11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Proven Hurricane Veteran, June 17, 2006
Just before Hurricane Charley and his 2 sisters rubbed up against the Orlando area a couple years ago, I bought the Coleman 400 Watt Inverter. We lost our power for 5 days at a time.
Clamping this unit directly to the battery and closing the hood, I ran an extension cord into the house and plugged a 3-way into the end. We could run 3 12in. oscillating fans all night and sleep comfortably!
Most fans draw less than 1 amp per hour, so the draw on the battery is minimal. Just fire up the car (sitting in the AC) for a few minutes and the battery is topped off.
I went this route because the generator method has too many negatives for me: Theft or worse, fumes or worse, and the incessant noise. This can make your neighbors more than a little testy, especially if they have no power at all. And as always happens, the more you have the more you want. All we really needed was a way to cool off and cold drinks. The cooling off problem resolved, we turned to cooling food and drinks. This is easy. Freeze clean gallon milk jugs with drinkable water. As it melts, you've got cold water! (Unlike tornadoes, hurricanes let you know they are coming; you have time to prepare.) All of your cold stuff will be cold already so the ice chest and frozen water will work fine for a good many days. 2 ice chests lets you go get more stuff without it thawing or melting before you get back home. We use a Coleman stove outside for cooking and making coffee. The coffee became a huge hit with the neighbors! We use battery operated lights instead of candles. Candles are a no no! Not much light, unwanted heat and a real fire hazard. Candles are for romance. A boom box will run forever on batteries as long as you don't use the cd or cassette player. and lastly, we have a small battery operated TV. We are news junkies.
Here's how to figure how many amps you are drawing off your car battery:
Amps X Volts(120)= Watts. Examples: .5amps X 120volts = 60 Watts. 3amps X 120volts = 360 Watts. That's the limit for this 400 Watt Inverter, so forget your big ticket items.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Product, January 4, 2007
This is the fourth power inverter I have tried in my work vehicle, and the only one that seems to work. I have had no problems with it and am very happy to have working equipment.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Nix on Powermate 400, November 27, 2006
I have owned a Powermate 400 for 26 months and used it for probably not over 20 hours supplying a VCR (50W) on two vacations. The last time I used it I turned off the VCR and the inverter fault light started blinking and you could smell smoke coming from same. Being two months over warranty there is no adjustment. I feel that I should have gotten more service than I did and would recommend not taking a chance on this product.
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