Ctrl-Z
Alberta, Canada
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Joined: 03/13/2005
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I'm in search of a pure sine wave inverter - a larger one of at least 2000 watts continuous. It seems like all of them include battery charging which is a feature I do not need and could in fact complicate matters for me (I have a separate battery charger specially designed for wind generators and associated dump loads). Do these inverters allow you to turn-off the battery charging feature while keeping the inverter feature?
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smkettner
Southern California
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Joined: 03/21/2005
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Samlex has no mention of a charger
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Retired63
Nebraska
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At least you have the sense to consider true sine. There is no better way to go unless you want to do it twice. I have not got the best set up yet but I like the Samlex that Bestconverter.com has. Xantrex makes some fine units too but have not finished deciding, nor have you so good luck.
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2oldman
WA
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My Prosine 2.0 IC has a charger section that can be turned off. In fact, so can the inverter.
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ve7prt
Ucluelet, BC, Canada
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Ctrl-Z
Inverter/charger units require 110VAC fed to them before they will charge the battery bank, and pass the incoming AC on. If you do not feed them 110VAC, then they will invert from the battery bank and provide 110VAC to the downstream loads.
Also, if you do use the charger feature on a so-equipped inverter, it will not hurt other charging sources. Basically, the source with the highest voltage normally wins the charging war. If your battery bank is very low, then it might be possible for ALL charging sources to provide current together. Then, once the bank closes on 100% charge, the charger pushing the highest voltage will finish the job. The others will sense the higher voltage and assume the bank is full, and go into absorption or float modes.
Hope This Helps!
Mike
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PrairieGoat
Colorado Springs, CO
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ve7prt wrote:Also, if you do use the charger feature on a so-equipped inverter, it will not hurt other charging sources. Basically, the source with the highest voltage normally wins the charging war. If your battery bank is very low, then it might be possible for ALL charging sources to provide current together.
This may not hurt the charging sources, but it could potentially overheat your battery; depending on the amount of current being applied and the size of the battery bank.
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Bumpyroad
Virginia
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I am interested in that 600 watt one at $259 to run a 350 watt o2 compressor. any idea what kind of "surge" that will supply on startup. it has been estimated by somebody 700 watt?
bumpy
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Ctrl-Z
Alberta, Canada
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Many thanks for the information. Thankfully the battery charging feature will not be a problem - other than paying for a feature I don't need that is.
Can I assume that these better quality larger pure-sine inverters are capable of delivering their entire output from one power draw? For example you could optionally hard-wire them rather than have 1/2 the power available from each of two sockets? I'm thinking that if a unit is protected by something like a single 35amp breaker, then it should be capable of full output. I do require something capable of 2000 watts continuous and 4000 watt surge of 5 seconds or more. I was not aware of the Samlex brand and will have to do some research into that one. The last thing I want is another no-name Chinese make that lasts 20 seconds before burning up (that one was pure-sine too and drawing just 1200 watts at the time).
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2oldman
WA
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The Prosine 2.0 IC comes in a hard-wire version that doesn't have sockets, so all its rated power is passed thru one output.
My unit is a whole-house install, wired before the panel. It's not protected by any breaker other than the one on the CG pedestal. However, the 2.0 has its own excellent sag/surge protection built in, and will save your coach (and itself, hopefully) from any power anomalies.
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ve7prt
Ucluelet, BC, Canada
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PrairieGoat wrote:This may not hurt the charging sources, but it could potentially overheat your battery; depending on the amount of current being applied and the size of the battery bank.
Even just one charging source can do that if improperly matched. Usually, though, a battery will only accept so much current, no matter how big your charger is. Most of the time the max a battery will take is about 30Amps for a Group 27 dual-purpose. I think AGMs can take all the charger(s) can put out, and then some, but most lead-acids will only take so much.
If overheating is going to be a problem, some chargers do accept a temperature sensor that sticks to the battery. That way if the battery heats up the charger will throttle back to prevent damage.
Cheers!
Mike
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