The product arrived promptly and in good condition.
I bought this in order to run the refrigerator and freezer during power outages and to run 120 volt gardening equipment (weed whacker, hedge clipper) without having to run a long extension cord. It is very difficult for me to start gas powered equipment and I need to take frequent breaks.
I get plenty of run time using my lawn tractor battery. For refrigeration, I parked a car outside the window, connected the inverter, and left the engine running. Plugging in the refrigerator (only 300 watts) tripped the low battery voltage protection, but I was able to reset and run the refrigerator.
Like virtually all inverters and some generators, it produces a "modified sine wave." Everything I have plugged in has worked, except for 2 UPS units. I use uninterruptable power supplies on my sattelite DVR and on my computer. Instead of just pulling the plug from the wall and plugging into the inverter, I had to unplug from the UPS and plug the units directly into the inverter.
The battery cables supplied seem flimsy. Ring terminals are used to attach to the inverter. The inverter's terminals are spaced close together, which could be a problem with heavier wire with larger terminals. I had to tape the wire and terminals because copper was showing and strain relief is needed.
You might think a generator would be a better choice, but it needs to be started periodically, fuel can go stale, and you need to guard against carbon monoxide. Manual starting is a problem for me, so an inverter is a better solution.
The bottom line: It does the job. When the power went out two days ago I was glad I had the inverter.
The man that did the first review (Allan Arthur) makes many great points. I use it strictly for convenience rather than fuss with a generator in bad weather, keeping it in good working order, etc. I can run everything I need for about 8-10 hours with two deep cycle batteries hooked in parallel. That may sound like a hassle all its own, and it was setting it up. I have the batteries hardwired together in my office out of sight. I have the inverter hardwired to the battery so when the power goes out all I have to do is run an extension cord to my living room where my computer and TV are and turn on the inverter. I can do that in two minutes. I also have a UPS, which gives me about 40 minutes before I even need to do that. Getting a generator up and running is going to take a lot longer than that.
Overall, this product is amazing for the price. You should look up the difference between modified sine wave and true sine wave if you have any specialty electronics that you need to back up. You would need to do that with a generator as well. True sine wave is going to set you back quite a bit. Modified sine wave works fine for most household electronics.
Buy Power Bright PW900-12 Power Inverter 900 Watt 12 Volt DC To 110 Volt AC Now
Great value if you don't run CFL loads off this one. In my setup, it was tripping randomly when connected to 4 23W CFL lamps. 2 other inverters I had did not so must be a problem with this unit. If you don't plan to run CFL lamps, it's a great product. I especially like that the fan shuts down automatically under no load...
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I bought this to replace a B & D 400 watt inverter that has an irritating fan noise. The B & D fan would come on the minute you plugged anything into it.
This inverter has a bigger muffin fan that cycles on, then off when you switch on the inverter but then under the same load conditions that I had for the B & D never comes on again. It is higher and longer than the B&D and seems to keep cooler because the case is made of metal with cooling fins.
I am not using it under heavy loads yet but I can say that it is exactly what I was looking for. I am glad that it has twice the capacity of the B & D unit, even if I haven't needed it yet. Northern Tools sells an 800w unit that looks exactly like this but adds a USB charging port.
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I picked up the Power Bright 900 inverter last week in advance of Hurricane Sandy. My basement floods and I wanted something simple to run the sump pump if the power failed. The power did fail, but fortunately my basement didn't flood. However, what I wound up with instead was almost worse...a house full of bored kids and dead electronics. I was able to hook the inverter up to my car with no problem whatsoever. Within a few minutes ipads, DS's, and laptops were charging. It ran all day without killing my car battery (albeit I did turn it on here and there to keep it charged) or overheating. I can't say anything dramatic like it saved my house, but it perhaps did save a little bit of my sanity. Not really a replacement for a full generator, but in a pinch it gets the job done.
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I would NOT recommend these.
