Cobra CPI 1575 1500 Watt 12 Volt DC to 120 Volt AC Power Inverter
by Cobra Electronics
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List Price: Our Price: $100.97 You Save: $88.98 (47%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Automotive Parts and Accessories See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cobra CPI 1575 1500 Watt 12 Volt DC to 120 Volt AC Power Inverter
Customer Review: More Chinese junk.
Summary: 1 Stars
Extremely unimpressed! I ordered this product because my 7 year old WalMart inverter finally gave up the ghost. The only use I have for the inverter is to run a fan during outdoor events, like this weekend (4th of July) to keep the family cool.
I received this product, hooked it up to a fully charged 12 volt power supply and connected my (formerly) trusty Lasko 40-Inch Wind Tower Oscillating Tower Fan with Remote, which promptly made a loud buzzing noise and now refuses to power up, even on household AC. I'm guessing the "super clean modified sine wave" isn't very super nor very modified. It took out something in the power supply or logic board on the fan. Rest in pieces, Lasko Tower Fan. It's been nice knowing you.
I then connected a Stanley #655702 High Velocity Blower, like the ones you see drying carpets in stores after a leak. I ran this for two hours on high, and noted the "voltage" display on the inverter showed 11.8 volts input. I connected a NIST-traceable Fluke meter to the battery and noted the input voltage under load was actually 11.95 volts. So much for accuracy.
Interested in determining how many amperes I was drawing from the battery, I powered down the inverter and put my Fluke inline. At this point, the inverter determined the input voltage was too low, beeped continuously, and indicated an under-voltage on the display.
According to the manual, the inverter is supposed to indicate this alarm and refuse to operate below 9.5 volts. My battery, without load, was indicating 12 volts on the Fluke meter, and only minutes ago showed 11.8 volts under load on the inverter (and 11.95 volts on a "real" meter).
At best, I would never connect something important or expensive to this inverter after watching it kill my tower fan. It's also quite obvious this inverter can't be depended upon because of it's inaccurate voltage readout and seemingly nonsensical undervoltage protection "feature".
This is going back and I will pick something else up locally this evening. I'm just glad I tested the unit out before having the family rely on this piece of garbage tomorrow during the fireworks.
Be careful with this product. You're playing with fire.
Customer Review: Ok, but doesn't include Cables, Fuse, or Mounts
Summary: 3 Stars
Product: Cobra CPI-1575 1500 watt DC-to-AC Inverter
Rating: 3/5 (ok)
I bought this unit for emergency use during blackouts. My setup is a sealed 55AH Marine Gel Battery with a carry strap, a 1500W inverter, and a trickle charger. When a blackout occurs, the inverter allows me to tap the 55AH battery to run various hosehold necessities ... such as charging our cellphones, or adding an extra 7 hours of runtime to our entertainment center or our computer setup (both of which are on UPS backups good for 50-60 mins)
LIKES:
* This unit features a digital display showing the current draw on the battery, which (if you're handy with a calculator) you can use to estimate your runtime on the battery.
DISLIKES:
* The amazon product description and product packaging both fail to mention clearly that this unit DOES NOT INCLUDE CABLES, FUSE OR MOUNTING SCREWS, which necessitated a pair of trips on my part to a local automotive AND a welding supplies store, to obtain the missing items. It was a frustrating surprise.
* This unit's "modified sine-wave" output may not be fully compatible with extremely sensitive electronics. For example, when I tried to connect my computer's UPS, the UPS rejected the Cobra's power output, and stayed on it's own internal battery ... until I switched it's input sensitivity from high to low (after which it successfully switched over to drawing from the cobra). Incidentally, according to my UPS, this unit was putting out 114V, not 110v.
* Chassis lacks protective cushioning. The chassis is designed to be mounted permanently and look pretty, rather than being portable ... which is nice for some people, but not for others.
Bottom line: this unit seems to be adequate, as long as you don't mind doing some minor wiring.
TIP: I was able to improvise not one but two sets of cables for the inverter by sacrificing an old set of 6-gauge automotive jumper cables. I cut 3' of cable from each end, left the clamps on one set, and switched to other set to a pair of crimp-on O-Connectors, and then for both sets I stripped 1/2" of the insulation off the free ends. Technically, I should probably mount a 150A ANL breaker on both sets ... I'll get around to that eventually.
Customer Review: One down, another one coming...Cobra QC does it exist?
Summary: 2 Stars
Well I connected this Cobra CPI 1575 using the Cobra wiring kit to two tested and healthy 6V golf cart batteries (12V connected in series) commonly used in RVs. Connected in series they produce 12V of normally long lasting power.
So I connected a small heater on low power setting about 600w to test the inverter after finalizing my installation and immediately the unit showed OLP for Overload Protection and gave the loud beep alarm for that condition. So I tried something less demanding, same result. Finally I connected a 100w incandescent light bulb and it worked BUT the Cobra display showed twice the watts at about 190, then fluctuates between 150 and 190.
