I already have one, but these are great to have. I use mine during camping and I also have the battery ones a 2500 and a 1200 that I use this inverter to charge while we’re camping
@Drez143 Cigarette lighter plug is good for 120W. The alligator clamps are for connecting directly to the car’s battery and allow you to use up to 500W.
Some concerning notes for anyone hoping to use a 4S (14.4-16.8V) Li-Ion battery, or a 3S Li-Ion Pack (10.8-12.2V)
“OPERATING LIMITS
Power Output
The inverter can deliver 500 watts for about 60 minutes. The inverter must cool for 15 minutes before it can
resume operation at 500 watts. Note: The wattage rating applies to resistive loads.”
“Input Voltage
The inverter will operate from input voltage ranging from 10 volts to 15 volts. Optimum performance will
occur when the voltage is between 12 volts and 14 volts. If the voltage drops below 10.5V+/-0.3V, an audible
low battery warning will sound. The inverter will shut down if the input voltage drops below 9.5V+/-0.3V. This
protects the battery from being over-discharged. It will restart when the input voltage exceeds 12V+/-0.3V.
The inverter will also shut down if the input voltage exceeds change to 15.5V+/-0.5V. This protects the
inverter against excessive input voltage. Although the inverter has protection against over-voltage, it may still
be damaged if the input voltage were to exceed 16 volts.”
i.e. It’s probably created with 16V capacitors on the front end. Also, 3S li-ion battery pack could easily drop down to ~9V when state-of-charge gets down low, but this inverter will throw a fit w/ <9.5V.
I’ll add that a 12.8V LiFePO4 battery back (aka LFP) would probably work OK with this inverter, so long as you get one that can handle ~40-50A peak. https://batteryhookup.com/products/new-12-8v-30ah-lifepo4-battery-series-12-24-36-48v would probably make the cut, but they do have a few larger ones that would work better. Pretty sure I’ve got a referral code for those guys, whisper me if interested.
Not clear what to do with this. It’s modified sine wave which is supposed to not be good for running motors. It also makes a lot of noise if you try to run audio electronics from it.
I have a much smaller cig plug one that does supposedly 100 watts, and that is handy for charging my laptop or the like. For a 500 watt one you’d want connected to the battery with the motor running. Who wants their car idling for long periods? I’m sure uses exist but I don’t see obvious or commonplace ones.
@phr If you can get a DC to DC power adapter for your laptop, or a generic adapter on Amazon, it’ll be a bit more efficient than stepping up to 120V then back down to laptop’s ~16-19V
@phr Uses?
This looks perfect to carry with me when i travel, along with a maybe 10-15 amp battery charger for emergency use when my car battery goes dead.
Can this be safely used in a Toyota Rav 4 hybrid. Which battery would you hook it up to? Could you charge a laptop or power a CPAP if the inverter is plugged into the cigarette lighter? How long can you run the CPAP before the inverter shuts off to cool down?
@jrubin
Yes
Lighter socket for < 120 watts or 13v starter battery for > 120 watts.
Yes (as long as the combined load is <120 watts)
Cpap alone should never need to cool off.
@jrubin@ohhwell if the RAV4 uses the same approach as the Prius, the “starter” battery is the big NiMh pack just behind the back seat. The 12V battery can be replaced with a 30A peak lithium.
@jrubin@ohhwell Well… In the Prius at least, it’s the “starter” battery (from a very quick search all the other hybrids are the same). There’s no separate starter motor for the engine the hybrid motors serve that purpose and so that traction pack is the “starter” battery. The 12V is just there to go flat if you leave the car too long without driving it… (probably does other less annoying things also). There’s also no alternator, the 12V is charged from the traction pack.
@ergomeh@jrubin@ohhwell To elaborate a bit more and better differentiate the batteries in a hybrid, the main battery pack is considered the “high voltage” or “traction battery”, and the 12V is considered the “auxiliary battery” since its purpose is for the computers and accessories. There’s no starter or alternator – the drive motor and a DC-to-DC converter serves those purposes.
Inverters such as this need to run off the 12V auxiliary battery. Earlier RAV4 hybrids had them under the hood; ones in the past decade or so are in the interior.
