Customer Reviews

Schumacher PI-200 Instant Power DC to AC Power Inverter - 200 Watts

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

 

 

I use a power inverter to charge my cell phone, my air mattress pump, my cameras, and my laptop while on the road. The first inverter I bought lasted all of maybe two days, so to replace it I resolved to do more thorough research. When I checked out Schumacher's site, I discovered they had a vast line of power supply equipment, much of it for industrial use. My assumption was their small consumer inverters would be built to industrial standards as well and might last longer than my first one. I was not disappointed.

The PI-200 has been my constant traveling companion over thousands of miles of roads and has never failed me, plus it has about as many features as you could ask for. 200 watts is more than enough for charging the items that travel with me. It also features a low battery alarm should it drain the source battery below a certain level. But don't think that means you can continue to pull power through your car's cigarette lighter after the car is shut down for the simple reason that turning off your ignition also turns off the power to your cigarette lighter.

The workaround for this would be to find an adaptor going from a female cigarette lighter to two clips. Then attach the clips to the battery and plug into the other end of the adaptor. Then keep your inverter handy and shut it off if and when the low battery alarm goes off.

Built like a tank.

I work out of a truck all day with no radio. I have to rely on a battery operated radio. But with this inverter, I just have to plug it in to the cigarett lighter and I have radio all day. It's super.

I keep this in the car. Haven't used it more than a couple of times, but
is handy to have when I need it! I could use more watts, but fine for laptop, phone, etc. More versitle than the individual car chargers, and less money in the long run!

Love it! Works great when I tether my Blackberry to the computer, provides the extra power needed when battery running low!

Works MUCH better than other brands, which trip out on overload easily even though they were rated higher watts. I have this 200 watt and a 400 watt.

you need to make sure the things you need to power are less than 200 watts. I bought it for a camping trip to power an air mattress pump but the wattage exceeded 200w. It worked fine for other things, eg phone charger, camera charger. Just check the adapter for the amps and do the math (wattage = ___ amp * 120 volts) to make sure it works for the device.

I don't know if it was defective, but it burnt the first time I plugged it.
Fortunately Amazon refunded me in full. Thank you Amazon!

Used this product while on vacation to power my laptop so my daughter could watch DVD's on the 14 hr. trip. Seemed to work fine on the way there, but the next week on the way home we kept getting alarms on the device so we shut it off. An hour later everything in the car died and it cost me $450 dollars for an alternator replacement. Is it coincidence? I don't know - but I won't be using the product again to find out!