Don't buy a cheap inverter

I have finally lost the battle with the AIMS Power 3000W pure sine inverter charger I installed on our boat. While it's painful to admit my mistake of buying an AIMS inverter, I hope others can learn from it. Just spend the money and get one of the better ones discussed here; don't buy an AIMS inverter.

My inverter adventures, detailed in a more amusing account here, began about four months after installing it. I came home to a burning smell. After fighting with AIMS "customer support" and realizing I was on my own, I took the inverter case off to find the the screw holding the A/C line input wire on the internal side had either not been tightened properly at the factory or had slowly come loose. The result was a melted terminal block. I fixed it and reinstalled the inverter (dumb).

The inverter worked for another few months after which the boat went on the hard and the solar and inverter were left on to power small dehumidifiers. The yard called several times to say the inverter was alarming and they always had to reset it. Sure enough, when I arrived, the inverter would no longer turn on. At this point it's out of factory warranty (thankfully), although I did buy a third party extended warranty with it.

Regardless, we lived through it and I won't make the mistake of buying a cheap inverter again. Even if I can get this one replaced under warranty, the next inverter on our boat will be Magnum, Victron, or Outback. I have learned not to skimp on anything electrical, whether it is heat shrink terminals from eBay (bad idea!) or an AIMS Power inverter charger. So, if anyone out there is thinking about it, don't do it!

Thanks for the reminder. Cheap is tempting; but as you have clearly pointed out, not worth the gamble. Thanks for sharing.

unfortunately, for every horror story for cheap equipment, there are good stories that offset them and there are horror stories with the expensive stuff too.

Like gambling, betting on something sure is never a 100 percent.

You mean a cheap inverter like ours? We love it! $325 for a 3500W pure sinewave and a remote control was included! All we require of it is to be able to run the microwave for no more than 5 minutes at a time, brew a pot of coffee in the morning,power a few miscellaneous kitchen gadgets and occasionally power a small wet/dry vac for tidying up a mess,all of which it does fine. The way I look at it, a 3kW Samlex costs me around $900 and while I realize it's a superior unit, for what we need from an inverter, the El Cheapo suits us for how we use it. When the time comes & we retire and start doing more serious cruising, we'll probably try to go higher quality on lots of stuff, boat included.

We had a cheap inverter in the boat when we got it.
Painted in camo colours and stated it was designed for military application so must be good right?
Needless to say it was dead

Same as this one.
Replaced with a victron

I have an inexpensive Ebay purchased 3KW inverter that functions just fine. The choice is yours, $350 vs $2000+

I purchased Victron because everyone said Victron was the dogs gonads, it wouldn't run the freezer despite us giving Victron all the details. 1st one replaced FOC, 2nd one also quit. Bought an el cheapo and its working fine.
You pays your money and takes your choice.

Buy whatever you think you need. If your whole 120vac panel is supplied by an inverter I would suggest having two. If your going to go cheap might as well buy a spare as well.

cafesport said:

Buy whatever you think you need. If your whole 120vac panel is supplied by an inverter I would suggest having two. If your going to go cheap might as well buy a spare as well.

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Well, be aware. Cheap inverters do not have a huge heavy power transformer so they require that the neutrals do not return to ground. So if dock power cable is attached you risk having the neutral returned to ground at the pedestal. NOt an insurmountable but at least be aware.

The sellers get around this or at least many that I saw by advertising their inverters for use in vehicles.

We only use the inverter to operate power a tool or charge tool battery.

A small inverter works just fine to reheat whatever.

Over a decade so far with a $150, 1500W truck unit,

most used feature is the digital Volt meter , to check that the solar charger is back to float.

I have vague memory of the neutral thing you reference. NOT being an electrician lots of this stuff is incomprehensible and confusing. But how would you get around this neutral thing you reference?
Silly me I “assumed” if I carefully made sure white to white, black, green I’m good. It seems to work, I run it through the power switch that use to control the gen and feed the panel just as if shore power was selected. All I run is micro, tv, plugs for misc small electronics keeping in mind my 1500 watt continuous.
Like many I don’t have the $10k “northern lights” premo everything.

tbtapper said:

I have vague memory of the neutral thing you reference. NOT being an electrician lots of this stuff is incomprehensible and confusing. But how would you get around this neutral thing you reference?
Silly me I “assumed” if I carefully made sure white to white, black, green I’m good. It seems to work, I run it through the power switch that use to control the gen and feed the panel just as if shore power was selected. All I run is micro, tv, plugs for misc small electronics keeping in mind my 1500 watt continuous.
Like many I don’t have the $10k “northern lights” premo everything.