FWIW, the traction battery on Toyota’s hybrids is over 240V DC. On Ford’s hybrids (which I have), it’s over 300V. For safety, the high voltages are internally isolated within the pack when the vehicle isn’t running.
@mehvid1@phendrick OMG, that video was awesome! Don’t know what it has to do with today’s sale, but so glad you posted it, will be sharing with others.
The write-up video touts the “family of Cobra inverters, from 400 to 5000 watts”. So this little 500-watter is the little bastard barely acknowledged by the family?
I am (now) careful to make tight connections to the battery. I was running a truck cab heater off my lithium ion solar battery set up. One bolt at the battery was loose and wow did the battery terminal get hot.
Never had a problem with lead acid and clips using a small inverter. Larger ones always bolt onto the battery.
@blaineg It means the heating feature is operating normally. If the light goes out the heater is not working. If it glows white it means the lighting feature has also been activated!
@blaineg@tkocka When the connected wire starts smoking and is glowing, it means an expedited thermal systems validation and path identification functions have also been initiated.
@blaineg@kuoh@tkocka Luminescent nuts/bolts - an important safety feature supplied free, courtesy of the laws of thermodynamics and the more recently ratified Ohm’s law.
See also luminescent watch bands. (Learned indirectly and duly noted from my father and grandfather).
@blaineg@tkocka That light usually means that the nut is unwilling to relinquish its grip on the bolt, and is raging mad that somebody even suggested it should.
So this is probably a 400 watt inverter since it can not output 500 watts for more than 1/2 an hour. If you are trying for an output close to 500 watts upsize your wire and hardwire it to your battery.
@jgoldshlag Most car batteries don’t have a problem providing 45 amps continuous and well over 500 CCA. They just don’t have the capacity to do it for very long without substantially increasing the risk of not starting and you walking home. Your typical 1000W home UPS has 2 tiny 9ah batteries that can deliver over 40 amps.
@jgoldshlag Autocorrect does not understand units. You definitely meant and possibly even typed 120-240w, but somehow that “w” for watts became a “v” for volts.
This isn’t a very shocking mistake as there are millions of products on the market that are rated 120-240 volts so they can operate in both the US and Europe.
[Since this is a comment about an error in text in another comment, it is guaranteed to have an error itself. This error will be instantly visible the moment the edit window closes. Until then, I will be unable to see it or more likely them.]
@hamjudo@jgoldshlag@JohnQ118 Just musing:
Why is a “W” called a “double U” instead of a “double V”?
i don’t think our ancestors were that much more stupid than we, the current population.
@hamjudo@jgoldshlag@JohnQ118@phendrick Might have something to do with the way language has evolved over time so that words like sick and bad can mean something completely contrary to how they were originally envisioned. Whether that points more towards the weaker cognitive abilities of our ancestors or their eventual offsprings remains to be debated. Or perhaps it was just easier to carve VV than UU into wooden signs and headstones back then until it eventually became tradition?
@hamjudo@jgoldshlag@JohnQ118@kuoh@phendrick Noting that Caesar Avgvstvs (by way of just one example) was spelled using the pointy-down letter (see https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces247414.html), it may be apparent that yes, there certainly has been some shift over the centuries. OBTW, the C in Latin was hard. This is why the German monarchs were Kaisers, after the Latin pronunciation but with the modern unambiguous spelling.
I’m not 100% sure what letter in Latin corresponds to our V.
BTW, in my Catholic high school Latin class, where we supposedly used authentic pronunciations (as they were recorded at the time?), we were told to pronounce "c"s as either “kh” or “ch”, depending on the word (“confitior” -> “khonfeeteeor”, “ecce” -> “aichay”) and "v"s as "w"s (“veni, vidi, vici” -> “waynee, weedee, weechee”) We didn’t argue, since we had no access to original sources.
Always wished i could try out a time machine and go back and listen to Caesar or Cicero (“cheekero”?) in the mother tongue. Of course, modern italians do their own thing (married to one for over 28 years; r.i.p.); kinda like lawyers. At least they got “non compos mentis” right.
@kuoh i for one don’t appreciate the “evolution” of modern language any more than i appreciate the evolving attitude toward stop signs and yielding right of way.
Language was developed for communication. Changing the meanings of words and phrases at whim or to be “clever” is antithetical to that. “Bad”, but not in a good way. “Sick” might be apropos.
