Inverter

I have a new-to-me used mini trawler in which I am considering installing a inverter. I am looking at somewhere around a 2000 watt +/_ inverter. Does anyone have a recommendation as to what type, and brand I should look at?
Thanks JD

Magnum Energy, pure sine wave is what I have. There come in several sizes and have a nice multi stage programmable battery charger built in.

Ted

There is quite a variation in quality/costs for inverter/chargers.


The quality guys are Magnum, Victron, Mastervolt. Their 2000 watt MSW inverter chargers sell for $1000+ and pure sine wave models go for up to $2000.


Xantrex OTOH, who hasn't had the best reputation recently, has a 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter for less than $800 and their MSW unit is less than $500. A buddy put one of the latter units in and it has worked fine for him for the last year. Maybe Xantrex deserves another chance.


David

$1,700 will get you a MS2800 and remote control panel. That's a 2800 watt pure sine wave Magnum Energy inverter / charger and the full function remote panel.

Ted

O C Diver said:

$1,700 will get you a MS2800 and remote control panel. That's a 2800 watt pure sine wave Magnum Energy inverter / charger and the full function remote panel.

Ted

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+1
Got one love it
But get the updated remote panel that allows you to start it in bulk stage.
If you have any other onboard charging systems I.E.: solar, engine alternator etc.
If you start those first and the voltage is higher than float or full charge (12.7-13.2) the charger wil not go into bulk or absorption stage and you wil do your batteries an injustice and reduce their life span.
I have to "fool" mine by reducing voltage to get it to go into bulk and absorption stage. Not a big deal but nice to have things automated.
Defiantly go pure sine not modified wave.

Greetings.
Mr. P. Welcome aboard. Depends on what you want to power. If just a non sensitive electrical device I suspect you can get away with one of these:
2000 Watt Continuous/4000 Watt Peak Power Inverter
If a computer or a device that is very fussy about the type of power, the previously mentioned devices would be better.
Keep strongly in mind the $170 Harbor Freight unit may be false economy (take a look at the Chinese made bilge pump thread).

In addition to Magnum, Victron, and Mastervolt, don't forget Outback. $1600-$1800 will get you 3.5kw

But all or good.

Mini trawler? May need to see what kind of battery capacity you will be working with and what you hope to power before you go with a large one. BTW I have the magnum hybrid 2800 and have been happy except for needing to install an upgraded circuit board in the first 3 months of ownership. They did provide the board free of charge.

Plus 1 for Magnum Energy, pure sine wave.

If I did not have a 6500 watt generator, I would have gotten a full sine 3000 watt inverter.
But since I do, I bought a 3000 watt MSW inverter and it does run the fridge, tv, lights, stove, microwave, fluorescent lights, AC windlass, Nav computer with LED monitor and all power tools ok. Microwave is a little noisier on the MSW inverter.

My goal was have redundancy of AC power sources. And it is nice to have quiet AC power at anchor. I got it used on Ebay for $150 several years ago.

If an inverter can not run a fridge and microwave, to me it is not worth having it on the boat. I tried a smaller inverter of 1500 watts, but it would not start the fridge.

Very happy with the two Magnum 2812s I have aboard. Get the BSM (Battery Monitor) - gives you a better way to charge the battery.

OK, I'll chime in on my somewhat unreliable-but-cheap-POS-Chinese-crap Xantrex inverter. Granted, mine is just a 1000W MSW unit but it was just $130. It runs my 2nd fridge, microwave, fan, laptop charger and/or ceramic heater. I have a spare just like it sealed in a vacuum-sealed bag onboard. From past experience, it only takes about 15-20 mins to change it out including tool prep and cleanup.

I've gone through a couple...the last one replaced nicely 1 month after the end of the warranty by the new folks who own Xantrex. My current one has been in service for 2 years in Dec and has been flawless including a 16 day trip running non-stop.

I'm not recommending this model for the OP, but it's an option for those with limited improvement funds.

