# Bargain invertors



## 88905 (May 10, 2005)

Maplin are selling, for one week only, 150watt invertors for £14.99.
And before everyone piles in about square wave and sinusoidal wave etc etc, yes I do know about such things, helped by 28 years on aircraft electrics. 
For over 10 years in both boat and MH I have used standard square wave invertors for CRT and LCD TVs and also for a Panasonic Digibox on Sky and for battery chargers for digicams and videocams all without problem, overload or fuse blowing.
nobby


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## 89425 (May 23, 2005)

What's the link Nobby so everyone can share? 

____________________________________________________
*Steve 
aka A very wild....wild camper*
.
 Click here for my van website!
.









_I do like a bit of feed back to my posts please_
____________________________________________________


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## 88790 (May 9, 2005)

Nobby, I could not agree more with you. 150w is I feel great for a MH, people tend to forget the current drain on a battery with larger ones.


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## 88905 (May 10, 2005)

No idea how to make a link...far too complicated. Just go to maplin .co.uk and look up special offers or invertors.
nobby


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## 88905 (May 10, 2005)

Item number is 

N64AU

nobby


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## TerryVan (May 13, 2005)

http://www.maplin.co.uk

Search "N64AU"

Valid to 12/06/04

Terry


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

*maplin invertor*

sounds good,
would this be ok to power a laptop?

cheers

chris


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

Hi

Everytime I here about people having problems with invertors

Lines on TV

Buzzing Power supplies

Over heating PC power supplies

When asked what type they invariably come back with dunno bought it from Maplins !!

Now if I were to tell you that you could get a really reliable invertor, From a company that makes marine Grade products and that it only cost £30

would you still take a chance on the cheapo?

I have run computer, LCD TV, Laptop power supply, Air cooler unit, DVD player all without problem. these units are Quasi Sine wave not pure sine wave but there are only a few things that MUST have pure sine wave.

Sterling Power Products website http://www.sterling-power.com/


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## 88941 (May 10, 2005)

*maplin invertors*

I purchased one of these invertors (150W) before my 3 week europe tour earlier this year.... used it to charge phones, power laptop, Video camera, electric air pump, kids cd player, and a portable tv... (not all at the same time you understand LOL) it never missed a beat and my car battery survived, i was very pleased with its performance even worked in the heat of the midday Tuscan sun...


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Hi folks

A couple of corrections here:
Maplins offer is available until 24/12/04 - so no need to rush out tomorrow! They also have 300w and 600w at very attractive prices.
In my experience Maplins products are generally of acceptable quality so whilst these may not be the "bees knees" of inverters they are likely to be of a better standard than your average Ebay "shipped from Hong Kong" product - and you can complain to someone on the high St if they don't perform as expected!

George - your link to Sterling seems to be a good quality product but how much real advantage is there in the quasi sine wave inverter? The square waves I have seen in action seem to cope with the usual M/H needs OK. Oh by the way, check your prices again, the 150w is £40.00 not £30.00.

Gaspode[/b]


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Hi again

Looking around the Maplin site I see that these inverters are described as "stepped square wave" - same as the ones sold by Sterling as "quasis sine wave"? Here are the spec's for the 110v 300w model pasted from the Maplin site:

_Key Specifications/Special Features: Continuous power output: 300W Output power surge: 900W AC output voltage: 100V, 110V, 115V, 120V Output waveform: modified sine wave DC input voltage: 12V (10V to 15V) Low battery alarm: DC 10.5V +/- 0.5V Low battery shuts down at DC 9.5V +/- 0.5V Efficiency: over 90% No load current draw: < 0.65A Overheating temperature control protection: 55 +/- 5 degrees Celsius Internal DC fuse: 35A Cigar plug fuse: 15A Power switch: DC input on/off control Net weight: approximately 0.7kg_

Methinks a visit to maplins is in order!!

Gaspode


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

Hi Gaspode

Got the latest prices here, can aslo get you a 10% discount more if you buy a bit.

The price is £34 in the latest catalogue and when I spoke to Charles Sterling last they were going down due to exchange rate gain's so guessing £30 and expecting it to be less.

The major problem with invertors other than Sterling is the ratings, Sterling when they say 150w continous they mean non stop 24/7

Every other manufacturer sells at silly rating's like P30 ie it will run at 150w for 30 mins and then cut out !! Only Sterling's ratings are what you would expect them to be.

I am being honest when I say that Maplins special's have caused more disapointments than anyone elses products, from ratings to the fact of TV Lines overheating power supplies.

Like I say I have run all the above products and PS2 with no probs whatsoever.

George


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Hi George

I pulled the price straight from their website half an hour ago - £39.90 to be precise. Let's hope it's on the way down!

I think I might pay Maplins a visit and ask them some searching questions about the spec's. Back at the Midlands branch I frequented years ago they had staff who were incredibly knowledgeable but these days I guess I might receive the "blank expression" treatment but it could be fun though eh?

Gaspode


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

Hi

I have the printed version, turns out that its a misprint, both versions have the ex vat price at 33.96 in the printes brochure the full retail is posted at 34.08 !! Pretty obvious now !

BTW I would still buy the Sterling everytime, 1. Quality 2. No lines on TV 3. No Overheating power supplies 4. less buzzing.

See below for differences between "advertised Ratings" and reality

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/postx1324-0-0.html


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