Help small inverter quit working

I have a portable 300 watt inverter in my RV that I will plug into the cigarette lighter, and run things like the TV or laptop.

My buddy has a 500 watt inverter from Costco - $40. Same thing. We both have a dedicated #10 wire to the cigarette lighter, with a 20 amp fuse, so they are good for about a 200 watt load.

I used to run a Dirt Devil from the 300 watt inverter - when it was plugged into a #10 wired cigarette lighter and 30 amp fuse. It can be done.

Sorry to hear that your inverter is toast. Have you tried plugging it in someplace else, or directly to the battery?

Good luck,

Fred.

jonlin wrote:
We have a small Inverter for charging batteries, running a 12 volt TV or charging computers. I accidentally plugged in vacuum cleaner into an extension cord which was plugged into the Inverter. The Inverter stopped working and now my TV won't work and I can't charge anything. We were plugged into 110 at the time. Everything else works and I can't find any blown fuses. Our RV is a 2004 Kountry Star Newmar.

A bit confusing. An inverter would not run your 12V TV or charge your batteries but it would be used to charge a computer using a standard 120V plug. Since you say you plugged in a vacuum I assume you are talking about an inverter, however. How "small" is this unit (# of watts). Brand and any other details would help. It may not really be as small as you think if it really is a charger and an inverter. Is this a factory installed inverter located in a storage bay or something that is in one of the inside cabinets?

I just blew the internal fuses on my 750 watt inverter.

The cover has to be removed and in mine there are 3, 35 amp spade type fuses.

Sounds like a small cigarette lighter plug in inverter. Check for 12 volts in the plug or try using it in your car to see if it will work there. There may be a fuse in the cigarette plug so take it apart and replace a blown fuse if you're lucky.

I assume you are talking about an optional small INVERTER that is connected to your battery bank. What is the part number of your small wattage 12V INVERTER

I use a 600WATT PSW AIMS INVERTER here for all of my 120VAC low wattage appliance things I want to have running when camping off the power grid.


My batteries however are charged using the on-board CONVERTER/CHARGER unit being run by my 2KW Honda Generator each morning for about three hours using the trailer 30AMP shore power cable direct connected to the generator 120VAC RECEPTACLE using a RV30A-15A Adapter (WALMART)

Didn't understand your comment about about using the inverter to charge your batteries. Maybe you was referring to CELL PHONE and COMPUTER BATTERIES...

I just looked at a SMALL INVERTER here in the Radio ROOM and I don't see a fuse or circuit breaker on it anywhere. Must have something inside the cover I reckon. Never have overloaded mine yet...

I do the same thing here with running a couple of extension cords tucked around the corners of the trailer with one extension going to the home entertainment area and the second extension cord going back to the bed area. All you see is a MULTITAP extension cord 120VAC head on the back of a table top. My MULTITAP heads do have a RESET SWITCH on them. I guess that would trip if I overloaded them with a vacuum...


Roy Ken