+1 for Magnum have had two, they are highly underrated (literally), look at their spec, 1000W magnum rating = 3000W other company. make sure you get a model that is appropriate for marine (floating neutral is generally bad)

HenryD said:

Very happy with the two Magnum 2812s I have aboard. Get the BSM (Battery Monitor) - gives you a better way to charge the battery.

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I think it is called a BMK??? Battery Monitoring Kit???

Anyway, another vote for the Magnum. Probably the most sensitive appliance to power quality is the microwave. I have owned and replaced a Xantrex inverter....I would never own one again.

I will somewhat expand upon "other" charging sources. I had a Charles 80 amp charger before installing the Magnum. I had an issue this last weekend while on a trip. One of the 50 amp legs at the marina we were in failed. It was the leg the inverter powered. I drained the batteries to the inverter cutoff point. I started the generator and turned both chargers on. They both were jamming 170ah into the batteries(500ah AGM bank) and once it got to a certain point, the Magnum went into standby and yielded to the Charles. Not really a big deal. Just interesting and you need to know what is going on. I generally leave the Charles charger off. But I knew the batteries could take both chargers and they needed it. And AGMs desulfate by rapid charging so I guess they are desulfated from that little SNAFU. My system was designed a certain way with certain redundancies and the system and redundancies worked just fine in this particular case.

Don't overlook the Xantrex SW series.

They are in the same price range as the other brands mentioned and like them are very reliable, heavy duty unts.

I have had a SW3000 3KW, sine wave inverter and 150 amp battery charger in service for 5 seasons now, and it works great!

Agree with RTF. First consider what you want to power. Second consider closely the inverter / charger combination as the incremental cost of adding the charger is well worth it versus a separate charger.

The reason for determining what you want to power is that some motors have a start up power requirement that is double or triple the power required to operate the motor once it is started. For example the Splendide washing machines will not operate on some 2000 watt inverters but will operate on 2800 watt inverters from the same brand.

A larger inverter has two downsides, the initial cost and the additional standby power drain when the inverter is not being used. A separate benefit of the larger inverter/charger is the added charging power when operating on the generator.

The brands mentioned are the quality brands and there is no agreement as to which among them is the best.

Baker said:

I think it is called a BMK??? Battery Monitoring Kit???.

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I'm planning to install a Magnum. Do I need two Kits, one for each bank, or only one?

Drake said:

I'm planning to install a Magnum. Do I need two Kits, one for each bank, or only one?

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Drake, I honestly do not know. The best guy in our area for electrical is a good friend of mine and he did my work. My set up is basically one big bank so I only have 1 BMK. He is on here but not regularly. I forwarded him your question and will forward him this link. If you are looking for someone to help with the work, I would very highly recommend him.

Pieyed47 said:

I have a new-to-me used mini trawler in which I am considering installing a inverter. I am looking at somewhere around a 2000 watt +/_ inverter. Does anyone have a recommendation as to what type, and brand I should look at?

Click to expand...

Depends on what you want to power, and whether that needs pure sine wave or will work with quasi sine wave.

FWIW, we recently installed a 2000W pure sine wave ProMariner TruePower CombiPS inverter/charger (#0212, 110VAC, 12VDC, 70A charger). Says 2000W continuous and 6000W peak surge (which seems a bit adventurous).

No track record, so can't yet say whether it's wonderful or not. It's worked well enough, over these last couple months...

It wasn't comforting to learn the remote is labeled "quasi sine wave" -- even though it's PS -- because they're too cheap to provide two different remotes.

It was also a bit disconcerting to see that their profile setting #9, labeled as "Custom" -- which kind of implies to me that it's user-setable -- isn't used at all. IOW, "Custom" means "you can't use this."

(Their phone tech didn't seem to understand the nuance behind my questions when I called about those during installation.)

