jeep compass inverter

Hi Everyone

I LOVE this forum!

My friend bought his daughter a used 07 Jeep Compass. Nice ride. It has an inverter the manual says is for cell phone charging. It died. I'm trying to find either a wiring diagram or someone who can give some advice on repairs. I don't have the time, and she's going back to college in Florida, to really trace the problem down without help.

A little about myself....15 years in industrial controls... if I  have a wiring diagram I can make it work...not a rookie in this field....AC  DC  PLC CAN and alot of different motion control experience.

All fuses in the underhood fuse block ohm out... battery voltage is present at one end of both fuses, one for power to the inverter and one that is supposed to be for the 110ac supply. The reason I say "supposed" is we have a downloaded owners manual that looks a little suspect to me. No power at the 110 plugin. Inverter worked great until she decided to blow dry her hair on the way to her summer job. Don't want to pull bezel and go that direction just yet. Not much time.

Any ideas?

Hey mikvot

Thanks for the reply.

Didn't go inside. Just checked external power. You're right maybe I can get her to bring it back and get down and dirty with this thing. I know how inverters work and all, but we are looking at a very short time to "Get Er Done"  and I was thinking maybe someone had experience with a Chrysler product like this that has had this problem in the past.

With a quick look it appears the inverter is only good for 150w; I suspect the hair dryer uses slightly more.

"battery voltage is present at one end of both fuses" - Umm.. that doesn't sound right, you know? Use a test light to check fuses, it loads the circuit better.

A fuse for 150w on the AC side of the inverter would be slightly over 1 amp.. are you sure the fuse is for the output? What size? I would expect the inverter to be self-protected for the output, not an external fuse. I would expect a 15 or 20 amp for the inverter input, and possibly as much as a 30 amp.

And, with your background in controls, you're well aware that a $BIGNUM controller will sacrifice itself to save a $0.10 fuse. She may have blown the inverter, but unless Jeep's done something wierd, I would expect they would have expected people to overload them and would have protected them accordingly.

Jim