Powering MacBook Pro via Car Power Inverter issue

Hello,
I recently acquired a car power inverter from a family member to use on a trip this week. My wife and I tried it out tonight and found that it didn't work with our MacBook Pro. The Inverter is a 500watt / 4.2amp inverter. When we plug in the adapter to power the macbook pro the LED on the inverter blinks signaling to us a problem. The manual (and back of the inverter) reports that a blinking LED means one of three things, (1)DC input is out of range,(2)Excessive Load, or (3)Unit is too hot. Clearly it wasn't the third considering we JUST turned on the unit. The back of the inverter also says that the Output is 120V AC, 60hz and 500watts. My question is, what exactly is the necessary range of power needed to power the MacBook Pro's adapter? Could the battery be an issue if it was at about 10% charged(I thought it might be and removed it but still didn't get a working adapter)?
In case it matters, the power inverter is a "Vector Maxx SST(Soft Start Technology) 500watt".
Thanks for the help!

Hmm, I use an "el cheapo" inverter that I got at fry's that's rated for MUCH less then 500 Watts, (about 120 actually) that has no problems running mine so I would suggest that it's probably a problem with your inverter...

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