|
|
Wagan Smart AC 120 Watt USB Power Inverter
Studio : Wagan Corporation
by Wagan Corporation
Brand : Wagan
Model : EL2382
Publisher : Wagan Corporation
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
EAN : 0084367023827
UPC : 084367023827
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 6 reviews)
List Price : $49.99
Our Price : $24.50
|
|
| |
-
Smart AC USB 120 Watt Inverter
-
High Peak Surge of 250 Watts/Converts 12 V DC to AC/Detachable DC/airline cord
-
Charge Electronics via 115 AC Outlet or Integrafed USB Port
-
Built in USB Port/Overload Protection/Low Battery Shutdown
-
Extremely Compact /Smallest in the Market
|
|
| |
|
Product Description |
|
300W Peak Surge Power / No Load Current Draw 0.15A / Input Voltage Range 10V - 15V DC / Auto Low Battery Shutdown / Cooling Fan / Includes airline adapter |
| |
|
| |
|
Bad product |
|
As soon as I plugged this inverter in it started smoking and sparks where shooting out it while I was holding it. Very dangerous. I returned it for a full refund........Wagan Smart AC 120 Watt USB Power Inverter |
| |
|
I like it... |
|
I've had my 120W Wagan a few weeks and have used it twice. It is quite small, feels solid and seems decently made. Today I ran it for an hour with a pretty good load. I had intentionally depleted the battery in my Fujitsu P1610 notebook and then ran the computer while charging from the inverter. AC current measured 0.42A which is about 50 Watts, a bit under half the unit's capacity. I figured this would be a worst case scenario for me when working in the field. The fan ran slowly at first and sped up as the unit heated up. Within 10 minutes its temperature seemed to stabilize and it never got hotter. It got quite warm to the touch but not hot, and the tiny fan was running fast, blowing heat out the end vents as intended. I ran it this way for an hour. Clearly there is at least some continuous duty capacity over the 50W I tested it at. It may very well be that it won't produce the claimed 120W continuously, but it meets my 50W needs and it is tiny. I'm happy, and will stay happy as long as this thing doesn't carp out. |
| |
|
Poor product |
|
This product is falsely advertised as a unit you can plug into the armrest on an airplane. I recently flew on American Airlines and found no such plug available for this device! Do not waste your money on this product! |
| |
|
Great for business travel |
|
This power inverter is great for air travel and even if you are travelling on the road. It comes with a neat acrry case, is light weight, great to throw in your travel case or computer bag. The inverter has a fan which helps keep the device cool especially useful if you're using it to power your laptop! |
| |
|
Tiny unit - overheats easily |
This is a very small DC > AC inverter than converts 12V DC from your car to 120V AC. The removable power cord is a good idea and it has a handy 5V USB plug on the side for charging small USB devices.
It's smaller than a deck of cards but they've overrated it's power capacity by quite a bit. It doesn't have enough cooling capacity to prevent overheating of it's internal parts with even a small load, so it gets hot and shuts off.
I measured it's output with a quality Fluke TrueRMS voltmeter and the output looks ok at 117V AC which is close to a standard 120V household outlet. This is adequate to run most low power AC devices with no issues.
The 120 Watt load rating is overstated because it heats up to 100`F even before you plug in anything. Then it gets really hot if you connect anything that draws some power such as a laptop computer. I tried a Dell D830 laptop which requires 25 watts to run. The AC Inverter overheated and shutdown within 2 minutes while running a laptop.
I have a variety of test equipment and found that the inverter can handle 15 watts all day but 20 watts is the thermal limit. 25 watts overloads it and it overheated to 190`F and shutdown in 2 minutes. It smelled like hot plastic burning. It's possible another inverter of the same model may perform better but that is not likely.
This design has marginal internal cooling capacity so it appears limited to about 20 watts max. The tiny 3/4" built-in fan is quiet at first and it gets louder as the inverter heats up. The fan has a high pitched whine and is really too small. The fan noise may be ok in a moving automobile as it would be drowned out by road noise.
If they changed the design to include a real aluminum heatsink with some mass to it that would increase the power handling a lot. A bigger 2" fan would have worked also.
There is no "off" button.
It has a power LED to indicate that it's on.
The overtemp shutdown feature works.
The fan is thermally regulated, and ends up running all the time.
The low battery feature works and it will shut off if the input voltage gets below 10.3V DC.
It automatically turns back on when the voltage comes back up to 12V.
Tiny high speeed fans typically don't have a long lifespan.
Technical data:
I measured a 400mA current draw with the unit idling with nothing plugged in. A 25 watt load draws 2 amps on the 12V line which sounds about right. Be aware that if you try to run something that actually draws 120 watts (using an inverter that could handle it) a load that big may blow the fuse in your vehicle 12V outlet since they typically has a 10-15 amps fuse. 10 amps X 12V = 120 watts, for example.
Conclusion:
This is a really tiny voltage inverter. If you plan to only run small equipment like a AA battery charger, camera, or MP3 player that needs 5 to 10 watts then it should work ok for you.
I am going to return mine in favor of a physically larger inverter with some mass to keep it cool and one that can really handle 50 watts or more. A quality unit rated for 50 watts would be much better than a tiny, plastic, overrated 120 Watt one.
|
| |
