# Old inverter??



## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

I managed to scavenge an old 500 watt square wave inverter, I believe it is made by Tripp, the Id plate is pretty wrecked, any info on the old stuff would be appreciated.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Better question: Does it work?

If it doesn't work, then sorry


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## helicopter5472 (Feb 25, 2013)

Does it look like this.. Someone gave me this, its a 1000 Watt and works good. Being so old its square wave type but runs power tools OK. Its quite heavy for the power output and not much use for electronics.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

helicopter5472 said:


> Being so old its square wave type but runs power tools OK. Its quite heavy for the power output and not much use for electronics.


Probably would last forever, but I wonder if the efficiency numbers are high enough to make it worth it?


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## helicopter5472 (Feb 25, 2013)

LincTex said:


> Probably would last forever, but I wonder if the efficiency numbers are high enough to make it worth it?


Probably not good numbers, being its so old. It was given to me in 93 and was old then. I looked for a date, but found nothing. I used it one summer with my hand saw and drill and trouble light, ran it off the battery in my truck, with truck running of course. It handled all the tools OK. I have not used it since. I have two Trace DR 3624 inverters set up to run the entire house. I have several other smaller ones packed away don't remember wattage ect. I have no idea what I would use this one for.


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

I haven't had time to see if it works yet, and yes it is similar to the one pictured, except it has a dial control for power off or charge, and also has a AC in cord.

thanks for the help guys


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Tirediron said:


> except it has a dial control for power off or charge, and also has a AC in cord.


Hmmm? Is this from an old camper trailer?


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## forluvofsmoke (Jan 27, 2012)

Here's what I remember reading over the years about inverters...if my memory serves me correctly: square wave inverters are relics from the era when inverter design was in it's infancy...nice for nostalgia, but not very useful nowadays. They can be harmful to some electrical equipment due to excessive internal heat in the device being powered which is created by the square wave-form. Induction motors could suffer severe damage. They are also very inefficient compared to modified sine wave, and even the less efficient bargain sine-wave inverters.

If this has an input power cord or hard-wired connection, then it's an inverter charger...quite a find you have there. If nothing else, the charging portion could be used to bump your back-up batteries when in a pinch for juice. These old charging inverters may not be very efficient for charging, nor do they have very good control of battery voltage, so may need manual monitoring to avoid battery overcharge damage, but just for battery boosting, would be a viable option.

I did a quick search for info, just out of curiosity...the articles I read in the past have eluded me, but here's one piece:

A quick reference in Item #3 on this page:
http://www.novaelectric.com/inverters_faq.php

Not to say that properly applied square-wave is not useful for certain applications, maybe as a temporary solution, but for the typical tool/equipment loads you would use on an inverter, it's a bit risky, with one exception I can think of being incandescent lamps. Inverters for lighting just doesn't make any sense though, due to efficiency losses. The noise from square-wave inverters is reported to be quite annoying with sound-producing equipment (TVs, radios, etc...definitely not a good choice for Ham or other comms), but may be used with certain transformer powered devices, such as laptop or phone chargers which are rated for wide-range voltage input, yet, if they are rated only @ 120 volts, may be damaging. A reference I recall is that if the wall adapter/charger has some weight to it instead of being very light (like there's little to nothing inside), then it is transformer-based instead of relying on electronic switching for controlling output, and should be able handle the square-wave input better.

Those old pieces of gear may be worth something to collectors, so if it won't cause clutter or other storage issues it may be worth it to hang on to for barter/trade, or the right person may come along who's just interested in buying it outright (use cash for more useful preps). I'd find out if it works with a lamp or three and go from there. Also, see if the charging section is still functional...that's the part I'd want mostly for post-SHTF...but then I have other chargers as well, so this could be for a back-up solution.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

forluvofsmoke said:


> ... but may be used with certain transformer powered devices, ... A reference I recall is that if the wall adapter/charger has some weight to it instead of being very light (like there's little to nothing inside), then it is transformer-based instead of relying on electronic switching for controlling output, and should be able handle the square-wave input better.


Should be able to handle it better, yes... but your standard laminated-iron-core transformer would have a shit ton of induction losses with that square wave. I would definitely trade it off if it's that useless.


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

Doesn't sound like I found much of a prize, it came out of an old motorhome, 
I might keep it for a while to see if it has any collector value.


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## Fn/Form (Nov 6, 2008)

SHTF, that would be barter gold soon after things went teats up. Prove it works, take their trade.

Sometimes the old school inverters are less susceptible to things that kill today's models. I wonder if that Tripp Lite even has a microprocessor. I'd think it might just be timer or PLL based.


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## helicopter5472 (Feb 25, 2013)

Mine is loaded with transistors on both sides, (14) in all and one big transformer, perhaps in its next life it will be a boat anchor.


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## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

helicopter5472 said:


> Does it look like this.. Someone gave me this, its a 1000 Watt and works good. Being so old its square wave type but runs power tools OK. Its quite heavy for the power output and not much use for electronics.


http://www.onlineauction.com/index.php?page=auction:view_item&auction_id=1465375


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## helicopter5472 (Feb 25, 2013)

Perhaps I should auction mine off.....


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