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Old 12-11-2019, 07:35   #1
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Mid grade inverter recommendation

Hi All,

Curious if anyone has any recommendations for 2000w pure wine wave inverters in the $500-$700 price range. My use case doesn’t support a premium brand for a number of reasons - ultimately this is more of a want than a need by far type of project.

Hardwired, automatic transfer I’m deeming as required as I’d like to leverage the boats existing 120v wiring for simplicity. I have a new charger with the features needed so a combo charger/inverter is not needed.

Promairner seems like the leading possibility. Only cons I can come up with is lack of programmable low voltage cut off (but it has one).

Xantrax looks great but the online chatter regarding overall reliability and support seem very negative. Lots of nice features with this one.

Magnum or Victron I can’t justify the price for what I’m doing. Looking at the cheaper Amazon models many don’t seem to be hardwired nor have automated transfer. I’m currently thinking saving the ~$200 of what not for those isn’t looking too attractive.

Peak loads would be 1300-1400w range for short periods (10-20min) so I’m guessing I’ll be in the 2000w inverter size range.
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Old 12-11-2019, 08:09   #2
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Re: Mid grade inverter recommendation

Xantrex is good but terrible CS attitude.

Magnum is the best, Vanner, Victron, MasterVolt, Sterling, Outback, ProMariner but pricey.

Samlex and Tripplite solid middle ground. I've heard Morningstar is good.
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Old 12-11-2019, 15:18   #3
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Re: Mid grade inverter recommendation

I have been running a Renogy 1000 watt PSW I/C for a couple of years. A little lite in the charging dept but other than that has worked without a hitch. Also using their solar panels.


Got a stack of Xantrex Freedom 10s (BA) sitting in the garage (BA= boat anchors).


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Old 12-11-2019, 15:27   #4
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Mid grade inverter recommendation

I would go to Amazon or EBay and pick a pure sine you like.
Forget the things like programmable low voltage cut offs and the other bells and whistles, since your on a budget I’d go for good and simple over pretty displays and blue tooth connectivity to your cell phone etc as those are just eye wash.

Get in the habit of turning it on when you need it and off when you don’t, why would you want a programmable low voltage cut out anyway? Don’t discharge your batteries that low.
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Old 12-11-2019, 16:33   #5
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Re: Mid grade inverter recommendation

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Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
Get in the habit of turning it on when you need it and off when you don’t, why would you want a programmable low voltage cut out anyway? Don’t discharge your batteries that low.
Theory was set a relatively high low voltage cut off to prevent draining the batteries if I forgot it on. Xantrax also has a inactivity timer which turns itself off on loads under 50w after a preset time. Neat feature but again so many reliability issues it seems.

I know I’m way over thinking this. I’ve got a simple 1500w no bells or whistles non-hardwired one I should just make work.
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Old 13-11-2019, 03:30   #6
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Re: Mid grade inverter recommendation

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Promairner seems like the leading possibility. Only cons I can come up with is lack of programmable low voltage cut off (but it has one).

We have the ProMariner 2000W PSW inverter/charger combi, works well enough. Got it at a decent internet price. Partly selected also because our original charger for the other bank was also a ProMariner and it's been fine. I'd guess their inverter-only versions would be decent.

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Old 13-11-2019, 03:40   #7
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Mid grade inverter recommendation

Quote:
Originally Posted by marty9876 View Post
Theory was set a relatively high low voltage cut off to prevent draining the batteries if I forgot it on. Xantrax also has a inactivity timer which turns itself off on loads under 50w after a preset time. Neat feature but again so many reliability issues it seems.

I know I’m way over thinking this. I’ve got a simple 1500w no bells or whistles non-hardwired one I should just make work.


Easier I think and more logical if your worried about discharging your batteries, to install a low voltage alarm, then no matter why they are drained, it gets your attention.

However not meant to be unkind, but to drain a bank takes hours and hours, you should be more cognizant of your state of charge to allow that to happen, but then maybe I’m paranoid.

However the desire of high end features at a bargain price, often leads to low quality. Even in expensive devices, it’s my opinion that all these unnecessary bells and whistles adds little and degrades reliability. Just more stuff to break.

Find a good inverter, that does nothing but invert 12VDC to whatever voltage you need. Ideally you should have a transfer switch to not allow connection of the inverter and shore power, or just use the inverter directly and not wire it into the boats AC electrical system is the easiest.
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Old 13-11-2019, 04:45   #8
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Re: Mid grade inverter recommendation

Quote:
Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
... Find a good inverter, that does nothing but invert 12VDC to whatever voltage you need. Ideally you should have a transfer switch to not allow connection of the inverter and shore power, or just use the inverter directly and not wire it into the boats AC electrical system is the easiest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marty9876 View Post
... I’ve got a simple 1500w no bells or whistles non-hardwired one I should just make work.
Indeed.
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Old 13-11-2019, 06:06   #9
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Re: Mid grade inverter recommendation

If you just have a few mains-powered appliances at very different current levels, buying several smaller inverters rather than one big one can save money / get better quality, give redundancy and be more energy efficient.

Even dedicated to one device, can then wire a switch to power the inverter on/off with the load device.
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Old 13-11-2019, 13:45   #10
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Re: Mid grade inverter recommendation

I bought Giandel 2200w pure sine wave from Amazon. Never planned on using it much, but I did and it worked great. Will take 300w of solar also. It has remote control. Check it out. 300 bucks
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Old 13-11-2019, 15:13   #11
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Re: Mid grade inverter recommendation

On my last two boats I’ve used a Kisae 2000w pure sine wave inverter with auto mains switching. It also has a programmable low voltage cut off. This <$500 unit was recommended by Alex of Sea Tec Marine in Marathon. I pull about 1500w out of it on a daily basis running my SeawaterPro water maker. Four years and no problems.
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Old 13-11-2019, 15:21   #12
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Re: Mid grade inverter recommendation

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I bought Giandel 2200w pure sine wave from Amazon. Never planned on using it much, but I did and it worked great. Will take 300w of solar also
They'll be adding SCs to microwaves and winches next
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