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OutBack Inverters
By Frank Lussier, Section Solar Posted on Mon Jul 26, 2004 at 10:28:56 AM MST
Any experience with OutBack inverters

Hi
Does anyone have experience with OutBack inverters, I am debating between Trace and OutBack, what I like about the OutBack is that you can stack them together and your system can grow as needed. OutBack inverter look more flexible than Tace.
Frank

OutBack Inverters | 7 comments (7 topical)

Re: OutBack Inverters (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by DanB on Mon Jul 26, 2004 at 12:07:31 PM MST

I'll offer my thoughts, opinions.. and things I've heard which may, or may not be correct.

The Trace SW series is pretty nice, I have an older SW2512 - it works fine and the built in computer is amazing in what it can do. The charger is nice too. I have no complaints, other than that they discontinued my 12 volt version and I've heard Xantrex no longer supports it. (not sure if thats true or not!)
I think the Auxilliary relays in the Trace are handy... I regulate my batteries with them. My Trace makes a rather annoying buzz... a big drawback if its near your living room like mine is! One advantage of the Trace, is they've been around for a while, and if you wanna save a few bucks on a good inverter and dont mind gambline, they pop up on ebay sometimes for a very good price. (I got mine used for $1000)

Trace was bought out recently by Xantrex - a very large corporation! My understanding, is at that time some of the best from Trace quit and started Outback. The Outback inverter is reasonably priced. They are stackable, very flexible...
They make a much cleaner sine wave than the Trace - which may or may not be important, there comes a point where your splitting hairs. My Trace SW works fine with everything. The Outback is completely silent!! (except when the fan comes on)
I've heard very good things about the customer support from Outback.

My plan for the future... change over to 24, or 48 Volts, sell my Trace on ebay - and get an Outback!

Re: OutBack Inverters (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by erne on Mon Jul 26, 2004 at 04:56:53 PM MST

I have a vented 2812 outback, It is the same as the non-vented but puts out a little more power because of the venting. (acording to them. (It works great). I replaced two trace 1512's with it. the modified sign wave wouldn't run my new pellet stove. My only gripe I have, is you have to buy the mate to set the paramiters on it, and no one tells you that. It is quiet and does its job very well. I have there mppt also and got a 25% boost. am real happy with the whole system......erne

[ Parent ]

Re: OutBack Inverters (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by RobD on Mon Jul 26, 2004 at 10:28:14 PM MST

The cleanest sine wave I've seen is the Exeltech 1100. It's used in a lot of medical applications. I use one for my test equipment. The rest of the place runs on a Trace DR2424 which is a brute and will probably run forever.
I would probably go with the outback too if I updated the system but then again maybe not. I like the low current draw on the Trace mod sine especially in search mode. Mine is in the basement and I never hear it. I like the Trace inverters. Just my opinion. I've had some good talks recently with the people there and they know their product.
RobD

Re: OutBack Inverters (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by halfcrazy on Tue Jul 27, 2004 at 06:03:11 PM MST

I have to agree with rob if the idle current draw is a issue trace is far better then outback. the outback inverters seem to be awful power hawgs at idle. the other thing i have noticed is the chargers are smaller hen the trace chargers thus taking more time to push the batterys full just my 2 cents as i love the outback stuff it makes a nice looking setup. But i also understand trace is releasing a smaller sealed inverter that is modular like outback i am anxiusly awaiting that one. again my 2 cents from a installer and end user happily living with me old sw plus 2524 now if i could figure out how to make a mill and get the wind to blow in maine

Re: OutBack Inverters (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by DanB on Wed Jul 28, 2004 at 09:52:44 AM MST

The trace DR series is definitely more efficient at, or near idle than any Sine Wave inverter. Im not sure however that the Outback is any worse than the SW series. Pure sine wave inverters are simply less efficient at idle, but... when it comes to running things with transformers, or motors... in the end - they may be more efficient. Modified sine wave inverters work fine for most things and when one considers the cost - many times it is the way to go, but true SW inverters have their advantages.

[ Parent ]

Re: OutBack Inverters (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by Frank Lussier on Wed Jul 28, 2004 at 12:16:27 PM MST

Thanks guys for the info

Re: OutBack Inverters (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by MattB on Wed Jul 28, 2004 at 12:36:35 PM MST

I bought an Outback 3500w 24volt (model VFX3524) about a month and a half ago, and I love it. No more buzzing in electronics and the like... runs silently...not that that matters in my case as its not in the house... except, I suppose, wehn the fan comes on.. but mine has never gotten hot enough for that to happen...

My problem was that I died last Monday. I suspected a near lightning strike... I sent it back to Outback, and they said the problems with it were indeed very consistant with my suspicion. Obviously I wouldn't expect such troubles to be covered under warrenty.

Apparently one of the control boards in tehre was damaged, but repairable. They did not charge me for that. The computer was also completely fried beyond repair, and they had me pay for that ($200). But, they didn't charge me anything for any labour, and they didn't charge me for return shipping via ground.

Overall, I'm more than pleased with their service... both in what they charged me for, and the timely matter in which they got it back together.

Suffice to say, wehn I get it back in, its gonna be such that I can completely isolate it from both the AC and DC sides, and I will install a remote switch so I can turn it off.

-Matt

OutBack Inverters | 7 comments (7 topical)

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