Reviews of Schumacher PI-400 Instant Power DC to AC Power Inverter - 400 Watts

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List Price: $51.99
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I work in the oil field service industry and basically live out of my truck. When I started, I bought the 400 watt unit to charge my laptop and run a printer. It works perfectly in the vehicle power outlet. I then bought a 1250 watt unit to run a microwave. I returned it after a few days as it was popping fuses. I then snagged a brand new 750 watt Schumacher on Ebay for 1/2 regular price. It runs my small microwave perfectly which has an 800 watt draw.. I monitored the inverter closely while the microwave was running and it got lukewarm, that was it... I'm very happy with both units as they serve my needs very well and economically.

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I got this to run an AC inflator using a 12V 20AH sealed motorcycle battery. per my fluke multimeter, while the pump is running, this inverter draws about 13 amps off the 12V battery, thats about 155 watts. per my p5 kilowatt, the inflator is drawing about 148 watts., thats a very good efficiency.

since the inflator only needs to run 5 minutes, it will hardly put a dent in the batteries charge (about 1 amp hour total).

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This is a great inverter. A great value. I've definitely gotten my moneys worth out of this one and plan on having it for many more years.

Pros: Several plug in options, super sturdy, reliable, mountable.

Cons: Safety trip warning sound is loud and really obnoxious, no USB plug.

Honest reviews on Schumacher PI-400 Instant Power DC to AC Power Inverter - 400 Watts

I hooked up a 250 watt load to this 400 watt inverter, flipped the switch, and thick brown smoke came out. Then I tried using a schumacher 750 watt inverter on the load, but it smoked as well. So much for their overload protection.

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I purchased this product from a local merchant at double the price of Amazon because I couldn't wait a day or two. The specification sheet says "This device does not include an internal Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt (GFCI)." That statement lead me to believe that I could use the PI-400 to power my ground faulted device. I plugged in my known ground faulted device and the PI-400 went into immediate alarm with the red light and beeping. When the PI-400 was powered down and the ground faulted device removed, I then powered up the PI-400 and it continues to beep and stay in the alarm mode with nothing plugged into it. It's totally unusable. Cycling it off and back on any number of times only reestablishes the alarm state. I would expect it to recover, but it doesn't. It's going back to the vendor for a refund.