rumor has it that Mitch wrote: > Here's a word of caution on an unrelated topic: A fellow FEMA > Inspector plugged an AC inverter into my cigarette lighter socket > while I was driving,
**** > I tested the > alternator and found exactly what I expected to find, a burnt diode. > It is my belief that the inverter was faulty and caused a spike to > flow back from the laptop, through the inverter and kill the diode. Bummer! It is possible that the inverter caused the problem - but almost certainly _not_ the laptop or anything flowing back from it. > I will never use an inverter or allow one to be attached to any of > my vehicles in the future as a result.YMMV > Feel free to forward this warning to list members so they can avoid > the cost/inconvenience of a dead alternator. I heavily use an inverter, 3-4 different W123s and in my mid-80s Suburban. I have powered an IBM laptop, a Panasonic laptop, an electric drill, a palm charger, a cell phone charger, a video camera, and a soldering iron over the last 6 years. I have had no problems (except the fan in the inverter wore out...) - but that _could_ just mean I'm lucky! At a previous job, we installed big inverters in the TV news vans. Those ran broadcast video and audio electronics plus microway transmitters. The only alterator diode trouble we had was a alternator dead from the factory. Again, not proof - but more circumstancial evidance. -- Philip, who really likes his little inverter
