Decent inexpensive modified sine wave inverter

Matt_Colie wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Pretty hard to beat Triplite.

I have to disagree. I was a loyal Triplite client until I bought a UPS that with that name on it. After about four years the internal battery went bad. I tried to decase the unit to replace it. I could not figure out how that would not break some plastic, so I called them and was told that the UPS (not cheap one) was not a serviceable unit. It was intended to be scrapped. I didn't do that, I did buy an APC replacement and the Triplite is in my shop in pieces so I can salvage small parts from it.

Matt

UPS units and inverter units are two distinctively different categories.

I have had BOTH APC AND TRIPPLITE UPS units.

The older APC units were good, but the newer APC units do not hold a candle to Tripplite. I have had to scrap several 3 and 4 yr old APCs because of some failure on the mainboard and yet the Tripplites just replace the batteries and go another 4 yrs.

UPS units are a compromise between power, runtime, size, they are not battery efficient and the footprint limits the size of battery. Early UPS units used Gel batteries, newer units come with AGMs, I have noticed less battery life with the AGMs overall, three-four yrs vs the older Gel cells which often got me five to six yrs of life.

I also had to scrap a couple of APC units because they would not play well with my backup power generator and replaced those with Tripplites which have no issue with being inline with a backup generator.

I have worked also with Minuteman UPS units and some other brands which worked reasonably well as long as you understand that a UPS is designed solely to supply you enough power to safely shut down your PC(s) or other equipment in the event of a long term power outage or in a short term power surge/sag to ride out that even for a few seconds.

The Tripplite inverter I posted IS designed for the long haul, it WILL run as long as you have enough external battery capacity. At 42 pounds it is a heavy duty beast, well built and well designed and not your average run of the mill inverter. Yes, you do pay a price upfront, but in the end will outlast the cheap China imports under heavy duty use.

pianotuna wrote:
Pretty hard to beat Triplite.

I have to disagree. I was a loyal Triplite client until I bought a UPS that with that name on it. After about four years the internal battery went bad. I tried to decase the unit to replace it. I could not figure out how that would not break some plastic, so I called them and was told that the UPS (not cheap one) was not a serviceable unit. It was intended to be scrapped. I didn't do that, I did buy an APC replacement and the Triplite is in my shop in pieces so I can salvage small parts from it.

Matt

2oldman wrote:
There's one way I judge: price. YGWYPF... almost every time.

Cheaper ones are more likely to have noisy fans that run all the time. Even the cheapest auto parts store ones will work, for a while, but if you want something you don't have to replace in 3 years, spend the money. More expensive products aren't a conspiracy. And since you're looking at big wattage, it's likely the real cheap ones won't live up to those ratings.

Other than that, weight will tell you about quality. The internals are NOT the same.

Tripplite PV2000..

Product Dimensions 16.26 x 8.5 x 7.24 inches
Item Weight 42 pounds

Compare that to HF "Jupiter" brand 2000W inverter HERE which is:


Product Height
3-1/2 in.
Product Length
10-1/2 in.
Product Weight
6.63 lb.
Product Width
9-5/8 in.
Shipping Weight
7.63 lb.

Yeah, That HF is a feather weight compared to the Tripplite.. There IS a reason why the Tripplite weights more, it is built like a tank..

Pretty hard to beat Triplite.

2oldman wrote:
There's one way I judge: price. YGWYPF... almost every time.

Cheaper ones are more likely to have noisy fans that run all the time. Even the cheapest auto parts store ones will work, for a while, but if you want something you don't have to replace in 3 years, spend the money. More expensive products aren't a conspiracy. And since you're looking at big wattage, it's likely the real cheap ones won't live up to those ratings.

Other than that, weight will tell you about quality. The internals are NOT the same.

X2, and add to that pf in the form of heat and motor winding abuse...Surge ratings (by themselves) are mostly provided to sell marginal inverters - they are of little value whatsoever unless they are accompanied by DURATION - this is where ‘value’ begins and is all too often why inverters that seemingly have the same advertised capability (NOT!) have drastically different cost...