@phendrick church Latin is pronounced differently than classical. As no one speaks classical anymore we just say it’s the way it’s meant to be and that our pronunciation is the correct one.
church Latin is pronounced differently than classical
How do we know that?
Were there any recordings left? Any eye ear-witnesses left to confirm? Any phonetic renderings on the surviving scrolls? This is a (mostly) serious question.
As alluded above, with language evolution on-going, how would linguists even trace that back millennia?
@phendrick@qazxto Here’s a place where English is spoken very differently than elsewhere; some think it’s close to Elizabethan English but others are doubtful.
@agnesnutter The image was generated using a simplified lighting model. So it looks like a bad Photoshop rather than a weird image of a 3d model. The unit has a curved front panel. We expect all of the connectors to be in the same plane, but they aren’t. The 120v outlets and the power switch are mounted tangent to that front panel, while the RJ-45 and USB outlets are recessed into the panel at various depths.
The curves along the top front are probably the same color and material as the front and top surfaces, but they sure don’t look like it with this lighting model.
@agnesnutter@allthatisjosh Are you content being one of the slackers keeping the Cobra population replacement rate below 2.1? This is how society fails, too many tribbles and not enough cobras!
@agnesnutter@kuoh Yes. I don’t need cobras copulating in my car. I know, this is exactly the kind of NiMBS complacency that eventually causes problems, but those are problems for other people.
Though, it would give me an outlet for my “If you see this car slither, don’t come hither” bumper stickers…
Looks like there’s also an option for a remote. So this could be stashed away powering the 15 watt fm transmitter for your mobile pirate radio station for when you want to make everyone on 88.1 within a 2 block radius listen to you relive your awkward high school Midwest emo phase.
@gaspingatstraws Ahhh, the remote is a dedicated wired device. How disappointing. I was hoping that someone would use the RJ-45 to connect to an AP or router powered by the device. Then spending some time working out why that shutdown command dropped the network.
Could you hook this up directly to a (non-installed) car battery for emergency power? Would that be a bad idea? I know the duration would depend on what you had plugged in.
This is a good deal, but I take umbrage with the claim that a 500 watt inverter will run any microwave oven. At least any one I’ve encountered. My 30 year old countertop GE is 700 watts from the magnetron!
@PooltoyWolf Will the clock flash 12:00 when plugged in? Will the light come on when you open the door? Will it beep when you press a button? 3 out of 4 ain’t bad, they didn’t say it would run any microwave oven perfectly.
Specs
Product: 2-Pack: Cobra 500W Power Inverter (Refurbished)
Model: CPI500W FR
Condition: Refurbished
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$96.90 (for 2) at Amazon
Manufacturer Page
Product Manual
Quick Start Guide
Spec Sheet
Warranty
6 Month Cobra
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Sep 23 - Tuesday, Sep 24
My on-the-go outlets usually have the outline of a man.
I already have one, but these are great to have. I use mine during camping and I also have the battery ones a 2500 and a 1200 that I use this inverter to charge while we’re camping
So I see a cigarette lighter plug, but also clamps to put this directly on your battery.
The cigarette plugs are not rated for 500 watts, are they? How exactly do you connect this damn thing.
I don’t need two of them, but even one at $30 sounds tempting for 500 watts, because I also fucking love fans.
@Drez143 Cigarette lighter plug is good for 120W. The alligator clamps are for connecting directly to the car’s battery and allow you to use up to 500W.
@Drez143 500W at 120V is 4.1A, That said, this would require 41A@12V with 100% efficiency, so would need more like 45A. .
Some concerning notes for anyone hoping to use a 4S (14.4-16.8V) Li-Ion battery, or a 3S Li-Ion Pack (10.8-12.2V)
“OPERATING LIMITS
Power Output
The inverter can deliver 500 watts for about 60 minutes. The inverter must cool for 15 minutes before it can
resume operation at 500 watts. Note: The wattage rating applies to resistive loads.”
“Input Voltage
The inverter will operate from input voltage ranging from 10 volts to 15 volts. Optimum performance will
occur when the voltage is between 12 volts and 14 volts. If the voltage drops below 10.5V+/-0.3V, an audible
low battery warning will sound. The inverter will shut down if the input voltage drops below 9.5V+/-0.3V. This
protects the battery from being over-discharged. It will restart when the input voltage exceeds 12V+/-0.3V.