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If whatever you are doing works.........don't worry nor try to "fix" it. I isolate my inverter when connected by automatic relays. Great inverter and affordable

If it weren't for cheap stuff I wouldn't have anything.

I don't know if my inverter qualifies. It was $450.00 18 years ago. Still running.

Our inverter has no switching , no connection to any AC on board.

We simply plug in the radar oven or power too the battery charger to it.

No green wire hassles ,no installation, no complication.

KISS

Good to hear all these experiences!

I think it has more to do with cheap v high end. I am generalizing here, but some folks with the high end inverter/charger have a "don't run your generator" mentality. Which is OK, but I have no issues cranking my genny to fix a pot of coffee. I also don't run everything through an inverter. I know folks who brag that they don't have to start their gennies as "Everything" run through their inverter.


I have a 3500w cheap harbor freight inverter. I run only 4 items on it when I am cruising. Ice maker, freezer, TV and TV receiver. I am diesel so I don't worry about gasoline fumes.


So its more than cheap versus expensive, it is also about how and why you use an inverter.

Are these cheap (<$500) inverters just that, an inverter only? Or are they smart charger/inverters like our Magnum? If it's just the former, I can see going cheap and "rolling the dice". It makes sense, especially for smaller loads. For charging AND inverting purposes, I'm much more comfortable and have way more confidence knowing I have a trustworthy (more expensive!) unit.

"I'm much more comfortable and have way more confidence knowing I have a trustworthy (more expensive!) unit. __________________"

Everyone is different , but the failure rate of even cheap chargers or inverters is fairly low.

Having individual units means less hassles if either should fail.

Moonfish said:

Are these cheap (<$500) inverters just that, an inverter only? Or are they smart charger/inverters like our Magnum? If it's just the former, I can see going cheap and "rolling the dice". It makes sense, especially for smaller loads. For charging AND inverting purposes, I'm much more comfortable and have way more confidence knowing I have a trustworthy (more expensive!) unit.

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I would say that there are inexpensive inverters and dirt cheap ones.

The average, simple inexpensive invertets like FF pointed out seem to last as long as the expensive inverter/ chargers.

I think the switching portion of the dual units is a weak spot.... my first one by Exide years ago welded the vontacts to invert only and killed my batteries and refrigerated food. Have heard others that have the same, all higher end dual units.

More expensive means more complicated to a point, and what feature on a higher end unit has to go before you rip it out for repair?

O think my 2000W Promariner, dual unit looks promising, granted only has 75A charging bot cost much less thsn $1000. If I turn on my 50A Promariner backup battery charger if needed, I am charging at 125A.

Moonfish said:

Are these cheap (<$500) inverters just that, an inverter only? Or are they smart charger/inverters like our Magnum? If it's just the former, I can see going cheap and "rolling the dice". It makes sense, especially for smaller loads. For charging AND inverting purposes, I'm much more comfortable and have way more confidence knowing I have a trustworthy (more expensive!) unit.

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My inverter is just that an inverter only, no charger. I have 2 Xantrex chargers that take care of my house batteries (shore or genny) and when I am running the engines they take care of everything.

Yes I have backup to the back up and I am not relying on a single system.

I'm not debating the good advice to buy quality but my requirements justify a different approach on my boat with a small inverter load.

alormaria said:

If it weren't for cheap stuff I wouldn't have anything.

I don't know if my inverter qualifies. It was $450.00 18 years ago. Still running.

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FF said:

Our inverter has no switching , no connection to any AC on board.

We simply plug in the radar oven or power too the battery charger to it.

No green wire hassles ,no installation, no complication.

KISS

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I agree with both of these statements, if conditions warrant. Mine is hooked up like FF's with one inverter supporting one dedicated outlet on a small countertop.

