Xantrex Inverter from Costco

[Tim C]

I had a Xantrex X-Power 1000 watt inverter I purchased from Costco last summer.  I had a power failure and plugged an 800 watt sump pump in and the inverter failed.  Xantrex recommended I return it and get a new one as they are not repaired.  Costco has a 1500 watt Xantrex (the 1000 watt is no longer sold) for around $90.

Is Xantrex a good brand or am I purchasing the comparable of a 1985 Yugo?  Is there a more reliable brand?  I am disappointed because all the features advertised I had the impression that even if I overloaded the inverter (rated for 1500 watt surge) I would not ruin it.  I do not want to purchase another and hav it fail as well.

Tim C.

[richhagen]

Xantrex has been buying up inverter manufacturers right and left.  A $90 Xantrex inverter is not generally the same as a 2500 dollar SW5548 from the same company.  The smaller cheaper inverters put out a square wave form that does not do as well with motors and other inductive types of loads as pure sine or even modified sine wave inverters.  There is quite a lot of variety in quality and design just from Xantrex.  I have a couple of there smaller square wave inverters, and although I have not used them with motors, I have not had any problems to date.  I don't have any specific information on the 1500 watt model, but assuming it is a square wave inverter, your pump may not like it, and may draw more power and run hotter with it.  Rich

[PaulM2]

Xantrex has been selling inverters for a while. I think you just got a bad one. They are not perfect in their protection circuits. Your pump may have had quite a surge for start up. Try another, it may be ok. Although maybe test it first on a different load than your pump at first. I pushed one 600w powerstat inverter with a 1500 hair dryer. It worked for 15 seconds then shut down. No damage. Turned the inverter off/on back to normal, it is rated for 1200w surge. It melted my short wire to the battery. 120 amps!

[Shadow]

When I started looking into inverters, Xantrex name kept coming up as one of the best. But lately I've been hearing more and more about Outback, I like the idea of being able to stack them or add more on rather than having to replace with a larger one. Might be worth looking into.

[pyrocasto]

It shouldnt have burned up but it was kinda cheap like they said, so I dont know.

You shouldnt use a 800 watt motor on a 1000 watt inverter. The motor during start up could pull up to 2400 watts, which your inverter cant pump out.

[zubbly]

hi Tim.

i sold many motors in the past. a rule of thumb we had is that a motor will draw from 5 to six times its rated current on start up. this varies much as it could be a high torque capacitor start motor or a small shaded pole motor which does not draw much more than its rating upon starting.

some pumps are permanent split phase (moderate torque) some are capacitor start (higher torque) and some are shaded pole start )low torque.

so even if it is a moderate starting torque, it may well be drawing 4 times its rating at start up. (this onlky lasts for a second or so.

personally, i would go with a minimum 2500 watt inverter.

just my 2 cents worth

zubbly

[Volvo farmer]

I've got the Xpower 1500 in my shop. I found it will not quite start my circular saw. It surges, the lights flash, the motor tries to go around as long as I hold the trigger  but it won't usually get to operating speed. Once I kind of shook the saw and it did manage to get the blade up to speed and seemed happy running it there. I got no fault of any kind when doing this. It does start my sawzall no problem.

My personal feeling is that all these little Chinese (Coleman, Vector, Xpower, etc)inverters are about the same. I'd bet you just got a bad one. I've heard of them being reasonably reliable over months or even years at a time, even being used daily.

[ghurd]

My bet is the motor draws too much at start up.

Add that with it not getting up to speed as fast as normal.

Just sounds like too much for a 1000w inverter.

G-

[nothing to lose]

I agree also, too big motor, too small inverter.

That said, I have a Xantrex 400 power plus, rechargable booster starter pack, aircompressor, inverter all built into one package. Though it's only a 300-400 watt inverter it has suprised me how well it has worked. Using the booster cables you can connect to another battery (or bank) for extended run times. THIS I HAVE DONE!!

Yes I meant that to be in caps

Conected to a bank of trojans in the back of my truck, I have ran a Smart charger at 20amps all night long from the inverter to charge a small bank at a remote house I rented for awhile, several/many times. It ran my small cheap drill press fine, and even my variable speed craftsman sawzall but maybe not full speed. Flouresent lights seldom buzz/hum when running on it, same lights buzz on grid power sometmes though, go figure that

Even though it's small I would have to say the Xantrex inverter in that unit is top notch, never failed, I have over loaded it a couple times, several times ran it till the batteries died and it shut down.

I use that one alot for portability, my 5K Aims is too bulkey to drag around alot with those large batteries and such.

I think maybe you just got a bad one that fell through the cracks, or all Xantrexes may not be created equal? Mine is great, though small.

 Also mine has been abused in variuos ways, like sitting in the rain running.

Well it was a nice night a couple times when I went to bed, inverter sitting in the back of the truck running a smart charger in the battery room off an extention cord. Then I find a storm moved in when I wake up in the morning, and theres my nice wet Power Plus unit running in the rain!!