The inverter will also shut down if the input voltage exceeds change to 15.5V+/-0.5V. This protects the
inverter against excessive input voltage. Although the inverter has protection against over-voltage, it may still
be damaged if the input voltage were to exceed 16 volts.”
i.e. It’s probably created with 16V capacitors on the front end. Also, 3S li-ion battery pack could easily drop down to ~9V when state-of-charge gets down low, but this inverter will throw a fit w/ <9.5V.
I’ll add that a 12.8V LiFePO4 battery back (aka LFP) would probably work OK with this inverter, so long as you get one that can handle ~40-50A peak. https://batteryhookup.com/products/new-12-8v-30ah-lifepo4-battery-series-12-24-36-48v would probably make the cut, but they do have a few larger ones that would work better. Pretty sure I’ve got a referral code for those guys, whisper me if interested.
2 refurbished inverters?!? What a deal! 2 car fires for the price of one! Insurance check here I come!
@Num1Zero One for the car and one for the house.
Not clear what to do with this. It’s modified sine wave which is supposed to not be good for running motors. It also makes a lot of noise if you try to run audio electronics from it.
I have a much smaller cig plug one that does supposedly 100 watts, and that is handy for charging my laptop or the like. For a 500 watt one you’d want connected to the battery with the motor running. Who wants their car idling for long periods? I’m sure uses exist but I don’t see obvious or commonplace ones.
@phr If you can get a DC to DC power adapter for your laptop, or a generic adapter on Amazon, it’ll be a bit more efficient than stepping up to 120V then back down to laptop’s ~16-19V
@phr Uses?
This looks perfect to carry with me when i travel, along with a maybe 10-15 amp battery charger for emergency use when my car battery goes dead.
Oh, wait…
Can this be safely used in a Toyota Rav 4 hybrid. Which battery would you hook it up to? Could you charge a laptop or power a CPAP if the inverter is plugged into the cigarette lighter? How long can you run the CPAP before the inverter shuts off to cool down?
@jrubin
Yes
Lighter socket for < 120 watts or 13v starter battery for > 120 watts.
Yes (as long as the combined load is <120 watts)
Cpap alone should never need to cool off.
@ohhwell
@ohhwell Thank you
@jrubin @ohhwell if the RAV4 uses the same approach as the Prius, the “starter” battery is the big NiMh pack just behind the back seat. The 12V battery can be replaced with a 30A peak lithium.
@ergomeh @jrubin no, that is the traction battery.
@jrubin @ohhwell Well… In the Prius at least, it’s the “starter” battery (from a very quick search all the other hybrids are the same). There’s no separate starter motor for the engine the hybrid motors serve that purpose and so that traction pack is the “starter” battery. The 12V is just there to go flat if you leave the car too long without driving it… (probably does other less annoying things also). There’s also no alternator, the 12V is charged from the traction pack.
@ergomeh @jrubin @ohhwell To elaborate a bit more and better differentiate the batteries in a hybrid, the main battery pack is considered the “high voltage” or “traction battery”, and the 12V is considered the “auxiliary battery” since its purpose is for the computers and accessories. There’s no starter or alternator – the drive motor and a DC-to-DC converter serves those purposes.
Inverters such as this need to run off the 12V auxiliary battery. Earlier RAV4 hybrids had them under the hood; ones in the past decade or so are in the interior.
FWIW, the traction battery on Toyota’s hybrids is over 240V DC. On Ford’s hybrids (which I have), it’s over 300V. For safety, the high voltages are internally isolated within the pack when the vehicle isn’t running.
“All you need to do is hook one up and viola.”
Really? Not cello? Are you certain?
@mehvid1 Neither, it’s All about that bass.
https://emojis.sh/emoji/double-bass-AkbpdiGGF0
@mehvid1 Distracting errors:
Viola, to/too/two, loose/lose, …
Ect.
These make it harder to accept the poster’s point.
@mehvid1 @phendrick Especially when they contend the point is mute, but I feel like it’s all moot.
KuoH
@kuoh @mehvid1 @phendrick Ukulele.
@mehvid1 @phendrick OMG, that video was awesome! Don’t know what it has to do with today’s sale, but so glad you posted it, will be sharing with others.