Still, our original charger is a ProMariner ProTech-4 model and it's worked OK over these last 14 years, and is still working fine on our other large battery bank... the inverter/charger size was right, the price was right (online shopping found decent discounts from MSRP; I paid about $850, which was something like 55% of MSRP)... and I've read the company is sometimes generous with discounts if units crap out and need replacement.

BTW, ProMariner and Sterling seem to be the same products; some kind of market-sharing thing...

-Chris

Definitely get a pure sine wave inverter. My Keurig 2.0 coffee maker would not work on my old modified-sine-wave inverter.

Years ago when Keurig just became really popular I bought one for the boat. Worked great on shore power but burned out instantly when I tried it on an inverter. Took it back to the retailer and they gave me a new one. Same thing happened. I knew nothing about inverters and sine wave etc.

I was convinced it was defective Keurigs and so I called them. They asked where I was using it and I explained. They said that it was burning out because it was not designed for that use but that they would send me a modified unit that would work just fine. And they did. And no charge. That's customer service. BTW, we have since graduated to a Nesspreso.

Drake,
Call Magnum and ask to speak to Mary Raub...she is VERY good in explaining her products and how they work together. I only installed one BMK, so the "master" inverter knows when to scale back the charging.

I use Magnum's MS-PAE inverter because it supplies both 120/240 and is also a charger. All ac power runs thru the inverter so when shore or generator power is cut, it switches to battery. Up to 4 inverters can be ganged to provide 16kw. I have 8kw. It also can start a generator when batteries are low. I have an alternator on one of my mains to keep the inverter banks up so I don't run a generator, too.
If you're going to install it yourself, best buys are on Amazon or ebay. Some companies charge double those prices.

Hi,
Has anyone had any experience with this brand of inverter?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Inv...id=3ef89c01-c84d-4df4-ba9a-d4c719935e68&tpp=1


Thanks

Ted

It sure would help to know what the OP's current house bank is and what he'd like to run through an inverter otherwise no valuable opinion can be provided.

Ted said:

Hi,
Has anyone had any experience with this brand of inverter?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Inv...id=3ef89c01-c84d-4df4-ba9a-d4c719935e68&tpp=1


Thanks

Ted

Click to expand...

These are a Chinese product that is private labeled through a number of USA distributors. Use them on my charter boat to run an air conditioner. Components are of marginal quality and have no corrosion protection for humid environments. I typically get about 4 years out one before they fail. Have one of their smaller pure sine wave units in my pickup that's likely 7 years old. It sees much less use in a less humid salt free environment.

Ted

Ted,
Thanks for the info, they are the only ones that seem to be able
to build what I need.

Ted

O C Diver said:

These are a Chinese product that is private labeled through a number of USA distributors. Use them on my charter boat to run an air conditioner. Components are of marginal quality and have no corrosion protection for humid environments. I typically get about 4 years out one before they fail. Have one of their smaller pure sine wave units in my pickup that's likely 7 years old. It sees much less use in a less humid salt free environment.



Ted

Click to expand...

What size AC unit are you running?

I would suggest put your money in a Mastervolt... kind of expensive but after years of install different inverter types and brands, Mastervolt got my trust.
And try to get as much power as you can afford on money and batteries.. an inverter is alwyas hungry... Be carefull with installation or hire somebody qualified to do it. You're gonna we working with high power batteries.

Ted said:

Ted,
Thanks for the info, they are the only ones that seem to be able
to build what I need.

Ted

Click to expand...

Ted,

Try:

Power Inverters and Solar Inverters for Home and Businesses - The Inverter Store

They seem to have one of the widest selections at competitive prices. Had one of my units die with in a year from something coming loose inside and shorting the inverter out. They replaced the unit promptly.

johnrupp said:

What size AC unit are you running?

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16,000 btu ac with rotary compressor and 120 VAC raw water pump. It requires about 120 amp 12 VDC. Use a 220 amp Lecee Neville truck alternator to provide power and an 8D battery to handle the starting surge.

Ted