In-car power inverters tested
Turn your car battery into mains power to charge your phone, laptop or even cordless tools. We tested 10 of the best inverters
If you never want a dead battery in your smartphone, laptop or any other bit of electronic kit, get an inverter for your car.
Plugged into the cigarette lighter socket or clamped to the battery, this electronic wizardry turns your car’s 12 volts into mains power.
The most powerful units are the size of a big paperback, and can also be a source of power for workshops without a mains supply. For light loads they remove the need for 12V chargers.
There’s a wide range on the market, so which is the one to revive the electronic essentials in your life.
How we tested them
The key to this test is: does it work with the kit you want to use? We tried our sample inverters with an iPhone, iPad and a MacBook laptop, plus more workshop orientated gear, such as a 60W bulb and a 24V cordless impact wrench charger.
We also tested how each unit coped with more than one device at a time. The mains power delivered under load was measured, plus we looked for useful extras such as long leads, USB sockets and automatic low battery cut-offs.
Price without delivery charges was the final factor.
Verdict
Our 10 test products neatly fell into two groups, with the bigger, more versatile units lining up against the smaller, more convenient, but less capable inverters.
Top spot goes to the Sealey PI300 which ticks just about all our boxes at a decent price. It was pushed hard by the Clarke which coped with everything we threw at it, but the lack of a lighter socket lead hurt its chances.
Our pick of the smaller units ideal for electronic kit is the Ring MP:120 with its decent lead and USB socket.
1. Sealey PI300 2. Clarke Power C1600B 3. Ring MP:120 Compact Inverter
