I think some people are getting a bit confused about what works or doesn't work, the reason why, and why one particular version of the controller won't work with the "Pure Sine Wave" inverter.
The
single voltage Sail Rite
Power Pack should work with any kind of inverter. That is what it says on their site and is what the video link shows. In fact, as someone pointed out, the Pure Sine Wave one probably works best. That's because its output most closely approximates a sinewave.
SINGLE VOLTAGE SYSTEM - prob a ground issue
So, for the single voltage system, as many have explained, it's a pretty basic EE problem and it should work unless something is screwed up (e.g., a ground connection/bonding/leakage problem as Jedi mentions).
Motor controllers are notoriously sensitive to bad grounds, unbonded grounds, or ground leakage, depending on their particular designs. In fact, my Splendide W/D has exactly this problem. The good news is that an isolation transformer almost always does the trick. This is further confirmed by the SailRite notice on the single voltage 110 system's web page. It calls out making sure you have a well-grounded system. "
WARNING: Always plug the WorkerB cord into a grounded outlet and do not use an adapter without a ground pin. We do not recommend the use of long extension cords to plug in the WorkerB Power Pack."
PURE SINE WAVE CASE - quirky incompatibility with Pure Sine Wave
HOWEVER, the same thing that makes the Pure Sine Wave the best approximation of a real sine wave is the same thing that screws up the multi-voltage controller (the 100-230 power pack). That's because it's kind of an
electronics, rather than straightforward
electrical problem.
The multivoltage system uses what they call a "phase cutting technology" to regulate the voltage. That is kind of a permutation/modification of pulse width modulation. It only uses some of the input energy in each cycle. Unlike PWM which uses a simple duty cycle control, phase cutting uses phase of the input wave to trigger firing (it's even called phase fired control by some people). It is supposed to have the advantage of better maintaining sync than basic PWM.
Here's where it gets tricky. The pure sinewave inverter chops the signal into tinier bits to construct a much smoother approximation of a sine than other D to A types of inverters. That seems great; but, the tinier bits correspond to higher frequencies. Some versions of phase cutting (I guess that includes the Sail Rite one) do fine sampling to more precisely determine the phase of the input signal. And, this determination is the trigger for firing the pulse. The high frequency riding on the base sinewave can screw up the phase determination and thus screw up the whole phase cutting operation.
At least that's what Sail Rite is claiming.
"Pure (or Digital Synthesized Wave) inverters/generators will disrupt the “phase cutting” technology of the WorkerB since they hide high-frequency current in the waveform."
"
Although the 100-230V WorkerB will work on 100-230V household power, it will only work with some inverters/generators with an output of 100-120V. Inverters with an output of 220/230V will never work. "
(Note that they also mention that the multivoltage system MAY work with "Modified Sine Wave or Square Wave types". So, the same problem could theoretically happen with those systems, though the probability is much lower. )
I haven't seen their phase detection circuit diagram, but it is very plausible that the higher frequency components carried by the pure sine wave could interfere with the phase determination and cause all kinds of problems for the phase cutting version of the controller.
So, I would guess that problems with the single voltage system (110V) would likely be due to ground issues and that multivoltage problems are more likely due to high frequency feedthrough that screws up their approach (phase cutting) to voltage regulation in the multivoltage version.