The problem is that they don't make em anymore...  trace (and most other companies) quit building nice 12 volt inverters figuring that anybody who can afford one probably isnt messing around with 12 volts anymore (at least that's my guess).

But you can pick them off ebay fairly often, lots of folks get rid of those when they upgrade their systems to higher vltage.

http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/dr_series.html

Hope this helps.

i picked one up surplus a year ago, it is a hewlett packard, pure sine wave 220vac rated at 3 kw. it is a very heavy rack mounted unit, that i paid 50 bucks for.

it is very hard to build an inverter for 50 bucks let alone buying inverters to stack.

you might do some searching in larger markets, i dont know where you are from, but large businesses retire these UPS when the batteries get tired or as a part of an equipment upgrade.

i guess i am a serious collector of UPS's and inverters, i just cant seem to walk by one without dragging it home.

Thing to think about on that is if you are running a 220v device like a pump or motor the power should be balanced between each 110v leg, each drawing an equal amount as the device runs. However if you are spliting the 220v into seperate legs like in a breaker box and running 110v devices, then one 110v leg may have alot of draw like a fridge or microwave, and the othe leg my have none or very little draw like from a computer. I don't know if you can split the 220v model like that, and to wire into the house you would be doing it. Been awhile since I looked at that model, I think it was around $500-$600 or close.

I do have a Aims 5,000watt 110v inverter. So far I like it, but have not used it much yet to really know anything about it. I do know the fan seems to be temp sensing or something, sometimes it runs under a load, sometimes it doesn't. Must be temp controlled and run only when needed, that's nice! Maybe even all larger inverters do that? This is my first large one, rest were under 1,000watt.

www.aimscorp.net
(775) 7625400
Reno, Nevada

That's the info from the back of the manual for warraaty (warraaty is spelled as they spelled it!)

Hopefully they speak much better than they print manuals! The manual is ok, but a laugh a minute as you read it :)

Might want to give them a call and see if the inverter will work for what you want to do before buying one, if it looks sutible for your use.

I saw something mentioned about grid tie in the responses, but not actually sure if that's what you were wanting to do. This isn't a grid tie unit to feed power back to the grid! It just takes battery power and makes 220v, which is what I think you wanted.

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nothing to lose

http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/aims_3000_240V.html

The center tap will go to the "neutral" lead. The ground tap should go directly to a ground rod (8 foot steel rod with copper cladding driven into earth).  The neutral lead/center tap will also end up at the same ground rod.  Yes, I am saying that you will have two wires running to the ground point.  They are for different purposes.  The neutral will carry the return 110V single-phase current you are using. The ground is for safety, so you don't kill yourself by touching the case on whatever you're running.