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  • Hi! I spent the new year's countdown in the dark

  • because there was a power outage and half the city was out.

  • I finally thought of a solution, though, but...

  • 2016 was already gone!

  • See, I have this power inverter for use in a car.

  • You connect it to your cigarette lighter

  • or directly to the 12 V battery and it generates AC output.

  • So you can use it to power your stuff at home.

  • You can't drive your car into your home,

  • but you might have a battery-operated drill

  • that runs on a 12 V or 14 V battery. Then, you're set!

  • Let's connect it up.

  • I probably connected it backwards.

  • My luck is sh*t. I never connect it right the first time.

  • F***! Now it doesn't work?!

  • Are you kidding me?! Not only it's completely broken,

  • its 50A fuse is blown. Who designed this s***?

  • Reverse-polarity protection reliant on a 50A fuse to blow?!

  • Seriously?! It's like cutting your d*** to prevent pregnancy.

  • I replaced the fuse, and now, if I connect my Mooshim multimeter

  • to the input terminals of the inverter in reverse,

  • I can clearly see that there is a diode drop voltage across the terminals.

  • This is the circuit they have. If you connect the battery here,

  • the current goes through the fuse here

  • and powers the circuit here.

  • But if you connect the battery backwards, like this,

  • then the diode forward-bias and there is a huge current

  • through the fuse that blows the fuse.

  • And it can't even protect the circuit here!

  • Even their datasheet saysreverse polarity connection will result

  • in a blown fuse and may cause permanent damage to the inverter.”

  • Absolute garbage.

  • Well, this is bulls***. Now I have to buy a new inverter.

  • This wasn't even the focus.

  • Okay, let's see. Is there anything on sale?

  • Let me test a couple of these and see if it has the same crap circuit.

  • Huh. This has a diode drop, too.

  • Wow, even the Cat has the same crappy protection.

  • Seems like the same person designed all of them.

  • Let's just get the cheapest one.

  • Dear inverter designers, this is the circuit you need.

  • Keep your fuse, change your diode to a TVS diode

  • and use a MOSFET in this configuration for reverse-polarity protection.

  • Anyway, I have my drill battery

  • and I've hooked up my Mooshim meter,

  • so we can measure the current and voltage on my phone.

  • Now, we connect the battery...

  • and turn on the inverter.

  • Here we go. You have around 5 A from the battery at 12 V,

  • which draws 60W from the battery.

  • This is good, but it drains my puny drill battery quickly.

  • So, instead...

  • I can use an LED light.

  • And you see, it only draws 1 A, or 12 W, from the battery.

  • So this is going to last much longer and provides the same brightness.

  • Now, I'd like to plug my inverter into the outlet of my house

  • so I can power more things.

  • And for that I made this harness that you can plug to both sides.

  • First, you plug it to the inverter...

  • [Pain and profanity]

  • Any time you connect the power harness, connect it to your load side first,

  • so you wouldn't short your power supply or shock yourself.

  • ♪ I'm only human, after all

  • This is probably the most stupid harness one can make,

  • because it exposes high voltage on both sides.

  • So, don't make it.

  • Let's very carefully plug it in.

  • Yes, we have to make sure our load is not powered from a different source,

  • like the BLEEPING city power!

  • The issue is that although both these sources are 120 VAC,

  • they are different in many ways.

  • The yellow sine wave is the city voltage

  • and the green wave is the output of the inverter.

  • You can see they don't have the same shape,

  • they are not in-phase, or even have the same frequency.

  • So connecting them together shorts their voltages badly.

  • So, in order for me to power a room from a plug,

  • I have to disconnect the main power and some heavy loads,

  • like the washer and the fridge,

  • because my inverter cannot take that much power.

  • Actually, that's pretty dumb.

  • It's better and easier if I just disconnect that specific room,

  • which I believe is breaker #3.

  • Now we can safely plug them in.

  • [Super girlish scream, bleeping]

  • Apparently, it was breaker #2.

  • Always make sure you open the correct breaker

  • by connecting the light or something into the plug.

  • But here's a redneck way of knowing which one is the correct breaker.

  • Just short the plug in question and the correct breaker opens.

  • Hahaha! Don't do it!

  • One last try.

  • There! It's working.

  • Two lights, my phoneall working.

  • One thing you should realize is that your phone line, or internet,

  • doesn't disconnect when there's a power outage.

  • So this way you can bring them back.

  • [BEEEEEEEP!]

  • Oh, now my inverter is complaining.

  • The problem is that my puny drill battery can't last for long.

  • But if you have one of these larger batteries, like this one for example,

  • that has 7.2 amp-hours, it can last for much longer.

  • Let's turn on the TV by my inverter and measure the current.

  • It is drawing 16 A from 12 V, so it is around 200 W.

  • My battery is 7.2 amp-hours and drawing 16 A from it will shorten its life quicker.

  • We need a car battery.

  • With this, I plug the entire setup into my inverter.

  • The TV, digital box, my phone, the radio and even the light.

  • This setup is drawing around 22 A from the battery,

  • and my battery is around 75 amp-hours, which means it'll last for more than 3 hours.

  • So I'm set.

  • Okay, let's return the battery.

  • Let's try it.

  • [Engine trying to start]

  • [Profanity]

  • [Engine still trying to start]

  • You know, there are these things called UPS, or uninterruptible power supply,

  • that output AC, have their own battery and charge it, too.

  • Maybe they are worth the investment.

  • You know, this Mooshim meter has become increasingly handy.

  • It would be ashame if I had to give it away.

  • Yes, I'm giving away 10 Mooshim meters to my Patreons at Patreon.com.

  • No matter what Mooshim means in German.

  • You can also buy it from these sources.

  • And, you know, I want to make some secret videos that I don't want

  • everyone to see, available to my Paterons.

  • Hopefully that's a good idea.

Hi! I spent the new year's countdown in the dark

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