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inverter charger
By ebby1234, Section Reviews Posted on Wed Sep 16, 2009 at 09:07:39 PM MST
problems with inverters

Inverters
I have used a trace 2500watt modified sine inverter charger for a few years, which I fall back on if needed. I then tried a Powermaster 3000watt inverter charger full sine wave which lasted about 3 years which was excellent until it burnt out. I bought another Powermaster that lasted 6 weeks. Now I am using a samlex 3000watt inverter charger full sine wave. The difference between modified and pure sine is enormous. Electric motors don't run very well microwaves take 10 times longer to cook electric clocks don't keep time plus many other disadvantages using modified sine. Has anyone used samlex inverters and can they give me there comments. Has any one had problems with Powermaster as I can't get it repaired.

inverter charger | 7 comments (7 topical)

Re: inverter charger (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by dnix71 on Wed Sep 16, 2009 at 04:04:29 PM MST

I use an AMES sine inverter to power a laptop charger, but it won't run clocks because the frequency is crystal controlled and stuck at 59.1 Hz

Just because it's sine wave doesn't mean it's equal to the mains, but square wave inverters are junk as far as I'm concerned. I had a couple and they wouldn't run a 25 watt tabletop fan properly. It hummed loudly and ran off-speed.

Running a microwave from an inverter is borderline abuse. Microwave ovens have a huge coil that a square wave will not work with properly. Microwave ovens also use HIGH voltage to get the tube going and square wave inverters don't have the same peak voltage as the mains. The area under the curve may be the same, but for a step up transformer that's not enough.

For all the money you've spent on inverters, you could have bought a 12v microwave.
http://www.outdoorgb.com/c/12v_kettles_cookers/

Re: inverter charger (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by dbcollen on Wed Sep 16, 2009 at 09:36:41 PM MST

I recently purchased a samlex 2000 watt 24 volt SW inverter for a customer, I ended up getting it back, because it consumes 100W on standby not the >50W claimed on the website. 100 watts continuous is 2.4KWH per day. I ended up building one good inverter from his 2 dead DR series Xantrex inverters.

Not to hijak the thread, but the first $500 + shipping gets the almost new Samlex S-2024A true sine wave inverter charger.
Mad River Wind and Hydro

Re: inverter charger (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by Dave B on Thu Sep 17, 2009 at 11:10:53 AM MST

Seeing your comment on building a DR inverter from 2 I wondered if you could answer a question for me that I have been waiting on Xantrex tech support for. I own a DR3624 and wondered before I purchase my battery bank could this be run with no batteries attached just off the grid in AC bypass mode through to my sub panel for the inverter circuits ? Does it need a DC source present to function in the AC bypass mode ? Thought I'd ask in case you knew. Thanks, Dave B.

[ Parent ]

Re: inverter charger (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by dbcollen on Thu Sep 17, 2009 at 03:44:51 PM MST

sorry, can't help you with that one Dave.

Dustin
Mad River Wind and Hydro
[ Parent ]

Re: inverter charger (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by Dave B on Fri Sep 18, 2009 at 09:45:25 AM MST

Figured I'd ask, thanks. Xantrex is slow getting back with me on this one. Dave B.

[ Parent ]

Re: inverter charger (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by bob golding on Fri Sep 18, 2009 at 12:55:24 PM MST

sorry i dont know the answer to the original question but to also hijack the thread i have a dead dr2424E.(240 volt out) i think i killed it by trying to use the charger function with a generator. how did you go about making one good one from 2 dead ones? i have found a 1 kw 24 volt cheap chinese one which does the job so this more to do with it bugging me why it died.

[ Parent ]

Re: inverter charger (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by dbcollen on Fri Sep 18, 2009 at 08:38:55 PM MST

There is 2 main parts that fail, the FET board (on big AL heatsink) or the control board. The control board is the big circuit board, it is common to all the DR series and is configured via jumpers. You could just swap the control boards, (after proper configuration) but if the fets are bad you risk ruining a good control board.

Dustin
Mad River Wind and Hydro
[ Parent ]

inverter charger | 7 comments (7 topical)

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