DC inverter doesn't power on Playstation4 when car is running. Why?

As a rule of thumb, you should not have anything attached to the lighter socket during cranking. It's a bad idea since the transient from the starter motor can result in much lower and higher voltages being applied to the inverter or cigarette lighter adapters. Most units have a warning for you not to do this.

Secondly, with a draw of 140W on the inverter, it's lucky it even works at all. Most of the time, inverter manufacturers warn you that over 150W, the cigarette lighter connection is inappropriate as the socket doesn't make such a good contact and the socket may blow its fuse as well. Keep in mind that most inverters are only 80%-90% efficient, and you're likely pulling 175W from the DC side.

While it doesn't seem like you've blown a fuse, it's probably just the inverter being unhappy running with a higher input voltage. When the car is running, you expect 13.6-14.4V, so the inverter operating point is slightly different. You may have a faulty inverter that is tripping its over-voltage input protection or under-voltage input protection for some unusual reason. Another possibility is while the console may be 140W, the reactive power component may be high enough (i.e. VAr, taking into account the power factor) to cause the inverter to become unhappy and trip its over-power protection. Unlike mains, inverters are not particularly good at supplying and handling reactive power.

I would suggest you power off the inverter, start the car and have it running, then plug the inverter back in or turn it on from there. It shouldn't sense any transients from cranking this way, and if it operates happily, then that's just as expected. You should not expect an inverter to operate while cranking - starter batteries commonly get to 9V during cranking, whereas the low-voltage protection on most inverters are set to 10.5-10.8V. If you need the output to be continuous, you could use a UPS or better yet, do what the carvanners do and have a secondary deep-cycle battery for your accessories and a battery-isolator so as not to place strain on your starting battery. Ignition batteries are not designed to be cycled to any great level of depth and will fail prematurely even with very few moderately deep cycles!

- Gough

As a rule of thumb, you should not have anything attached to the lighter socket during cranking. It's a bad idea since the transient from the starter motor can result in much lower and higher voltages being applied to the inverter or cigarette lighter adapters. Most units have a warning for you not to do this.

Secondly, with a draw of 140W on the inverter, it's lucky it even works at all. Most of the time, inverter manufacturers warn you that over 150W, the cigarette lighter connection is inappropriate as the socket doesn't make such a good contact and the socket may blow its fuse as well. Keep in mind that most inverters are only 80%-90% efficient, and you're likely pulling 175W from the DC side.

While it doesn't seem like you've blown a fuse, it's probably just the inverter being unhappy running with a higher input voltage. When the car is running, you expect 13.6-14.4V, so the inverter operating point is slightly different. You may have a faulty inverter that is tripping its over-voltage input protection or under-voltage input protection for some unusual reason. Another possibility is while the console may be 140W, the reactive power component may be high enough (i.e. VAr, taking into account the power factor) to cause the inverter to become unhappy and trip its over-power protection. Unlike mains, inverters are not particularly good at supplying and handling reactive power.

I would suggest you power off the inverter, start the car and have it running, then plug the inverter back in or turn it on from there. It shouldn't sense any transients from cranking this way, and if it operates happily, then that's just as expected. You should not expect an inverter to operate while cranking - starter batteries commonly get to 9V during cranking, whereas the low-voltage protection on most inverters are set to 10.5-10.8V. If you need the output to be continuous, you could use a UPS or better yet, do what the carvanners do and have a secondary deep-cycle battery for your accessories and a battery-isolator so as not to place strain on your starting battery. Ignition batteries are not designed to be cycled to any great level of depth and will fail prematurely even with very few moderately deep cycles!

- Gough