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2oldman's avatar
2oldman
Explorer II
Oct 30, 2015

Any Cotek inverter experts?

I'm moving up to a 48v system. Today I received my Cotek SD3500-148 inverter from Invertersrus. Things are not going smoothly so far.

I'm wanting to hardwire, and the manual instructs me to remove 4 screws and "carefully" pull the AC panel out. Step 1:

Now, the manual says that the panel can be rotated 90° (toward me and down) to allow access to the internal hard-wire port. This picture is an extreme close-up of the removed panel. That green circuit board in the left-hand portion of the picture is attached to the panel I'm trying to remove.

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If you look closely you'll see that the white wire is hanging up on the blue wire which makes it difficult to pull the panel out much. I don't want to force it. Has anyone dealt with this?

I wouldn't bother hardwiring if I didn't think I had to, but this inverter will be running everything, including a/c if possible. The rating of each of the standard outlets is 20a - which may work. However, if I could wire them in parallel (use 2 plugs into the standard outlets and wire parallel), I could skip this hardwire hassle. This sentence seems to say that -- Page 21: "Note: if input current over than limit current, please adopt choose to Outlet Adaptor with 2 sockets" Is that what it says??

I'm in contact with a local man who's fronting for their tech support, but I thought I'd pose it here just for fun. Nothing like a Taiwanese to English manual.

27 Replies

  • Separate are better for mean time between failures. Trouble shooting is much easier, and failure of one part does not necessarily end a trip.

    I agree at higher input voltages the pool of available inverters is small--and even smaller when you want high wattage coming out the 120 volt side. I was unable to find a quality 4000 watt 12 volt input inverter and so ended up with the Magnum at 3000 watts. Sometimes I wish I had gone to a 24 volt bank as then Magnum would have a useful unit.

    However, I absolutely love the load support feature on the hybrid Magnum inverter charger. I've used every day for the last four weeks. Victron also offers that feature.

    I did keep my OEM converter as some (but not all) GFI outlets don't "like" the Magnum.

    When I tried double conversion using the PD converter with the Magnum, it blew the reverse polarity fuses on the converter as soon as I used a large load. However, that was with the ten year old flooded batteries.

    I compromised by using just one outlet on the Magnum for heavy loads, and turning the converter off when I did so.
  • pianotuna wrote:
    A Victron Inverter/charger
    Victrons are nice. At higher voltages it's harder to find products.

    I was also considering the Outback IC, but with its controller it's well over $2 grand. That's not so bad, but its weight at 64lb was a deal-breaker for me.

    I'm starting to like your idea of having separate components.
  • A Victron what?

    I can try running the air, yes. I'm feeling a bit bummed by this unexpected hardwire hassle. I don't know how my coach will react to plugging into GFCI outlets.. maybe I don't wanna know.

    Always something!
  • Hi 2old,

    At that price you are getting close to what a Victron costs.

    Can you test the new one (i.e. will it run the air) before you return it just by plugging in briefly?
  • Connect fan toward device if observe fever? Chinglish 101?

    If it were me, I would wait rather than cause a Laurel&Hardy grade involuntary disconnect. Get the name of the tech so he can give the monkey a ride on their nickel if the job goes awry.

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