Everything else I tried always showed about twice the watts on the Cobra and display was variable. I connected a Kill-A-Watt meter at the Cobra outlet and noticed my voltage looked good and stable and the watts that were being measured/output through the outlet was correct, but the watts displayed on the Cobra display were about twice what was being output through the outlet. IE - for the 100W bulb the Kill-A-Watt meter showed 100 watts but the display on the Cobra showed wildly fluctuating values between 150 and 190. That indicates to me a bad component is causing it to use much more power that it should, well beyond the efficiency specs, as indicated by the internal wattage is varying wildly...this thing is in very bad shape. It's sort of scary really. How does this unit even get shipped?????
I read a few posts where people wondered if Cobra is even QC testing these. I see so many serious problems with Cobra products it makes me think they are just assembling and shipping them and saving money by simply not testing them. They probably have calculated it's cheaper and more profitable to operate this way. What else can explain why so many obiously broken and severely malfunctioning units are making it to consumer?
Yes, it seems once you get a good one, they usually work well BUT I would look elsewhere for an inverter next time. For me I have already drilled holes for the Cobra mounting holes, I hope I get a good one...eventually. I gave this product two stars because the pretty lights work and I got a light bulb to turn on, but beyond that, this Cobra CPI 1575 is worthless.
Customer Review: Nice item, but list some real-world stats please
Summary: 4 Stars
"Peak" power is NOT the amount of power you can get in spurts. Its only the top part of the sine wave. This is NEVER the amount of work you're going to get out of it. That being said I have no idea how they get 3000W peak and 1500W RMS, as RMS is the usable power and RMS times 1.414 is peak power, just the highest part of the wave. I'm so sick and tired of people saying this. Wikipedia was even wrong until a few months ago when they finally corrected it and locked out the car stereo kids.
I'm still convinced this is a good unit based on the replies - and a great price too for under a hundred dollars - but they know people are dumb, especially the car audio crowd, and they will think that 'peak' actually means something. Nothing but a cheap marketing ploy to people that havent taken intermediate electronics classes.
The stats are confusing, if this is 1500W output including any losses and inefficiencies in converting to a PWM wave, then 1500 watts divided by 120 volts is 12.5 amps. I wouldnt use an instant-blow fuse. I'd set the rating at 'continuous duty' if this will be running something constantly for more than 3 hours at a time, so rate it at 125% of the load. 15.625 amps isnt a standard fuse size, so you're allowed per NEC code to go 'up' a standard size. Fuse your secondary, or better yet, get a breaker.
The guy talking about getting a 150 amp fuse...your fuse is supposed to protect the wiring so you dont start a fire. 150 amps in copper THHN wire is 1 gauge for 150 amps! I doubt many users have this!
THHN ratings per NEC (without temperature adjustment INCLUDING lugs) from table 310.16
14ga 25a
12ga 30a
10ga 40a
8ga 55a
6ga 75a
4ga 95a
3ga 110a
2ga 130a
1ga 150a
1/0ga 170a
Depending on what you're running, you'd want to get a 2008 NEC book ($75ish) or an UGLY's 2008 guide ([...]) or get things on the web like at [...].
Hope this helps. I'm ordering mine today & will stress test it :)
Customer Review: VERY premature failure
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchase the Cobra 1575 inverter in June 2010. It had pretty good reviews and a good price/feature ratio. I ordered it and installed it as soon as it arrived. I used two #4 two foot long copper cables for the positive and two for the negative side input. needless to say there was very little voltage drop with the power leads.
I measured .1vdc drop using a digital VOM. I also ordered a 150 amp fuse and holder to protect the unit and installed it into the positive lead. In short, with several
new high amp-hour batteries in parallel using #4 jumpers I had a very good installation. (Note that I am a life-long electronic technician with 55 years experience). Performance using various loads was encouraging. The unit would run an angle grinder,a 300 watt lamp, and a 100 watt fan all at once. This would be about 500-600 watts of load. I also tried my 1000 watt microwave oven, 1000 watt coffee maker and other similar type loads with great success. I was happy. Then I tried the washing machine.....too much starting load and the unit shut down (as it was designed to do). OK, it was just a little too much for this unit. Also, the 12" radial saw would not start due to the same high initial load problem. Maybe a larger unit with 2500 watts would work.
As I said, I was satisfied with the unit.....until about 4 hours ago when I pressed the START button on the inverter with NO load. Smoke, sparks, some flame (contained inside) and a FAILURE beep issued from the thing as if it were clammering for life.
IT IS DEAD. I'M sorry for it. I gave it everything it needed and still died.
What I am saying is that this Cobra inverter has been built with low-rated components to save a little construction cost. Now I am a disappointed customer.
This Cobra 1575 failed with just under one-half hour of use. Now I will send it back to Amazon and see what will happen. I'll post the results.