Just another ugly example of why there’s no free lunch...

There's one way I judge: price. YGWYPF... almost every time.

Cheaper ones are more likely to have noisy fans that run all the time. Even the cheapest auto parts store ones will work, for a while, but if you want something you don't have to replace in 3 years, spend the money. More expensive products aren't a conspiracy. And since you're looking at big wattage, it's likely the real cheap ones won't live up to those ratings.

Other than that, weight will tell you about quality. The internals are NOT the same.

theoldwizard1 wrote:
There are SO MANY modified sine wave inverters on the market, how do you know if any of them are any good ! They all come from China. Many have identical cases so I bet the internals are the same, just different labels. Even it the case is the same, doesn't mean the internals are different.

(Yes, I WANT modified sine wave. I have my reasons, with cost being a big one.)

I know you are going to take a lot of abuse on this request but sadly there is a lot of folks scared to death by well meaning folks who judge MSW inverters by the cheapo junk stuff like Harbor Freight and other cheapo imports.

If you are really serious, skip the cheapos, spend a few more nickles and go with Tripplite Inverters.

Mainly in your case, Tripp Lite Power Industrial Inverter PV2000FC

With 4,000W Surge, they do not come cheap at $400 but it WILL outperform any other MSW out there.

This inverter is built ground up to handle heavy inductive motor startup loads. I have the smaller cousin PV1250FC to run my home fridge conversion and it handles that perfectly fine, fridge starts and runs quietly.

PV2000FC At AMAZON



2000W Continuous

4,000W Surge DoubleBoost Feature

Tripp Lite Inverters deliver up to twice their nameplate rated wattage for up to 10 seconds, providing the extra power needed to cold start heavy-duty tools and equipment. This is the ONLY inverter that I am aware of that can handle twice the rated power for TEN SECONDS, most inverters only handle the surge for MICROSECONDS!

OverPower Feature
Tripp Lite Inverters deliver up to 150% of their name plate rated wattage for up to 1 hour, providing plenty of reserve power to reliably support tools and equipment longer. (3000W in the case of PV2000FC)

Manual HERE

With this amount of surge current, you WILL NEED to use the MAX wire gauge that will fit the terminals which is 2/0 and keep the 12V wiring as short as possible!

I should also add, this inverter IS remote capable, you can buy an optional remote to turn the inverter on/off plus it has status info on the battery and inverter load. Pricy at around $120 for the remote, it allows you to mount the inverter as close as possible to the batteries.

This inverter also has a power save feature you can adjust which will automatically turn on/off with load demand which I use for my home fridge conversion to save battery Ahrs.

When our original refrigerator dies (of course a few days before a departure), I found a dorm reefer that would fit and then stopped at Hazard Fright and bought their 750/1500 modified square wave box (I refuse to use the word sine in this context). It was a complete success.

Now comes the adventure....
I managed to repair the unit, a wife does not want it back as the new box worked better. But, she did not like the arrangement of the freezer compartment at all. So, a year or so later, we found one at a big box that she liked and the out side dimensions were about the same. In it went and I sold off the other two.

Down the road a couple years, we were just barely out bound when the magic smoke leaked out the HF inverter. As we were actually closer to the store than home, for 39$us+tax we pick up a replacement and bought the warranty this time.

I took the dead one back and the replacement has been riding with us for years now. It also serves to provide the AC to power the laptop and many other things as it has a lot of reserve power.

Matt

I have this one, only use it occasionally, seems decent.

Inverter

theoldwizard1 wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
You need to say the wattage you want.

I can't believe I forgot that ! 4000W surge capability

So that would be a 2000w inverter with 4000w surge. Can't help with brands, not a clue.

I still have my MSW 2000w Vector I got 12 years ago that still works well that is like Don's Cobra that can run motors and MWs, but Vector is long gone. I put it in the used TC we just got.