I hooked up a video game to my W205 using a 100watt power inverter and I get these lines moving up the screen. They only start once I connect the power, even if the video game isn't on. Is this a cheap inverter or what's the problem?

 

Yes. You'll want to get a "Pure Sine Wave Inverter"...

Something like this:
http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/puresine.html

 

Damn that sucks, the packaging even shows video games on it. I'm gonna call them and _____.

 

FYI: One of the the reasons you've got noise is the neutral/ground on the inverter is at a different electrical potential than the W205's ground. You could try a jumper wire from the W205s ground to your inverter's ground and see if the "noise" on the screen goes away. They've chosen a crummy/inexpensive AC rectification circuit, and poor isolation.

If that doesn't help, the PSI is as clean as the power in your house - and should cure the problem.

 

The inverter I have doesn't have a ground, it's just a box that plugs into the cigarette lighter. I guess I got what I paid for.

 

well... i would splice the wires and hardwire it into your car with a inline fuse...

search around here and check for some DIY's....

when i had my Jetta, i had a power inverter (which originally came with a lighter cord) hardwired into my car and put under my dashboard on the passenger side.... i ran the original xbox with a flip down tv back then..... and never had any problems that you are having with your screen...

try hardwiring it and let us know how it goes

 

I checked the tech section and searched here, didn't see anything about hardwiring an inverter. Are there instructions somewhere?

 

I can help you determine your positive and negative wires on you invertor. First take your cigar lighter plug and open it up. The wire that is soldered to the push in prong in the front of the cigar lighter will be your positive and the wire on the 2 outside flat prongs will be negative.