Why is my inverter freaking out?

I assume the alarm was low input voltage.
Heating pad controls do not like MSW.
At least you saved some money.

You may want to read up on what may happen to things using a MSW verses PSW Power Inverter...

It has been my experience that my cheap 750WATT MSW Power Inverter purchased from a local auto parts store is not very user friendly with any thing that has a motor, transformer, or electronics involved. Things that have transformers and motors get very hot in a quick order and makes huming noises..

The two things that I have burned up in my OFF-ROAD trailer using this power inverter was a 20-inch box fan and a controller for a 50WATT lap heating blanket.

Seems like the controller went up in blue smoke almost before I plugged it in - I guess it knew what was going to happen haha...

After that all I ever use my MSW Power Inverter for is bringing up incandescent light bulbs on the outside of my OFF-ROAD trailer setup.

I got the 600WATT PSW AIMS Power Inverter from AMAZON after that and it has performed well since 2009 being my low wattage Plan B duty Power Inverter for all things 120VAC. In 2009 it cost around $159 from AMAZON. I installed this a few feet away from my main Battery swicth and ran two mulit-tap extension cords from it with one going to home entertainment center area and the other one going to a table near the the bed area we sleep in. This powers up all of our emergency use items in case of power failures or being off-road.

I saw it listed the other day on AMAZON for $138. Almost got another one... Just checked AMAZON awhile ago and it is now listed for $144...

Being PSW I don't have to worry who uses it in my OFF-ROAD trailer for any small wattage thing they have to power up... Great for computer/tablets recharging and running my WX ALERT Radio... Grinds my fresh coffee beans too for perking up good ole coffee on the propane burner when off-road...

Roy Ken

MSW inverters are not the same and Harbor Freight inverts are very square wave.
"With bigger appliances like refrigerators and washing machines beware of those with electronic controls. Not lot of thought gets put into the power supplies for them, so they "see" low Voltage and don't work right. Usually it doesn't hurt them, at least not right away. They'll either work or won't. Motors will draw more current, start harder, and have a shortened lifespan."

I wouldn't mind buying a PSW if I thought it would solve my problem, but I'd feel more comfortable knowing why the problem with the heating pads is NEW and VARIABLE, first!

I have run my heating pads and mattress pad a lot on the MSW, with no problems. The fridge, not so much. And it did kill my laptop, so never again.

MSW inverters are not the same and Harbor Freight inverts are very square wave.

What other MSW inverter is less of a square wave?

I ran a large dorm style refer for a couple of weeks on a Xantrex 1000 W MSW inverter while my absorption refer was being repaired. I also occasionally powered my TV and speaker system with no problems. I suspect the Xantrex MSW inverter is a cut above the HF one.

I got a couple of POWERWARE/EATON 5125 Rack mount UPS units from work that are 1500WATT SINEWAVE units. These have the internal battery packs that will run several things here in my radio/computer room for about three hours before going into low DC alarm. These have the external 48VDC external DC POWER connectors on it and I was wanting to add some external batteries to it to make it run my room longer when we have power outages... I don't think these units cost much on the surplus market... I have clocks and fans and all kinds of regular 120VAC items plugged in the 120VAC power strips in the radio/computer room. Clocks never miss a beat,,, Routers-Computer- monitors - HDTV and radio circuits don't even blink when it switches over... Just doesn't stay on for a long time. Gives me time to normally shut things down I reckon...

Another project to work on one of these days haha... We used these at work to run our telephone/Internet interface circuits for comms gear...

These being portable rack mount units sitting on my floor here I could drag them along in my OFF-ROAD trailer just fine. they sure are a heavy thing however haha... Never done that...

Roy Ken

road-runner wrote:

MSW inverters are not the same and Harbor Freight inverts are very square wave.

What other MSW inverter is less of a square wave?

Tripplite powerVerters
are technically MSW and are listed as such
BUT are specifically designed to run motors and actually have a modified sine wave
NOT a Square wave, mine has been running my fridge for over 5 years
they include heavy transformers and filtering

they are NOT $99 Choppers making square wave with lots of noise

Naio every HF inverter I purchased from 175-watt to 1,000 watts did similar acts of insanity before they went to inverter purgatory. They are "Yugo" grade inverters. All of mine went into storage seemingly working OK then went postal when they were reconnected.

Chew and spit

Thanks, Mex.

Pthooey!