Whistler Pro-1200W 1,200 Watt Power Inverter

Just a quick update I have had this inverter in my semi for a year now and it is still going strong, it gets near daily use and has survived having a 700 watt microwave short out and catch fire, all it did was trip the inverters fault protection, a quick reset and it was fine I now have a RV style 600 watt microwave that it powers flawlessly.

I bought this to replace a powerdrive 1500 watt inverter that died after about a month, this one has lasted over 3 months so far and I use it almost daily to run a laptop, document scanner, 700 watt microwave plus several chargers for cell phones, mp3 players, etc. Average draw with the laptop, scanner and microwave going simultaneously is 900 watts, at that load the fan doesn't even kick on which is nice because one of the annoying features the powerdrive was its constantly running (very loud) fans.

I have ran it at @1300 watts output for a minute or so when I had to plug in a high speed drill, it took this abuse without so much as getting warm.

If you are looking for a affordable, reliable ac power supply for a semi or other large truck I cannot recommend this one highly enough, just be sure to buy a wiring kit like the Cobra 4-AWG Heavy-Duty AC Power Inverter Cable Kit sold here at amazon, and a ANL Fuse Holder with a 150 amp ANL fuse, because the inverter comes with no wires at all.

EDIT:

Thought I should mention, when mounting this in your truck it MUST be direct wired to the batteries, if you try and run it through the bus you run the risk of overloading it and causing serious damage to your semis' electronics. Also the shorter the cables from your battery to the inverter are the lower the power drop will be (simply put shorter cables equals more wattage you can safely use)

One last thing, if you plan on using this in a non commercial vehicle (IE a regular car or truck) check with a mechanic to make sure your alternator/battery combo can handle this, some cars have just enough power to run their own internal systems and adding this on could overload it and do damage.

While not perfect, this product saved us from the Halloween storm this year. We were without power for 4 days and this inverter provided enough juice to power our refrigerator, the boiler (so that the house didn't get so cold as it was in the 20s some nights), a light, and I even toasted on a small toaster (I disconnected everything else to do this). We tried the microwave and it worked a few times, but then started tripping every time (I am not sure if it was the inverter or the cables we got as one of the terminal was poorly connected and it didn't always have a great connection). We ran it 2-3 hours at a time connected to our car battery with the car running. It seemed to trip from time to time for no reason (usually it had been running the boiler and frig for a few minutes) even though it was only running at 300-400 Watts; I am not sure if it was the car alternator that tripped it by having a voltage spike on the DC side or what, but we had to go reset it about 1-2 times per hour.

Still, this product is a great value at 71 bucks we paid for a 1200 Watt inverter and more than paid for itself by saving our food in the frig/freezer plus allowed us to avoid having to go to a hotel. If I had it to do over again, I might consider something slightly larger (1500-1600 Watts) and perhaps even a true sine wave inverter (I realize that a modified sine wave 1500 would be up to twice the price I paid or 6 times for a 1500 Watt true sine wave inverter), but it could be worth it as then I could charge my UPS to run my computers as well (I don't dare do that on a modified sine wave inverter because of all the warning from Whistler that the UPS batteries could overheat and damage it, or to run as my computers either for the same reason), and I could also run my microwave.

I would recommend this for someone that can't afford a larger one or a pure sine wave inverter. I would not go much larger because we are running from the car because if you are consistently drawing over 1000 Watts (about 100 amps on the DC side) and your car alternator does not have more capacity (most cars have under 100 amp capacity in their alternators) you will wreck the battery and, worse, even the alternator. We lucked out that our minivan has a 130 amp alternator so I could run it for extended periods without being worried that I was destroying the battery or the alternator.

Buy Whistler Pro-1200W 1,200 Watt Power Inverter Now

I am powering some lights and the refrigerator (3.5 amps) through a transfer switch in my house. There are two issues. The first is that this inverter creates a hum in my main circuit panel in the house. I tried a Wagan Elite Pure Sine wave inverter and it did not do this, so perhaps its because the Whistler is a mod sine wave? The other issue is that the lights flicker like crazy in the house when the car is running, if I turn off the car the lights are great, start the car and the lights pulse and drive us crazy. I am not sure why this is happening. I called Whistler and they could not figure it out either; they even asked their engineer and he had no idea. As such this one is going back.

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I had this inverter professionally installed by our shop as required because it was going into a company vehicle (semi Tractor). They install a breaker switch at the batteries. I also ordered and had installed the Cobra Inverter 4 gauge cables to run the 8 ft. distance where the unit was to be located. This unit was purchased to operate a mini fridge (Black & Decker) 1.7 cu. ft. and a 700 to 900 watt microwave. The fridge is rated at 120v and operates at maximum 300 watts at start up. It normally operates at 30-50 watts and at start up, I'm only seeing a 135 watt surge. The 1st time I plugged in the fridge the inverter fried. Amazon shipped me another one over night. I connected this one, plugged in the fridge and the unit could not handle the small load (it beeped and the fridge was vibrating) so I returned this unit as well, went to Flying J and purchased a Power Drive 1500 watt on sale for $139.99. This inverter works perfectly with no issues. I contacted the Whistler Corp. customer service regarding the first unit and was advised to return it because it was bad. These inverters are not built very well and are not reliable. Stick with the tried and true quality brands. Granted all our stuff is now made in China, but quality control and proper specs make all the difference in the world.

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Bought this to replace an old 1200 watt unit that died.

The new Whistler works great. A nice feature is the automatic fans that only come on when needed which make it completely quiet unless under a heavy load.

The battery voltage/watt lead meter is nice too!

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