inverter or inverter/charger
A KISAE 2000w pure sine inverter, for example, can be had with or without the charger. With the charger the price roughly doubles. I've got a typical WFCO (8955?) trailer charger that's admittedly not...
Forum Discussion
Let's look at the advantages and disadvantages.
First. I have a top of the heap Converter in this RV, Progressive Dynamics 9180 with optional wizard, better than that it does not get, Just as good, yes, better no.
I also have a Xantrex Prosine, inverter/charger.. I'd also rate the charger as top of the heap, none better, but for different reasons than the 9180+wizard.
As it happens I like the Wizard a tad better. So since it is factory programmed for the type of batteries I have (Flooded wet cells) That's what I use.. The Prosine can be programmed for other battery types. I hold it in reserve however.. Just in case. More on that later if I don't forget.
Advantage of the separate converter. and a warning:
The warning: My RV is properly wired with a sub panel the inverter can NOT feed power back to the 9180 converter.
Back when it was still under warranty and dinosaurs.. no it's not that old (10 years ago roughly) the Prosine lost its mind (Display said "Prosine Memory Error") and I had to ship it back to Washington for replacement, I was , for a period, without it.. Now I bypassed the 120 volt lines so I still had power everywhere in the RV so long as shore/generator held but no inverter.. The 9180 took care of my batteries and powered my Ham Radio (12 volt) so all was good.
The re-install (NOTE: only took me a few minutes on the phone with US based Customer support to get an RMA for the original Prosine, but the call lasted much longer read on) also involved some "Improvements" suggested by Customer support which, so far (a decade) have prevented another memory loss (knock wood). Sadly they moved to cuss-some-more support fromn over seas do not know if they moved back to US based support.
And in another case we were in an RV park with "iffy" power.. Iffy enough that the Microwave acted a bit strange when Wife went to nuke dinner.. So I tripped the 30 amp breaker (Well turned it off) forcing the Prosine to inverter mode, it took very good care of the microwave and the 9180.. Took care of the prosine.
They used to sell a product called a Power Line Conditioner, this device, which cost around 2 grand, is kind of the ultimate in UPS/Surge guards.. it consists of 3 modules.. a Converter like the 9180 (in fact that's what I'd use) a good size battery, likely 24 volt in this case but hey, and a True Sine Wave Inverter.
By turning off the 30 amp breaker, I "Created" the exact same setup in the RV.
Those are the advantages, (12 volt remains if the inverter goes in for warranty repair, and "power line conditioner" mode)
The disadvantage:
Weight.. You have a few pounds of Converter you can get rid of if you use the combined unit...
My choice.. Is clear from above.
now: Why do I like having the Prosine's converter "in reserve"?
Well, the 9180 comes in 2x2 modes. One is with or w/o Wizard (Mine is with) making it electronically a 9280 with dongle. that's not important to this post.
The other is "hard Wired" or "Plug in" mine is the latter, Plug in.. And sometimes in messing around near it I accidently pull the plug.
Of courese with over 500 AMp hours of battery I do not notice right away that the plug is pulled.. No,, it's usually around 3 AM when I figure it out.. and if you think I'm going outside at 3AM to plug it back in.. THINK AGAIN.. I just walk out to the remote panel for the Prosine (in the kitchen area) and CLICK, batteries are charging just like magic.. Later in daylight I switch back to the 9180.
Also, the 9180 is the proper charger for the original pair of GC-2 (230 amp hours after replacement) but for the entire battery bank (over 2x that) it's a bit anemic.. NOT a problem when I have shore power but recently I went 48 hours without shore, and I did not feel like full timing the generator so I ran on Batteries at night and only ran the Genny mornings and evenings.. The added 100 amps from the Prosine meant much faster charging of my big battery bank.
Once shore pwoer returned, I restored to normal (Charger disabled) mode on the prosine.
First. I have a top of the heap Converter in this RV, Progressive Dynamics 9180 with optional wizard, better than that it does not get, Just as good, yes, better no.
I also have a Xantrex Prosine, inverter/charger.. I'd also rate the charger as top of the heap, none better, but for different reasons than the 9180+wizard.
As it happens I like the Wizard a tad better. So since it is factory programmed for the type of batteries I have (Flooded wet cells) That's what I use.. The Prosine can be programmed for other battery types. I hold it in reserve however.. Just in case. More on that later if I don't forget.
Advantage of the separate converter. and a warning:
The warning: My RV is properly wired with a sub panel the inverter can NOT feed power back to the 9180 converter.
Back when it was still under warranty and dinosaurs.. no it's not that old (10 years ago roughly) the Prosine lost its mind (Display said "Prosine Memory Error") and I had to ship it back to Washington for replacement, I was , for a period, without it.. Now I bypassed the 120 volt lines so I still had power everywhere in the RV so long as shore/generator held but no inverter.. The 9180 took care of my batteries and powered my Ham Radio (12 volt) so all was good.
The re-install (NOTE: only took me a few minutes on the phone with US based Customer support to get an RMA for the original Prosine, but the call lasted much longer read on) also involved some "Improvements" suggested by Customer support which, so far (a decade) have prevented another memory loss (knock wood). Sadly they moved to cuss-some-more support fromn over seas do not know if they moved back to US based support.
And in another case we were in an RV park with "iffy" power.. Iffy enough that the Microwave acted a bit strange when Wife went to nuke dinner.. So I tripped the 30 amp breaker (Well turned it off) forcing the Prosine to inverter mode, it took very good care of the microwave and the 9180.. Took care of the prosine.
They used to sell a product called a Power Line Conditioner, this device, which cost around 2 grand, is kind of the ultimate in UPS/Surge guards.. it consists of 3 modules.. a Converter like the 9180 (in fact that's what I'd use) a good size battery, likely 24 volt in this case but hey, and a True Sine Wave Inverter.
By turning off the 30 amp breaker, I "Created" the exact same setup in the RV.
Those are the advantages, (12 volt remains if the inverter goes in for warranty repair, and "power line conditioner" mode)
The disadvantage:
Weight.. You have a few pounds of Converter you can get rid of if you use the combined unit...
My choice.. Is clear from above.
now: Why do I like having the Prosine's converter "in reserve"?
Well, the 9180 comes in 2x2 modes. One is with or w/o Wizard (Mine is with) making it electronically a 9280 with dongle. that's not important to this post.
The other is "hard Wired" or "Plug in" mine is the latter, Plug in.. And sometimes in messing around near it I accidently pull the plug.
Of courese with over 500 AMp hours of battery I do not notice right away that the plug is pulled.. No,, it's usually around 3 AM when I figure it out.. and if you think I'm going outside at 3AM to plug it back in.. THINK AGAIN.. I just walk out to the remote panel for the Prosine (in the kitchen area) and CLICK, batteries are charging just like magic.. Later in daylight I switch back to the 9180.
Also, the 9180 is the proper charger for the original pair of GC-2 (230 amp hours after replacement) but for the entire battery bank (over 2x that) it's a bit anemic.. NOT a problem when I have shore power but recently I went 48 hours without shore, and I did not feel like full timing the generator so I ran on Batteries at night and only ran the Genny mornings and evenings.. The added 100 amps from the Prosine meant much faster charging of my big battery bank.
Once shore pwoer returned, I restored to normal (Charger disabled) mode on the prosine.
