Customer Reviews

Coleman 400 Watt Power Inverter - 800 Watts Peak Power PMP400

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The inverter supplies power, but at a cost. The cooling fan seems to be a huge draw on the DC power source(battery) if left connected for an extended period. In addition the power provided has such a bad shape(the modified sine wave) that most devices make a humming or crackling type of noise. I was unable to use this inverter to power the following due to the noise : an outlet strip, a computer monitor(flat lcd), a tv(flat lcd), a stereo, a dvd player, a vcr, or computer speakers.

Most battery chargers warn against ever plugging into an inverter, so I didn't even try anything like that.

I have been able to plug in lights(normal bulbs and low watt).

I have used many of these inverters, all with great success. They work well and last a long time. I've opened many of them up before and they are well built. The company who makes them for Coleman constantly improves the design.

In response to the other reviewer: Your box fan is an inductive load. Motors require heavy currents to start up. Also, the noise you noticed is related to the most likely problem: these inverters output a Modified Sine Wave, and not a pure sine wave like what comes out of your ac outlet. This is why the box fan did not work; it likely had nothing to do with the available of the inverter. So, you should either get a DC fan or get a Pure sine wave inverter. Note that Pure sine wave inverters are much more expensive!

As the other reviewer said in their review, this product is very handy. It can provide power for small fans, televisions, etc. from your car battery.

However, the other reviewer made a slight error in their amperage draw from a car battery (by a magnitude of over 10). For example, a 60 watt 120 volt light bulb would draw about 6.0 amps from a battery: 60 watts @ 120 volts = .5 amps. Now, to generate that 60 watts at 120 volts would take 5 amps at 12 volts. Also factor in an inverter efficiency of about 80% and you're now talking a battery draw of about 6 amps per hour.

I have been using this for 4 years now and it is still going strong. It has been powering either my portable DVD player, Nintendo chargers, iPods, and sometimes my Garmin GPS. No experience of any device breakdown whatsoever.
It has an on/off button, fuse, and a cigarette lighter plug.

I have 2 minor caveats.
1) The location of the outlets. There is no way I can plug an AC adapter unless I use a power liberator (short extension).
2) Loud fan

I used the 400 watt unit (800 watt peak) on a box fan rated at 250 watts. The fan barely spun on low and buzzed and after about 30 seconds and then inverter failed in a puff of smoke. Returned the unit and got a second unit with the same result. I guess these units are not good for a box fan even if rated to handle it.