Over last weekend while camping in my westy (OK, there's a tiny bit
of vanagon content) I had the inverter charging camera batteries out
of the rear socket. The inverter was sitting on the carpet in front
of the rear bench seat. I was in a folding chair just a little too
far away to reach it. I kind of slid out to check the progress, and
when I touched the inverter body, ZAP! I presume the static
electricity was from friction with the chair, not from the inverter,
because I later zapped my iPod the same way (with no ill effect).

 From the moment I touched it, the inverter gives off a warning sound
and the fault light comes on whenever the inverter is switched on.

Can you kill these things this easily? It's a Coleman Powermate 400
Watt. If I can revive it somehow, I need to be looking for a
replacement before this weekend.

Jim