Thread: I know it's trite, but please look at my inverter prob =)

Well, cig lighter does have a built in ground, but every ground in car is basically the same, so as long as you are positive that the ground you are using now is unpainted, pure car metal, then you're fine.
You did say one thing scary, your PC is NOT grounded? That's a real big problem. Remember the the power supply gives ground to the PC and all the other parts as long as it is ground (ie, 3 prong). If your PC is not pluged in by all three prongs, you need to ground it...

that's most likely the problem the age old commong ground problem if the computer isn't grounded it's not grounded the same as the amps

Thanks guys for your input! I haven't actually been able to look at the situation yet, as my car is in another state =) But I'm trying to get a head-start on the problem.

I'm almost 100% sure that the computer *is* plugged in w/ a 3 prong plug. Now that you mention it, I believe that the inverter may *not* be properly grounded. It's bolted to the chassis (I hear...) but there may need to be paint that must be removed.

Any other input is greatly appreciated.
Hopefully I'll check out the situation tonight and I'll get back to you guys!

BTW, do pure sine wave inverters exist? Are they *very* expensive? heh...If not, where can I find one?

Thanks,
-ßrian

I've seen very powerul true sine inverters for use on houseboats before...can't remember exact prices but they were expensive.....but they do exist!

I looked at the car yesterday. It turned out that the metal DB25 sleeve that I used for an extension cable needed to be grounded. It's grounded through the computer... but I guess I had a ground loop? Anyway, Sounds perfect now, inverter is grounded to the chassis, metal cable part is grounded to the head unit. This is the reason that it sounded perfect through the cig.lighter. I'm lucky that that's all it took to solve my inverter problems =) ...a wire came out of my lcd and caused garbled output... but that's another story.

Thanks for the input guys!
-ßrian

moahdib,
I wish I knew how to solve your problem.

Just to clarify, I converted a printer cable I had to a DB25 extension cable. Radio Shack sells DB25 connector pins and sleevs, so that's how I fabricated one end of the cable. The sleeve is completely metal.

-ß