FOOLS! TOOLS! JEWELS! AWESOME!
@mehvid1 @phendrick
But much easier to except it.
@macromeh @phendrick We should expect that acceptance will surpass the exceptions in this application.
@macromeh @mehvid1 @phendrick And now I need a place to use the word “exceptance” just to see what happens.
@macromeh @phendrick @werehatrack
The write-up video touts the “family of Cobra inverters, from 400 to 5000 watts”. So this little 500-watter is the little bastard barely acknowledged by the family?
@phendrick it’s the middle child that only gets tattered hand me downs and is never the center of attention.
KuoH
I am (now) careful to make tight connections to the battery. I was running a truck cab heater off my lithium ion solar battery set up. One bolt at the battery was loose and wow did the battery terminal get hot.
Never had a problem with lead acid and clips using a small inverter. Larger ones always bolt onto the battery.
@tkocka What does this light mean?
@blaineg It means the heating feature is operating normally. If the light goes out the heater is not working. If it glows white it means the lighting feature has also been activated!
@blaineg @tkocka When the connected wire starts smoking and is glowing, it means an expedited thermal systems validation and path identification functions have also been initiated.
KuoH
@blaineg @kuoh @tkocka Luminescent nuts/bolts - an important safety feature supplied free, courtesy of the laws of thermodynamics and the more recently ratified Ohm’s law.
See also luminescent watch bands. (Learned indirectly and duly noted from my father and grandfather).
@blaineg @tkocka That light usually means that the nut is unwilling to relinquish its grip on the bolt, and is raging mad that somebody even suggested it should.
So this is probably a 400 watt inverter since it can not output 500 watts for more than 1/2 an hour. If you are trying for an output close to 500 watts upsize your wire and hardwire it to your battery.
If you try to pull 45 amps from a lead acid car battery, good luck not lighting the car on fire.
Most cars have 10-20amp fuses on their 12v outlets, so limited to 120-240v there.
@jgoldshlag Most car batteries don’t have a problem providing 45 amps continuous and well over 500 CCA. They just don’t have the capacity to do it for very long without substantially increasing the risk of not starting and you walking home. Your typical 1000W home UPS has 2 tiny 9ah batteries that can deliver over 40 amps.
KuoH
@jgoldshlag Autocorrect does not understand units. You definitely meant and possibly even typed 120-240w, but somehow that “w” for watts became a “v” for volts.
This isn’t a very shocking mistake as there are millions of products on the market that are rated 120-240 volts so they can operate in both the US and Europe.
[Since this is a comment about an error in text in another comment, it is guaranteed to have an error itself. This error will be instantly visible the moment the edit window closes. Until then, I will be unable to see it or more likely them.]
@hamjudo @jgoldshlag “How to type a ‘double-u’” use two Vee’s side-by-side. VVhy not?
@hamjudo @jgoldshlag @JohnQ118 Just musing:
Why is a “W” called a “double U” instead of a “double V”?
i don’t think our ancestors were that much more stupid than we, the current population.
@hamjudo @jgoldshlag @JohnQ118 @phendrick Might have something to do with the way language has evolved over time so that words like sick and bad can mean something completely contrary to how they were originally envisioned. Whether that points more towards the weaker cognitive abilities of our ancestors or their eventual offsprings remains to be debated. Or perhaps it was just easier to carve VV than UU into wooden signs and headstones back then until it eventually became tradition?
KuoH
@hamjudo @jgoldshlag @JohnQ118 @kuoh @phendrick Noting that Caesar Avgvstvs (by way of just one example) was spelled using the pointy-down letter (see https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces247414.html), it may be apparent that yes, there certainly has been some shift over the centuries. OBTW, the C in Latin was hard. This is why the German monarchs were Kaisers, after the Latin pronunciation but with the modern unambiguous spelling.
I’m not 100% sure what letter in Latin corresponds to our V.
@hamjudo @jgoldshlag @JohnQ118 @kuoh @werehatrack Apparently “their V” was like “our V”; go figure. Just did double duty?
