very flimsy--proof that you can't judge every product from a company by a single model.

Good--
- Inverter has a solid on/off rocker switch--much nicer then the push-and-hold buttons on other inverters
- It has an LED bar graph to show power used, so you can judge if you're close to overloading
- It comes with a set of cords that will attach to threaded studs found on many deep cycle / marine batteries, and comes with an extra set of the ends that fit into the inverter itself just in case you want to make your own cables
- The 110V plugs feel SOLID, this is a weak spot on other inverters I've used. I have confidence plugging into this one that I won't twist or break something inside the device

Bad--
- Being that it is a modified square wave inverter (as opposed to true sine wave) you will get "buzzing" with certain appliances. My LCD TV power supply will buzz running off this device
- The fan, it's a good/bad thing, but I'll list it as bad... the fan can get loud so if you're using this in a quiet space (like a living room) that noise will tend to dominate (particularly when using it during a power outage where there are no other noises).

I bought a 115Ah marine battery and box from Wally World (like the other poster). My plan was to use it during Irene as a stop gap between power outage and having to bust out my generator. I have a sump pump which is critical to operate to keep my basement from flooding during heavy rain. I figure that this inverter + the marine battery would run the pump continuously (550W while running) for about 30 minutes or so. Since the pump runs only about 30 seconds out of every 5 minutes during heavy rain, I am hoping that it will last me several hours--enough time to either get power back, or bite the bullet and start the generator. In a pinch I could also rig it up to my vehicle battery for much longer term operation.

Used this device for a few months as an in-vehicle power source. Great for emergency power. It is much better than the flimsy 750W black&decker inverter I found at home depot.

Purchased after Hurricane Irene spoiled two refrigerator/freezers of food. Winter storm Albert left us in the dark again. This time no food was lost. The inverter ran two refrigerators with power to spare. By plugging them in one at a time startup surge was not a problem. I had to idle the truck so as not to drain the battery. Using a spare battery we were able to charge cellphones and watch movies on the laptop all night. Wish I had it sooner.

Great inverter for the money! runs a computer, a heater, and lights in my home. This is a great inverter if you cant afford one of the expencive pure sine inverters.

not much usage yet,so im gonna have my review in few months,and i hope wont be disapointed by this new purchase.