I'm currently on my 3rd POC Xantrex 1000W inverter with my 4th one waiting in the wings in my spares storage protected in a vacuum sealed bag. This last one's a warranty replacement that's been running well for over 3 years. At around $100 a piece which can be changed out in about 15 minutes, it's an affordable way for me to have quiet AC power for everything but water heat and Keurig.

After the 4th one dies, I just might buy a better inverter....but that could be many years from now. In the meantime, I'll use those AC power bucks in my fuel tanks.

"After the 4th one dies, I just might buy a better inverter....but that could be many years from now."

At perhaps $3,000 for a "better" inverter vs $100-$150 for what works , you could easily go thru 30 cheapos , before the "better" unit would pay.

One disadvantage to a big buck unit is they die too, BUT there is so much invested in one the temptation is to send it to be repaired.

The repair may cost as much as a half dozen cheapos , usually with a 90 day warranty.

Inverters usually die from over heating because of poor ventilation, short circuits and overloads. And yes, many claim to have overload protection which some times works and some times things smoke.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

I think it has more to do with cheap v high end. I am generalizing here, but some folks with the high end inverter/charger have a "don't run your generator" mentality. Which is OK, but I have no issues cranking my genny to fix a pot of coffee. I also don't run everything through an inverter. I know folks who brag that they don't have to start their gennies as "Everything" run through their inverter.


I have a 3500w cheap harbor freight inverter. I run only 4 items on it when I am cruising. Ice maker, freezer, TV and TV receiver. I am diesel so I don't worry about gasoline fumes.


So its more than cheap versus expensive, it is also about how and why you use an inverter.

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Tom, that's a good point. I need to replace our inverter - there's all kinds of wires running from the inverter to the 120v side. Maybe a I need to rethink need's v been done.

Anyone have experience with Samlex inverters?

Ok here's my story (kind of long):

I have a sealed 2.5KW Outback Inverter/Charger that died about a year ago. No real explanation on the exact reason but tech support from Outback was excellent and after installing three new circuit boards (about $750 from Outback) it appears to be operating correctly on the bench.

In the meantime, I purchased an Aims 3KW 12 V inverter (exact model of the original poster) for $750 plus control head of $120. This new inverter was installed so that we could use the boat while I was waiting for the replacement boards etc. from Outback. So here's what I found out about the two:

1) Both are heavily built. They weigh around 50 to 60 #'s and I suppose most of the weight is in the transformer.

2) The Outback is a "sealed" unit so it can be installed in any environment. It is very well engineered and fairly simple to rebuild with the rather expensive circuit boards from Outback.

3) The case of the two is significantly different the Outback is formed or molded aluminum with fairly tight tolerances for the mating surfaces. The AiIMS is mostly bent aluminum. I've not had occasion to open the AIMS unit but I imagine I would have much more difficulty rebuilding that unit.

4) Functionally they are both similar and allow the usual selection of different battery charge regimens etc. However, the Outback allows much more flexibility in the combinations of different charge times, charge voltages, charge currents etc. The AIMS just allows a fixed selection for about 12 different battery types and you can't mix and match.

5) There are two features unique to each that have me debating if I should switch out the AIMS back to the Outback...

The Outback has a current limiter on the input load such that if one is in full bulk mode (about 80A DC charging to the batteries) and switch in a heater or the stove or the coffee pot or the... the input current load will be limited to a specifiable level by adjusting the bulk mode charging current. The AIMS unit just continues to demand the 80A current (I've never gotten it to adjust up to the specified 100A) and of course this will trip the 30 A input breaker if the current demand exceeds that total.

So this means I should just throw out the AIMS yes? Well... While plugged into my marina this winter the demand for power must have exceeded past years since the available input voltage was sagging to <110 VAC. Now on the Outback I can set a selectable voltage where I can shut down power if the voltage drops below some level (I usually have it set for 108VAC). On the AIMS unit the low AC voltage is "boosted" to 125VAC so it continues to operate. The wave form from the inverter is still pure sine wave and clean so that all AC equipment functions correctly. I've contacted AIMS and confirmed this is the proper operation of the unit but they were unable to explain completely just how the AC voltage was boosted.

Both units have given me yeoman service (the Outback for 8+ years and the AIMS for 1 + years. There are distinct differences between the units but I'm not ready to declare that one should always go with the more robust, solidly built, well engineered one in any and all cases.


RBCooper