BTW, in my Catholic high school Latin class, where we supposedly used authentic pronunciations (as they were recorded at the time?), we were told to pronounce "c"s as either “kh” or “ch”, depending on the word (“confitior” -> “khonfeeteeor”, “ecce” -> “aichay”) and "v"s as "w"s (“veni, vidi, vici” -> “waynee, weedee, weechee”) We didn’t argue, since we had no access to original sources.
Always wished i could try out a time machine and go back and listen to Caesar or Cicero (“cheekero”?) in the mother tongue. Of course, modern italians do their own thing (married to one for over 28 years; r.i.p.); kinda like lawyers. At least they got “non compos mentis” right.
@kuoh i for one don’t appreciate the “evolution” of modern language any more than i appreciate the evolving attitude toward stop signs and yielding right of way.
Language was developed for communication. Changing the meanings of words and phrases at whim or to be “clever” is antithetical to that. “Bad”, but not in a good way. “Sick” might be apropos.
@phendrick Station!
William S. Preston Esq
@kuoh @phendrick Well, what a nice comment. To be consistent, you’d better stick with the original meaning of other words too.
@phendrick church Latin is pronounced differently than classical. As no one speaks classical anymore we just say it’s the way it’s meant to be and that our pronunciation is the correct one.
@kuoh @Kyeh So that’s why everyone is always telling me to have “a nice day”? Always thought they were wishing me a vacation in France.
@qazxto
How do we know that?
Were there any recordings left? Any
eyeear-witnesses left to confirm? Any phonetic renderings on the surviving scrolls? This is a (mostly) serious question.As alluded above, with language evolution on-going, how would linguists even trace that back millennia?
@phendrick @qazxto Here’s a place where English is spoken very differently than elsewhere; some think it’s close to Elizabethan English but others are doubtful.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180206-the-tiny-us-island-with-a-british-accent
@kuoh @Kyeh Were you a “little girl”?
@Kyeh @qazxto thanks, that’s an interesting place I hadn’t heard of.
Why does it look so… Much?
@agnesnutter The image was generated using a simplified lighting model. So it looks like a bad Photoshop rather than a weird image of a 3d model. The unit has a curved front panel. We expect all of the connectors to be in the same plane, but they aren’t. The 120v outlets and the power switch are mounted tangent to that front panel, while the RJ-45 and USB outlets are recessed into the panel at various depths.
The curves along the top front are probably the same color and material as the front and top surfaces, but they sure don’t look like it with this lighting model.
Cobra is the new…
@blaineg I can’t say Hell+Bowell because this stuff is better than that, but not Shark either.
The two pack is confusing. I’m not sure I want one of these, but I definitely don’t want two of them…
@allthatisjosh One for each of the two cars that all adults own
@allthatisjosh (disclaimer: I am an adult with zero cars)
/showme car skiing
@agnesnutter @allthatisjosh Are you content being one of the slackers keeping the Cobra population replacement rate below 2.1? This is how society fails, too many tribbles and not enough cobras!
KuoH
@agnesnutter @kuoh Yes. I don’t need cobras copulating in my car. I know, this is exactly the kind of NiMBS complacency that eventually causes problems, but those are problems for other people.
Though, it would give me an outlet for my “If you see this car slither, don’t come hither” bumper stickers…
Looks like there’s also an option for a remote. So this could be stashed away powering the 15 watt fm transmitter for your mobile pirate radio station for when you want to make everyone on 88.1 within a 2 block radius listen to you relive your awkward high school Midwest emo phase.
@gaspingatstraws Ahhh, the remote is a dedicated wired device. How disappointing. I was hoping that someone would use the RJ-45 to connect to an AP or router powered by the device. Then spending some time working out why that shutdown command dropped the network.
Could you hook this up directly to a (non-installed) car battery for emergency power? Would that be a bad idea? I know the duration would depend on what you had plugged in.
@ArmchairGamer In order: Yes, Maybe, and Correct.
This is a good deal, but I take umbrage with the claim that a 500 watt inverter will run any microwave oven. At least any one I’ve encountered. My 30 year old countertop GE is 700 watts from the magnetron!
@PooltoyWolf Will the clock flash 12:00 when plugged in? Will the light come on when you open the door? Will it beep when you press a button? 3 out of 4 ain’t bad, they didn’t say it would run any microwave oven perfectly.
PT Barnum
@kuoh LMAO that got me chuckling!
Something I actually want. I’ll try it out for my cheap solar set up.