Wagan EL2201 Elite 400 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter

by Wagan

Product Features

• 400 watts continuous power, 800 watts peak surge power
• 1 AC outlet and 1 USB port
• 12 volt DC plug allows for connection in your vehicle
• Overload, overheat and low battery protection
• Recharge appliances faster and extend life of appliances using pure sine

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B003INQ8DE
• Item model number: EL2201
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,832 in Automotive (See Top 100 in Automotive)

Product Description

Wagan Elite 400 Watt Pure Sine Inverter is perfect for recharging devices on the go and for people with mobile lifestyles. Provides 400 watt continuous power and 800 watt peak surge power. Features 1 AC outlet, a USB power port, overload, overheat and low battery protection plus a 12v DC plug to connect inside your vehicle. Sample appliances include: cell phone charger, digital camera, video games, camcorder, cordless drill, MP3 or CD stereo system, medium LCD TV, laptop and standard incandescent light bulb. Wagan tech elite pure sine inverters are ideal for sensitive electronics. Designed to be efficient, the pure sine technology allows appliances to recharge faster, save energy costs and extend the life of appliances. It also reduces electronic interference, and is perfect for operating sensitive electronics such as medical devices, audio and video equipment, computers, HDTVs. Appliances with dimmers, speed controls, and certain battery chargers require pure sine to operate. Compared to traditional inverters which output in modified sine wave, AC power in pure sine wave is more similar to commercial power. The electronic appliances run cleaner, cooler and quieter when running on pure sine power. Wagan pure sine inverters are especially designed to increase the efficiency and running time of electronic appliances and motors. Our inverters operate at less than 3 to 5 percent of total harmonic distortion on average and 90 percent efficiency across the line.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Inverter Getting a Bad Reputation..., June 2, 2011

By 

Scott Gardner - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wagan EL2201 Elite 400 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter (Automotive)

After much research, I bought the Wagan EL2201 because I was looking for a pure-sine-wave inverter in this size range and Wagan's other products seem to have a fantastic reputation.
There are lots of poor reviews on this one, and the problem seems to be the same: The unit starts up once, then immediately dies.

Problem: The cigarette lighter adapter comes with a fast-blow fuse. My unit did the same thing, and I found that the fuse (located inside the plug itself) had blown as soon as I plugged a very low-draw radio into the inverter. Inverters have lots of capacitors that need to charge then the unit powers up, creating a momentary large load that a slow-blow fuse can absorb, while a fast-blow cannot.
A 400-Watt inverter is pretty large to run on a cigarette lighter plug in the first place, and should definitely be run directly from the battery or hard-wired if you plan on using anything with a significant draw.

In fact, the instructions say NOT to use the cigarette lighter if you plan on running anything more than 150W.

Solution: Replace the fast-blow fuse included with the inverter with a slow-blow OR a larger fuse (do NOT exceed the rating of your vehicle's outlet!). This is a $0.50 fix and my inverter now works flawlessly!

I'm guessing that the poor reviews are from those who use the lighter adapter and have this problem, while the positives are those who either hard-wire or connect directly to battery.

Now my inverter works great, doesn't play havoc with ANYTHING (unlike my modified sine-wave inverters), and the price was right. The built-in USB is a nice touch too.

Bottom Line: Great inverter for the price if you don't mind replacing a fuse or hard-wiring. As mentioned before, an inverter this size probably should be hard-wired anyway.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars positive review, April 5, 2011

By 

gofurbroke - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wagan EL2201 Elite 400 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter (Automotive)

I see some very negative reviews of this 400 watt inverter, but my wife and I have been very pleased. We live in a 100% solar home and have found the unit great for running our computer, printer, and powered computer speakers all at the same time. I have even run my Pioneer surround sound, DVD player, and 100watt powered sub-woofer at the same time. This use has been during the day, but there was certainly no shortage of power from the unit whenever the input voltage has been sufficient. One thing I need to mention is that I replaced the cord with the cigar lighter end on it with my own 2 foot long, 10 gauge wire with a three prong plug on it that plugs into our 12vdc in house recepticles. When I first bought the unit I had issues with low voltage signal too, but I do not believe the supplied cigar plug makes good enough contact to conduct the needed voltage. If you have the low voltage issue, try another type of plug or direct wire it. It is not unusual for this unit to be on 6 to 10 hours a day in our home and operates flawlessly. Yes, the cooling fan kicks on and off, but that is what it is supposed to do. I have also used it to charge various battery operated items - drills, NiCad chargers, and the like, once again no problems. The ONLY reason I did not give it a five star rating is due to the issue with the cord. When you consider that most cigar lighter sockets are designed to handle 15 amps DC before blowing the on-board fuse (that's with the vehicle running), its easy to see why only the lightest of loads can be run using the supplied plug. Anything large - use battery clips, direct wire or hardwire it into your system. Bought the unit about six months ago, should have done the review sooner.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Does not work - looks used out of the box, January 24, 2011

By 

Damon Thompson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wagan EL2201 Elite 400 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter (Automotive)

The stapled box did not look like it had been opened but the unit inside was so beat up it looked used. Upon close inspection it may have received the damage during manufacturing. The screws were even stripped. I can't recall a new product looking so beat up out of the box.

When I tried a light bulb it gradually did light up over a few seconds. When I tried my LCD TV, which pulls 150 watts the TV started flickering and making a horrible sound. No actual picture came up. When I plugged in another cheaper 400 watt modified sign wave inverter the TV worked fine.

I'm not sure what the deal is with this unit but I'm sending it back. It does not work and it looks like it was dragged down a dirt road before it was delivered to me. Good riddance.