"New" sine wave inverters

Neat, there's a reference design controller board based on that chip on ebay for ten dollars.

Magnum and Xantrex should license the design and we all win!

I'd be happy with a 3000w PSW inverter that doesn't weigh 60lbs... combine it with 10kw-hrs worth of lithium polymer batteries from Tesla and we have the boondock setup for the 21st century.

GordonThree wrote:
I'm not sure how you'd search for a new inverter ... presumably you mean a digital switching PSW versus an old school analog PSW?

Exactly !

... they'd have to spend the $$$$ modifying a reference design from Texas Instruments or Diodes Inc, and then build a new manuf. process around that design.

There have been good, inexpensive switch-mode voltage or current feed back power supply ICs around for over 10 years. MOSFETs have improved and gone down in price since then. These designs lend themselves to driving multiple small high frequency (40-100KHz) transformers for high power (>1000 watts) applications.

The big "win" I recently found was a single IC that handles all of sine wave conversion (EG8010), minus the drivers. Add some high voltage MOSFETs and you are done. A good design would add an inexpensive microcontroller chips to monitor voltages and temperatures, turn fan(s) on and off and run the front panel display.

I'm not sure how you'd search for a new inverter ... presumably you mean a digital switching PSW versus an old school analog PSW?

I love my MagnaSine PSW but it's one HEAVY B**TARD with the huge inductor in there that its slow analog design requires. Compare it to the switch-mode (digital inverter) used in my Yamaha generator, night and day size and weight different.

My guess is it's an economy of scale thing... the old analog technology is proven and the manufacturing process is established, fine tuned and as efficient as it can be. In order to retool to make switch-mode inverters, they'd have to spend the $$$$ modifying a reference design from Texas Instruments or Diodes Inc, and then build a new manuf. process around that design.

Maybe if the price of copper greatly increases, to where it's no longer profitable to include a hulking huge inductor they will consider moving on to a switch-mode design.

Yes sine wave has been dropping in price.
I don't shop by price alone and so far prefer Go Power.

Xantrex has a new sine wave inverter that looks and is priced like the 458 modified sine wave. In fact it replaces the 458 without wire or controller modifications.
Dave

ScottG wrote:
Many times when they design new circuits like this they do it cheaply by not using the common but perhaps more robust technology. Just because it's new doesn't mean it's better.
I think another good question is; are the new inverters as good as the old ones.

Bingo...proven over "new" !!

Many times when they design new circuits like this they do it cheaply by not using the common but perhaps more robust technology. Just because it's new doesn't mean it's better.
I think another good question is; are the new inverters as good as the old ones.