Inverter

[edowen]

What do you guys recommend for a 2000 or 3000 watts inverter?

Thank you,

Ed

[djmarchand]

Mastervolt or Victron. Not cheap, but they won't fail. Don't buy anything made by Xantrex.

David

[foolishsailor]

Second the victron , but only anecdotally as my and three crusing friends experience. I also have victron isolation transformer and battery charger. I have owned several other brands on my other boats but would stick with these based on their ire liability and performance.

[colemj]

I will throw in Outback and Magnum as two other quality ones. I have owned an Outback, and Magnum was formed by Outback engineers.

And I have owned Xantrex and will second the sentiment of don't buy anything from that company.

Mark

[AnchorageGuy]

Magnum is a good unit and I too highly recommend Victron. Chuck

[edowen]

Thank you guys!

Ed

[s/v Holiday]

I had a Magnum Energy 2800w in my last boat and preformed flawlessly. I will be installing the same unit in the new boat.

CJ

[Dockhead]

There are many advantages to having your main battery charger integrated with your inverter. And a charger/inverter may not be that much more expensive than just an inverter.

Some advantages:

1. The integrated charter/inverters will help you control maximum power draw on AC -- they will taper off the charger current when you reach a maximum shore power current value which you can set.

2. Some of them will even boost shore power or generator power with inverter power to cover short-term overloads, like motors starting up. This can be enormously valuable in a situation like running air conditioning off a generator -- you don't have to size the genset to the startup loads of the ac.

[j dragon]

I have just purchased a boat which has a xantrex allready installed. What are the reasons the xantrex is held in such a low oppinion. Shoud I replace it?,

[daddle]

The only good thing I can say about Xantrex is they quickly replace it when it fails :-( I have blown their inverter twice while doing nothing stressful in particular. Just died while running. They immediately shipped a new one, even a few months out of warrantee. But what good is that out cruising? That said, the latest one has been running, very lightly used, for a few years.

[CharlieJ]

I have just purchased a boat which has a xantrex allready installed. What are the reasons the xantrex is held in such a low oppinion. Shoud I replace it?,

As the core company has been bought/sold/bought/sold/etc., apparently their focus has shifted away from the marine market and quality has suffered. Their tech support in recent years has been laughable...I have been on hold for as much as an hour to end up talking to a "tech" that was giving me the troubleshooting info from the owner's manual and was incapable of providing any more advanced info!

That being said, there was a recent post on this forum, however, that indicates that they are trying to support the recreational marine market and a quick look at their website looks like there is more tech support available.

All in all, Victron, Mastervolt and some models of Magnum are the units that I install.

Charlie

[Play Actor]

If you already have a Xantrex installed and it works, I wouldn't rush to replace it just because of their current bad reputation. Ours is 12 years old and working flawlessly, every day. It dates back to the time before the company got bought and sold so many times.

I've heard customer service is bad, but I've never needed it.

I might not buy Xantrex when the time comes to replace this one; that's a whole different question.

[AnchorageGuy]

Originally Posted by Play Actor

If you already have a Xantrex installed and it works, I wouldn't rush to replace it just because of their current bad reputation. Ours is 12 years old and working flawlessly, every day. It dates back to the time before the company got bought and sold so many times.

I've heard customer service is bad, but I've never needed it.

I might not buy Xantrex when the time comes to replace this one; that's a whole different question.

I completely agree. The older Xantrex were pretty good units, unlike the ones they build today. Keep using it until it dies, maybe for years depending on use and the model, and then replace it with a better unit. Chuck

[donradcliffe]

When my Xantrex Freedom 20 died after 14 years, I looked at what to buy, and went with another Freedom 20. I could have bought 2 Xantrex units for what the competition cost. The new one has worked flawlessly for 4 years now.

[AnchorageGuy]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

When my Xantrex Freedom 20 died after 14 years, I looked at what to buy, and went with another Freedom 20. I could have bought 2 Xantrex units for what the competition cost. The new one has worked flawlessly for 4 years now.

About 4 to 5 years ago is when the products started going down hill quickly. The problem becomes when some have had good luck with an older unit they don't consider that what comes out of the factory today is not of the same quality as the older units. Add to that the types of use each owners demands of a unit and the feedback becomes difficult. Someone that uses theirs daily may have a different experience than someone that uses it occasionally. You also need to factor in the fact that not EVERY unit is going to fail. But if there is a high failure rate your odds of getting a bad one increases and you have to ask yourself if you feel lucky today. If you have the bad luck to have a unit fail, what kind of customer service will you get? It all has to be part of the research process. At least it is for us. Chuck