Amazon Deal Alerts & Discussion Thread

Ordered one. Maybe I can add powerbank capabilities to it.

Yeah, but judging by their marketing material it looks like six cells @ 2975 mah each. When it does get to where they need replacing, it doesn’t look like it would be too hard to pop open and find out what size cells are needed and how they’re connected to the unit.

I can confirm that it is, since I ordered mine direct from TaoTronics with a coupon code for $65, right before this listing appeared on Amazon. At the time it was listed for $65 with a 50% off coupon, so I was able to snag another one for $35 total. It just shipped today, and the label print location and package weight is the same as the one I have now. If you look at the image on Amazon full size, you can see that they erased their logo from the front of the unit. Looks like they’re using fake brand names to sneak back on.

Same. My unit was $65 with coupon direct from TaoTronics. This popped up as mine was on it’s way. At the time, the price and coupon came out $35. So, it was a no-brainer to snag another one before they upped the price/reduced the coupon or sold out. I’m going to use mine for tailgating, and working on the truck in the driveway and working on stuff around the house without needing to drag out a cord for it. I’ll probably give the other one to my dad or my brother.

I used my Geek Aire in the attic last week, pulling Ethernet cables.

just ordered the fan. thanks bigtrav261

No problemo.

Can it run while being charged?

Does it have a mini USB port or USB C?

Interesting...

TaoTronics is barely on Amazon anymore.

They only have two products called "TaoTronics", and they used to have a whole bunch, so maybe they got banned for breaking Amazon rules like Mpow did.

Yes.

It does not have either. It charges via the included 30V 24W AC adapter.

Thanks. Delivery dates seem to be 2-3 weeks out. Do they ship from China?

No, they ship directly from TaoTronics’ US office in Anaheim, CA. I think it’s just what Amazon generally estimates based on where you’re at, and that it’s being shipped via UPS Ground. It takes 3-4 business days for them to ship it, and 3-5 business days for it to be delivered.

Ex. - I ordered Friday. Label was printed Monday. Shipped today. Probably arrive at my house here in NC on Wednesday or Thursday.

Speaking of which, those earmuffs you posted, the 8buk ones, were under some Petrocelli brand or something, but they’re actually MPOWs. Same red’n’black box, clearly labeled “MPOW”.

Kewl…

Thanks.

Went ahead and ordered one. Hoping it’s suitable for our camping trips. I’m going to have to see how long the battery lasts. Description says 22 hours, but that’s probably on the lowest setting. Some reviews say 4 hours on medium which is disappointing, especially that you cannot hook it up to a USB power bank.

I’m sure this Inverter would work great using your vehicles 12v plug —- I’ve used my first one to charge tool battery packs and a laptop with ease — Although I recommend putting a fuse in-line a little lower amp than the max of your 12v supply

https://www.myvipon.com/product/8507864

From a pretty extensive review on the Amazon page;

Leicestercn Power Converter takes great liberties when stating the useful power of the device. Read on for our evaluation.
— CAR FUSES LIMIT POWER AVAILABLE: The inverter power is limited by the fusing of the auxiliary power output (cigarette lighter) of the car. Most vehicles have a 10 or 15 amp fuse limiting the output power to 180W for the 15 amp fuse or less at 120W for the 10 amp fuse. My Jeep has one of the larger stock fuses at 20 amp, and that still limits the available power to 240W. The manufacturer does list this limitation in their manual and on a tag attached to the DC power cord. See the picture attached.
— SHOULD HAVE COME WITH BATTERY CLIPS: If they had simply provided an adapter with clips and a longer cable to connect directly to the battery then there would be no car fuse power limitation and the unit could have been used to its full capacity.
— SQUARE WAVE OUTPUT: Most inexpensive inverters output a square wave vs a sine wave and this unit is no exception. The oscilloscope picture attached shows the output of the device at the bottom vs a true sine wave at the top. Square wave inverters are less efficient, reliable and also unsafe to use for appliances. My application for this device would be to power a laptop from its own power converter. In this case, the power converter is at risk of damage from the square wave, not the laptop.
— NO GROUND: The output of the inverter is not grounded even though a grounded outlet is provided. See the attached picture showing the test device indicating to ground. This is to be expected because they do not provide a grounding cable. This means along with the square wave issue this device is not suitable to power communication equipment such a HAM radios and also is a safety issue with no ground.
— SHORT CABLE: The cable is very short, about 3 ft long. A longer cable would really help make it more convenient to locate the converter.

The Good:
— MEASURES 112 VAC: Close enough to the nominal 115VAC to not be a problem for AC powered devices. See the attached picture of the measured voltage output.
— POWERED LAPTOP OK: Using a car and auxiliary power with a 10 amp fuse I successfully powered a 90W converter and laptop. I did this test with a cheap aftermarket converter in case there was a problem with the square wave output of the inverter. See the attached picture of the converter.
— USB CHARGED A PHONE: I used a standard USB cable to charge my Samsung Galaxy phone. Both outputs worked and charged the phone but did not provide a “fast charge”.

CONCLUSION: Once understanding the limitation of the inverter one could attempt to use it with the car auxiliary output to run lower power devices. A longer cable with alligator clips to attach directly to the battery would eliminate the risk of blowing a car fuse but I would at least look for and pay

Have a 400 watt one and it has battery clamps and will pull close to 20 amps, these things will drain a car battery pretty quick if you are not mindful of use time.
Still good to have.

Your cockroaches kieth Richard’s quote is Robin Williams

I put a XT60 connector in line —- I already had a cable build to tie into some CALB cells I have (40 amp fuse ) then I put an in line fuse (15amp) on the stock cable with the 12v acc plug — the inverter performed higher than the specs provided with slight drop of in voltage and down to 59hz —-for the money it’s a great little car inverter for chargers and what not — Nothing More

I just tested mine and it cut off @ 4 hours and 25 minutes on high. Which is right at their rating of 4.5 hours.

Thanks. That’s not too bad.

Was it truly running at high the entire time or did it start slowing down as time went on?