12V Car Battery and inverter appliance OK . deep cycles not OK

[yoharv]

Hello,  I have an electric blanket (180W) that when I plug into my car battery with an  XO400 inverter it works fine.  When I plug the same inverter and blanket into my new (2)6V deep cycle batteries 225ah (in series)...the blanket does not work....?   Every formula I looked at says that the blanket should work fine with the two deep cycles...just can't firgure out what the darn problem might be....Thanks for any help.

[TomW]

yoharv;

Are you sure you have the batteries in series [check voltage]?

Do other things work on same setup?

Does the inverter complain, beep or whatever?

How big is the cable from batteries to the plug?

Are the connections solid and properly done?

Just the first few questions that pop up.

Should give you a place to start tracking it down.

Remote troubleshooting is a bit hard without a LOT of info you have not provided.

Cheers.

TomW

[yoharv]

Hi Tom - thanks for the quick reply!

Are you sure you have the batteries in series [check voltage]?

A- Yes I am reading 12V (tried parallel also...just to ease my curiosity)

Do other things work on same setup?

A- I only used an AC test light, and reading from my multimeter

Does the inverter complain, beep or whatever?

A- Nope seems to be working fine (did beep when I hooked them up parallel

How big is the cable from batteries to the plug?

A- I am using the cable that came with the inverter (appears to be a 12)

Are the connections solid and properly done?

A- I mean I didn't over torque hand tight then a turn with my linesmen pliers

Just the first few questions that pop up.

Should give you a place to start tracking it down.

Remote troubleshooting is a bit hard without a LOT of info you have not provided.

A- Take into account the same setup/ inverter and blanket/ when plugged into the lighter socket to my pickup work fine (with the truck not running)

note:  startup power may be higher then continous?  I've heard on other boards that hitting the inverter on/off on/off may help with the startup issue - any thoughts?

Grazie

[icicle]

As A truck driver I would like to ask: when you hooked up the batteries you went

pos. to neg.

bat. 1 neg. to bat. 2 pos.

hook up your hot wire to bat. 1 pos.

hook up your ground to bat. 2 neg.

if you hook every thing up right, them things should work right

[RP]

I wonder if the 6v units are not fully charged.  Many invertors will shut down if the battery voltage is too low.  Assuming the blanket draws several times the power of your test light, it may simply be that the battery voltage falls below the threshold.

Try charging them up a bit more.

[yoharv]

OK - here is an interesting update since last night....  I took the same inverter (xo400) and the same 180W appliance (warming blanket) and I did two additional tests.  I hooked the system up to my friends lighter adapter in his car...and the blanket turned on.  Then I took the same rig to his deep cycle batteries and sure enough it did not work!  So here is the question....what is the difference between a car 12V and my two 6V in series.  I mean I know the deep cycle 6V have a longer life span and the ability to discharge at a more steady pace.  Please help I have been pounding my head against the wall for two weeks on this....meanwhile my arse is freezing!

Thanks

[icicle]

do you have any photo of your 6 volt batteries if so send me a couple and will try to help you out

As far as I know a deep cycle battery have more lead around the plates or more plates in them I can't quite rember which.

[ghurd]

It's only 180W.  A pair of properly connected new 6V golf cart batteries will have no problem.

Check the wire and the terminals between the batteries.

Check the clips on the inverter wires.

You are not plugging the inverter plug into a lighter jack with clips, are you?

It's probably not a battery problem, but a wiring problem.

G-

[yoharv]

Alrighty - here is the story - and I have no idea why this happend.  I replaced the xo400 inverter with a GS400 from "just batteries" for some reason the new inverter works in the car and off the deep cycles without a problem.  Go figure the xo400 is 400 watt and the gs400 is 400 watt.  The only difference is the gs400 can handle up to 800 watt....  Just have no explanation why the xo400 worked off the car battery.  None the less my blanky is working fine now....I'll sleep very well tonight!  Thanks all

[ghurd]

The xo400 seems aimed at video games.  Sometimes, apparently, you can buy them for $15 including shipping.  It could be a case of you get what you pay for.

The only complete photo I can find of a gs400 is ebay item #160067569023.

The cables look tiny for an inverter rated at 400W, let alone a 1200W surge!

May be worth checking into better battery cables.

G-