Review of Wagan EL2003-5 400 Watt Continuous Power Inverter with 5V 2.1 Amp

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $59.95
Sale Price: $42.37
Today's Bonus: 29% Off

I got this inverter to replace one we had -a 175 watt one -that wasn't powerful enough for my wife's new laptop. This one has plenty of umph to do the job, it's just a bit on the loud side. While it's on, the fan is too, and when on the floor of the passenger seat, it was about 60 dB -about the volume of a normal conversation. You can definitely hear it over the road noise. There is a handy switch on the unit so you can leave it plugged in all the time and turn it off when not in use.

It comes with a cigarette lighter plug, as well as battery clamps. I believe you'll only be able to get the full 400 watts if you connect directly to the car battery, but we only need about 250 watts so the cigarette lighter plug works fine.

The USB ports have enough power to charge an iPad. My iPad showed "Charging" when plugged into the USB ports rather than the usual "Not Charging" when plugged into my old inverter that had USB ports

I'd recommend this but I'd want people to know that it's not whisper quiet like my old one.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

We travel a lot by car over very far distances so a power inverter is a must have for watching dvd's and charging phones etc. Our older inverter same wattage finally died on us and after research I was nervous about the reviews I read on that brands newer models so this one seemed like a good bet and I was right. I have to disagree with the other reviewers about the noise, compared to my old one (which was only 4 years old)this is whisper quiet, it does make noise but as I've said compared to the whistler that I had it is significantly quieter. I'm sure the USB's will come in handy as the old one did not have them and the on/off button does not stick up really high so it wont get switched off accidently by the plug which was a big problem with our other one. Also, it does include the car charger and the battery clamps unlike the majority of other ones I saw, most only had the battery clamps which is fine if you are camping but what about while you are driving to the campground? Great buy for the price!

Best Deals for Wagan EL2003-5 400 Watt Continuous Power Inverter with 5V 2.1 Amp

First the quirks: The unit will shut off automatically if you are either not using any power or are using really low power. I purchased it to use in the car for various things but when using it to charge AA or my DSLR batteries it will only do so for a short period of time before turning itself off and requiring me to flip the switch. Highly annoying and I will be replacing it for this reason (or selling/trading to someone).

Things I like: The size and design are appealing and its mostly metal so shouldn't heat up as much as some others. Like a few people have said it isn't as loud as some people think, more than tolerable.

I will be contacting the manufacturer to find out if the low or no power use is a design feature or a flaw with my unit. Will update this with a comment with what I find out.

Honest reviews on Wagan EL2003-5 400 Watt Continuous Power Inverter with 5V 2.1 Amp

I read some other reviews on here where people complained that it wasn't powerful enough for their application when plugged into the cigarette lighter, and I just had to shake my head. Most cigarette lighter covers have a nice sticker on the inside that clearly states 120W max draw. Use the included battery clamps if you want to run something that draws more power, a 400W inverter can only work with what it's being supplied, so don't blame the product for not delivering 400W when you plug it into a 120W outlet.

Hooked directly to a battery, this little thing fired up my blender, which has an initial draw of almost 800W on startup, and did fine running it under load (ice and margaritas!). Like others have stated, the fan stays on and it's a little loud, but anything you're going to be running off of this is likely to make as much noise, except for a phone charger. All in all, it's great so far, and so much smaller than I expected.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Wagan EL2003-5 400 Watt Continuous Power Inverter with 5V 2.1 Amp

Two things you need to do when you get this inverter is

1. Test it

2. Register on wagan's website so you get a one year warranty (if you don't register within 30 days of buying the product, you will not be eligible for the warranty, which I failed to do)

I bought this inverter a couple of months ago and just got to test it. As soon as I plugged it in to my battery, I heard a pop, (I think I had the inverter in the on position when I plugged it into the battery so make sure it is off when connecting to power source) and the green light on the inverter would not come on. I tried it on my car battery too to make sure. I decided to open up the inverter. There are 2 screws on each side and the sides comes off but do not pull away as wires are connected. You can move the sides out of the way and slide the white protective covering off to see the circuit board. I took a look inside and nothing looked fried on the circuit board. I noticed that there was a 40amp fuse, so i pulled it out (with some needle nose pliers) and the fuse had blown. I just ordered Bussmann VP/ATC-40 40 Amp Fast Acting Blade Fuse, (Pack of 25) and will report back after I replaced the fuse and use the unit for awhile. I will say the electronics in side looks pretty good.

Besides the unit not working right away I like how small it is. I like that it has 2 USB ports and 2 regular outlets. I am building a solar power box for camping to recharge cell phones and such.

Update: The new fuse did the trick. The inverter is working again!