Nevermind - got it confused with another one -
When I first looked at the page, it was sitting just over $100 -
http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-ADVANCED-POWER-INVERTER-6000-12000-WATT-DC-AC-/290529561311?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a4e94adf#ht_3914wt_892It's closed now anyway... Sorry for the confusion/false hopes.
On the other hand... LOL maybe those suffer from the same issues? hahaha
Eh, even at 200 bucks a pop for the actual "Accurate Tools" units (+ shipping), you can probably get an idea of what you want to know without too much trouble.
And if you want to see their mode of failure, its apparently really easy to reproduce... faithfully connect line neutral to battery ground and wait for the smoke to clear, and voila!
You're right, you'd probably be better off getting them 'pre-fried', but I don't know how easy that will be... I'm sure that almost anywhere the 'PO' motive closely reflects what we've seen here, and people are going to either want their money back or get them replaced. Neither of which renders a dead box hanging around ready for donation, unless (like you said) you can 'con the con' into giving you a few that are in ready-for-you shape for no more than shipping...
They might take that as a threat of some kind, however, and hang up on you before you get very far. Meaning that if they think you're trying to one-up them somehow, they might grow a similar response to what happened on here with that whole 'accusation' thing... ? Fixing these things so they don't cook when connected this way could mean the end of their scam...
Sad, but unfortunately a possibility.
One way or another, I wish you luck with this. I definitely can't doubt your abilities, in fact from what I'm reading in your posts, you might really be on to something here and seem to have at least
some kind of plan formulated. Just seems like so much work...
Not that I haven't done the same kind of thing... I can't talk - I stopped counting how many times I've irritated my wife (as has she) by fixing something that shouldn't have been broken to start with... hahaha
As far as the 'NEC approvable' thing, that's basically what I meant. Able to be connected in the way that the NEC would require. Not necessarily a certification.
And last but not least - "what is just as amusing to me is the face after I have done what was thought improbable" - Who you kiddin'? LOL That's my motive half the time!
Steve