Customer Reviews

Power Bright PW200-12 Power Inverter 200 Watt 12 Volt DC To 110 Volt AC

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

 

 

I own several inverters I've collected over the years. PB makes the best ones in my opinion and I own 3 of theirs.

PROS:
- durable construction
- quiet = fan only comes on when unit gets warm after initial power up
- cool color :-)


CONS:
- nope...nada....nothing here

Get this...you won't be sorry :-)

I have only used this once camping, but it powered everything we needed with no problem. We used a mattress pump and stereo at the same time with no issues. I have no idea how long the car battery would have lasted because I left the car on the whole time. What you can't see from the photo is that there is a car adapter wired directy into the unit. I was worried about this when I purchased it, but it was there.

It's got an internal fan and heat sync system. The 10v and 0.1mA drop off protections where my selling points cause it's inverting from a 12V solar panel. Has good overload protection too, and is light weight.

Mine came in blue.

The inverter works more or less as advertised; I've plugged an iPhone plug/charger and a laptop power adapter in the inverter and I've run both for about two hours without any issues - the ribbed aluminum chasis got a little warm. The plug ran a bit hot; really hot to touch which I believe is wrong and may be a sign of inappropriate wiring inside the plug. The plug also looks a bis flimsy and there is virtually no spring action on the positive (center) contact. If the plug will keep heating up I'll probably replace it with a more heavyweight one.
I would really appreciate a longer DC cord; it a small car there isn't enough space for the inverter on the center console so it'd ended up on the front passenger's seat. I would've rather had it on the floor or even under the passenger's seat. While extending the cord is a very simple DIY project, the cost of such project is comparable with the price of the inverter.

I liked the instruction booklet - it even explains the difference between the sine wave and modified sine wave and why there is a power switch on the unit.

Overall, the inverter seems to be quite capable of powering small electronics and that is all that I need from it.

Only reason i gave a four was its bulkiness. But this is absolutely a great device. It makes no noise at all in the car, unlike my old black and decker inverter. Charges very quickly and conveniently in the car. Two outlets are great. I would highly recomend this inverter if you need it for traveling.

When I plug this item into my 2008 Honda, I get a loud buzzing sound from it; making it unusable in this vehicle. However, when plugged into my 2002 Chevy Truck, there is still some buzzing noise but not nearly as loud. Don't know why it is different on different vehicles.

My mistake when purchasing this unit was the fact that I didn't put it through its paces immediately after buying it. Instead, I felt confident the unit was sound and didn't use it for a long time. In this time, the unit sat in a drawer in a plastic case to keep dust and bugs out of the chassis.

A few months ago I had cause to use the inverter on a photography gig to run a 13" MacBook Pro. The thing blew out every fuse it touched. I called PowerBright customer service and was told my MacBook Pro drew too much power for a cigarette lighter circuit. "My bad." I figured and shelved the thing until I needed it this past weekend during a 60 hour power outage in Los Angeles.

I needed to charge my MacBook Pro and my cell phone, so I plugged the PowerBright into my cigarette lighter and it proceeded to pop the fuse immediately...without any of my devices even plugged into it. I then hooked up the supplied battery connectors to the inverter and connected it directly to my battery. Upon switching the unit on, there was a pop, a puff of smoke rolled out of the fan port and the air filled with the distinct smell of ozone, followed by a long beep, then silence. That was all she wrote.

I sent an email to PowerBright, explaining my situation and that it turns out I had in fact purchased a faulty unit. They basically told me too bad, I bought the thing so long ago it was well out of warranty and it would cost more to fix it than it would to replace it. Now I'm in the market for a new inverter and I can be certain of only one thing: it will not be a PowerBright.

I haven't had this inverter long enough to assess long term durability. But, it appears to be well made and does the job. A couple of cons are the built in power cord could be a little longer, and it has no USB charging port. The two AC outlets are a plus. Prior to purchasing this one from Amazon, I bought a cheapie at Walmart, and it didn't last at all.

Forget all your 12V chargers! This inverter allows you to simply plug any 110V charger in your car and power most electric appliances that can be used on a car (forget microwaves, electric ovens, etc - they shouldn't be used in cars!)
Only thing that could be improved is a longer 12V socket cable to allow permanent mounting. I'm working to change the stock cables in order to fit the inverter where I want (more than 20cm away from the 12V socket).
Strongly recommended!

We bought this adapter to replace our single adapter in the car. We bought a 2 outlet one specifically so we could have our cell phone charger and the kids DVD player plugged in. This is worthless as a 2-outlet adapter. The outlets have absolutely no room between them. The adapter works, thus the 2 star rating instead of 1. But really, what's the point of having 2 plugs if you can't use them both at the same time anyways.