I did not budget for purchasing a new inverter when my old one finally quit. Probably running the electric drill on it when installing the CB radio didn’t help it much, but for a while it had been suggesting the the end was near for it – and I kind of had planned on replacing it when it died this summer. At least it didn’t quit during camping, leaving me in the dark.

I bought a $50 Whistler 800-watt inverter to replace my existing $75 Vector 800-watt inverter. The new inverter lacks a built-in voltage meter, but the 800-watt inverter’s voltage meter was on it’s way out for a while now, so it gave me pretty invalid readings. To deal with the lack of a built-in voltage meter, I purchased and installed a voltage meter in the truck cap, so I can easily keep the track of the battery’s charge while camping.

I bought the Vector inverter the day of Barack Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech during the summer of 2008. I remember that. It got a fair amount of use, for an inexpensive inverter, operating in the often dusty and dirty truck cab. I think the dust along with just the inexpensive design eventually caused the fan to start to wear out and eventually die, causing the inverter to die.

Last summer, the inverter would “suddenly” have a voltage drop, without explanation. The fan was getting noisier, and at least once this winter, the fan did not start up until I tapped it, and I could smell the insides of the inverter starting frying.

The new inverter is nice. It does have a fan, but the fan only comes on when thermal conditions demand in it. The fan is much quieter too. No grinding noises or hum from this inverter. At first camping, I probably will have trouble sleeping not hearing the soothing hum of the inverter. That’s fine, I appreciate the quiet.