go power and samlex inverters

Hi John,

Thanks for the insight into how your Go Power and Samlex units are running. It puts them back "in the ball game". Samlex gets "the edge" because they exchanged several emails with me about what I was trying to do.

I am my own transfer switch. Male and female plugs work wonders for me.

I agree with you on discrete components. I'd far rather deal with an inverter and a converter, than an inverter/charger/transfer switch.

Since I am a 30 amp service, using two inverters to feed different parts of the RV might get a bit complicated. In theory, I could put the microwave and water heater on one inverter, and the rest of the RV on another. In practise that still leaves me having to manually load balance much of the time. If I could find a 4000 watt 12 volt fed inverter that was reliable--no load balancing would be needed.

John & Angela wrote:
Good evening Don. I can't speak to your specific needs but will pass on my own experience with both brands.

We have a 1500 go power sine in our little rig. Plumbed through a transfer switch and a separate go power 60 amp converter. We use that motorhome about 60 to 90 days per year and always in a dry camping capacity. The inverter is fed by two group 31 AGM batteries. It has worked flawlessly for 4 years sometimes under fairly heavy load.

We also have a 2000 watt go power sine wave inverter again plumbed through a transfer switch. Its duties are an under counter beverage water heater and an entertainment centre. It is fed by 8 X 6 volt batteries. Again for about 3 years with no problem. This coach also has a Samlex G4 inverter/charger fed by the same 8 batteries. The samlex looks after a microwave as well as another two entertainment centres. It also looks after the residential fridge that has about a 6 to 8 amp surge but then uses very little current. Going on two years with this inverter/charger with no problems. Having said that we only dry camp 45 to 50 days per year in this coach. (We are however full timers in this coach) We also have a backup go power converter in this coach but day to day it is not used.

For what its worth I am a huge proponent of discrete component systems as cross patching and swap outs are very quick. All of our system is done with receptacle and plug configuration so I can cross patch loads easy. I sometimes function as a beta tester for certain manufacturers so this is a huge plus.

None of these inverters are stackable as far as I know. Hope this helps. Good luck with your project.