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It has worked great each time I have used it. I used it for 4 hours one day with no problems.
Before I purchased, I called Xantrex to get their opinion on the model and my application. Very Impressed. I watched it carefully to make sure nothing got hot since it was 97 degrees in the garage but the unit never indicated warm to hot air at the fan exhaust. With 320 continuous watts (400 surge) the unit had no problem meeting the requirements of the Milwaukee charger (300 continous watts). Good size, fan is not very noisy and other users indicate longivity with Xantrex products.I have only used the unit two times; first to see if it worked via cigarette lighter, and second to hook up a Milwaukee Power tool charger for recharging a M18 Lithium-ion battery (Xantrex hooks directly to auto battery via clamps).
It didn't drain the auto battery much during the 30 minutes. Worked great. They said it shoud handle it with no problem. a solid recommendation. It took less than 30 minutes to recharge a battery that was half discharged (M18 batteries have 4 indicator lights to let you know what's left).
I was looking for a cost effective device to allow me to watch the TV news in my motorhome when we didn't have access to 120 volt AC power. I am satisfied with the purchase. It is small and powerful enough to accomplish that.
won't work with a coffee maker though. It works ok in the extreme enviroment I work in to power my notebook computer but, if the engine isn't on to run it it squeals. The fan is a bit loud too. not powerful enough. I got a Vector 350 watt now and it's much quiter.
Pros: Powerful, quiet when not in moderate use, small, convenient, extremely portable, Fan turns off when no load (so you do not have to unplug or turn off ever time you stop using it)Cons: low voltage 11.00volt alarm is ear shattering, Internal Fan is evident when on. Other than Rewiring I have no problems with this little power house. I can sit for 2hrs running off my car battery (850cca) and not drain it or have to start engine to recharge because of low battery. I have no problems with it and would definitely recommend it for the traveling Laptopers.A laptop does pull down some power and I fear any thing less than a 200watt inverter would struggle under the constant load of a laptop. I found the Fan not so noisy, a little radio drowns it out. I have an old car and needed to wire it directly to the battery because of my older smaller wires in the dash. This is why I had to ReWire my car (very old) and now with a new hot wire off the battery I have no low voltage alarm. The two electrical outlets are convenient, for other small electrical applications that you may need to plug in, like a printer for example.
(no louder than the Ac fan on low or medium) I have notice when my laptop battery is full and no longer charging the Inverter slows and even stops the fan because of a lighter load. I have a 25min drive to college and back every day and I just plug my laptop in and let it charge as I go to and from school. I have 3 other Xantrex products and never had a problem with them. I have not done any heavy testing on it, but a 100Watt incandescent work light light bulb and laptop running full speed does not phase this 400-Watt inverter. This little 400-Watt inverter has no problems powering my Laptop and recharging the batteries. This Xantrex 400-Watt Inverter is very nice and would strongly recommend it.
The Unit does not pull much for a laptop but it does Pull More when charging the laptop battery and running it. The Fan only comes on when a moderate Load is their, otherwise it is dead silent and the little green light is on. My Car is old and when I first plugged it in the Cig lighter it only worked for 10mins then the 11.00 Volt alarm would sound,and it is very loud and does not shut up until the voltage gets about 11.50volts for about 1min. I have had them both on and for over and hour and still had 12+ volts in the car battery. I am in college and been finding my self sitting in my car surfing the internet and doing some classwork then my Laptop battery would go dead in about 3-5hrs. Like I said the fan has turned off before with the laptop plugged in.
It is a very good product, built strong, and last long.
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