Got this to put in my little RV. I was looking for something small enough to not draw down
the one battery I have in the Coach. Installed under a cabinet close to the battery and
ran 10 ga wire to it. Plug in the Coach electrical cord to it and turned it on. It will
run a Radio or TV or the Microwave or the Fan in my A/C but not the A/C itself which would
take about a 3000 watt inverter which would drain my battery really fast! I watched TV and
listened to the radio for 2 days and finally ran the battery down running the A/C fan on the
second day. It's a little workhorse. Good for the price too! Cobra CPI 880 800 Watt 12 Volt DC to 120 Volt AC Power Inverter with 5 Volt USB output
Bought this for tailgating at Buffet. I was actually able to hook it up to a lawn tractor battery and power a blender. I wasn't sure if the battery would have enough juice, but it worked great and was much easier to transport than a car or marine battery. Testing at home showed the low voltage alarms and whatnot work very well. I just wish this came with a cigarette lighter cord for those times you're just using it on low-amp devices the way some other inverters do. Also, I agree with some other reviews that the mounting tab locations look like they would make getting the screws in there difficult. I haven't tried mounting it, but the edges of the case definitely would get in the way. Creative DIYers would find a way to make it work, so no big deal.
The first one died within about 6 weeks. That is not a good sign... but Cobra made good and sent me a new one which has been working flawlessly for > year. I like this unit because the fan is active, not passive. So if you are using it to, say, charge a phone or run a laptop with a charged battery, (e.g. not much current draw) the fan stays off. As a noise-freak, that makes me happy. The power rating seems realistic, unlike two other units I tried. I'm quite happy with it, minus the dead original of course.
I do NOT have electricity in my Carport, so this little gadget is a GODSEND. It runs my Elipitical Buffer (for my Cars) wonderfully, and cuts out BEFORE my Cars' Battery Charge is emptied. I would not want to be without it!
Had this for some time now never let me down it's got over load shut off and 1600 watt peak power so can power almost any thing I want and if I power so much stuff it shuts it's self off so I don't mess it up
The inverter is great, and the cables that Amazon recommends are useful. However, there are 3 cables in the package when you only need 2. You only need a red and black to install the inverter. Also, you don't need an additional fuse box as Amazon recommends since the inverter has its own protective circuitry that will alarm and shut it off if it is overpowered or overheated. You'll need a large soldering iron to solder the cable ends on. I had to shorten the 10 foot cables by about 8 inches to install in my truck, so the ends of the cables that were already tinned were cut off. My little 25 watt soldering iron didn't make enough heat to re-tin the ends and solder on the connectors. No biggie, just time for me to step up to a big boy soldering iron. Hope this helps. Good luck.
mine works great. i don't use the wires that it comes with. they are short and thin. i modified my old jumper cables to use with it. i cut the clamps off of one end and permanently attached that to the inverter. now i have big clamps with 12 foot wires for a little more flexibility. i have used it for camping to make coffee and it worked great. i have also hooked up various power tools and those fired right up. (power drill, circ saw). i had my truck running while i was using it only because i was nervous about killing my battery. (we camp out in the middle of nowhere). it's a good little tool, i would recommend it.
Works great in my car.
The cables provided are undersized for the current levels the unit is capable of drawing. For an 800 W load at the 120 VAC output, that's about 80 A at the 12 VDC input. In order to safely use this unit continuously at its max power output, it would need 4 gauge cables on the input, not 10 gauge. Don't bother buying the cables from Cobra, just go to a car audio supply place and make your own. Don't forget an 80-100A fuse close to the battery - the unit has its own fuse but you don't want to rely on that if the cable breaks elsewhere and shorts before the unit's fuse, blowing up your battery.
For automotive applications, you don't need to run the negative cable all the way back to the battery, just ground it to the frame.
I agree, the mounting bracket is stupid, as you can't quite get the screwdriver in there parallel to the screw body. I managed but it was hackish.
Use star lockwashers on all connections, especially in automotive applications as the thumbscrews will work themselves loose.
I like the fact that it blips the fans on and off when it starts, that tells you that the unit is working even if you can't see it. - Car Electricity - Ac-dc Converter - Inverter - Car Adapter'
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