A Question for the Electrical Smarties

[Intech]

Hey Steve,
I've used mine too, but I was told by another guy that electronics can be damaged by using cheap inverters that don't produce a pure sine wave.

I think as long as we just use it for charging and not running, we should be ok. (spoken by the *****(me) who is going to fry $1000's worth of electronics to save a few bucks on a high end inverter)

and who says I don't live dangerously

Mike

If a device runs on a battery it operates on DC. The purity of the sine wave of an inverter makes no difference if the charger is rectifying the voltage anyway. The only real concern is that the inverter is rated for the load. As for AC devices plugged into an iverter it is a different story. I would not operate any expensive AC devices on a cheap inverter.

 

[BobOdenweller]

Don't complicate things by adding an inverter into the mix. I am able to charge everything without an inverter. You can get a simple cigarette lighter adapter that has a short USB cord on it to charge all you USB devices and I was able to find I car charger for my Lenovo netbook on ebay and it works just fine.

 

[Patriot]

Don't complicate things by adding an inverter into the mix. I am able to charge everything without an inverter. You can get a simple cigarette lighter adapter that has a short USB cord on it to charge all you USB devices and I was able to find I car charger for my Lenovo netbook on ebay and it works just fine.

in my experience, this is not an answer because ALL 12volt chargers I tried introduced so much noise into the MP3/Ipod, that it was impossible to hear the music while plugged into the charger. I wanted badly to not have to charge the device in a motel room while on the road and wanted it charging to stay fully charged while riding AND enjoying th music.

the 110v home/wall charger plugged into a small inverter allowed the device to work perfectly on the road while charging, so I was motivated to wire up a setup that way.

 

[Moosehead]

Hey Steve,
I've used mine too, but I was told by another guy that electronics can be damaged by using cheap inverters that don't produce a pure sine wave.

I think as long as we just use it for charging and not running, we should be ok. (spoken by the *****(me) who is going to fry $1000's worth of electronics to save a few bucks on a high end inverter)

and who says I don't live dangerously

Mike

If a device runs on a battery it operates on DC. The purity of the sine wave of an inverter makes no difference if the charger is rectifying the voltage anyway. The only real concern is that the inverter is rated for the load. As for AC devices plugged into an iverter it is a different story. I would not operate any expensive AC devices on a cheap inverter.

That's the answer I was looking for. So my mp3 player, cell phone and net book are all safe. But my ac powered disco ball isn't.

 

[BobOdenweller]

in my experience, this is not an answer because ALL 12volt chargers I tried introduced so much noise into the MP3/Ipod, that it was impossible to hear the music while plugged into the charger. I wanted badly to not have to charge the device in a motel room while on the road and wanted it charging to stay fully charged while riding AND enjoying th music.
the 110v home/wall charger plugged into a small inverter allowed the device to work perfectly on the road while charging, so I was motivated to wire up a setup that way.

I see your point about the electrical noise on the mp3 player. It is a valid point, but I solved that a different way. I use my Zumo to play mp3s. I was able to eliminate engine noise by grounding all my electronics (Zumo, Starcom, etc) to the same exact place. If you are running your mp3 player using the cigar lighter then you may want to try redoing the ground wire to that so that it is attached at the same point as everything else. Mounting grounds to a point on the frame is not the best way. Connecting directly to the battery is better. I use a Centech fuse panel which is connected directly to the battery, both pos and neg. On the positive side, between the battery and the Centech, is a relay and a noise filter. The noise filter just got rid of the last tiny bit of engine noise, almost all of the noise was fixed by solving the grounding issue. The cheap filters sold by stores like Best Buy did not work at all. I found a better quality one at an online CB shop.

 

[puppychow]

in my experience, this is not an answer because ALL 12volt chargers I tried introduced so much noise into the MP3/Ipod, that it was impossible to hear the music while plugged into the charger. I wanted badly to not have to charge the device in a motel room while on the road and wanted it charging to stay fully charged while riding AND enjoying th music.
the 110v home/wall charger plugged into a small inverter allowed the device to work perfectly on the road while charging, so I was motivated to wire up a setup that way.

I see your point about the electrical noise on the mp3 player. It is a valid point, but I solved that a different way. I use my Zumo to play mp3s. I was able to eliminate engine noise by grounding all my electronics (Zumo, Starcom, etc) to the same exact place. If you are running your mp3 player using the cigar lighter then you may want to try redoing the ground wire to that so that it is attached at the same point as everything else. Mounting grounds to a point on the frame is not the best way. Connecting directly to the battery is better. I use a Centech fuse panel which is connected directly to the battery, both pos and neg. On the positive side, between the battery and the Centech, is a relay and a noise filter. The noise filter just got rid of the last tiny bit of engine noise, almost all of the noise was fixed by solving the grounding issue. The cheap filters sold by stores like Best Buy did not work at all. I found a better quality one at an online CB shop.

+1 on proper grounding. I play music on my Garmin 780 mounted to my bike everytime I ride. I run all electronics and non-electronic devices through the Fuzeblock, the fuse block PWR and GND terminals are connected directly to the battery (through an in-line fuse), all the devices GND wires terminate at the Fuzeblock GND bus. Never had any audio noise issues.