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hbski's avatar
hbski
Explorer
Jul 09, 2014

Magnum energy hybrid VS Victron

In the market for a new inverter/charger. Seems the best two options are the Victron 3000W Multiplus or the Magnum Energy MSH3012M.

Seems the Victron has a couple of bells that the Magnum doesn't, but not sure they are important to my set up....the ability to charge another battery and two AC outputs....one active only when on shore power (ie hook up the water heater and like)

Also considering the MSH4024M (for the overhead in the heat....may be running the AC in 115 deg weather) but not sure I want to go 24V for the house batts. If I use the inverter just as an AC source than this is a moot point.

My goals are to be able to do shortish AC power ups (micro, MAYBE the AC for an hour and to be able to run the AC off of a 2k inverter genny (honda or yamaha) , thus boosting to start the AC (my onan camp power is LOUD and I'd like to ditch it).

While price is somewhat important, at this point it is really about value and convenience. I've already committed to ditching my dead Norcold frig (it's never done well in the heat and yes it has a stack fan) in favor of a Whirlpool 10.7 res frig, so I need an inverter and the ability to quickly charge the batts (thus the 120/125 charge capable inverter/chargers. I'm just trying to piece together the rest of it in such a fashion that I am making the most out of my money for this cascade of upgrades.

Anyone with experiences with either want to please chime in and elaborate why you went one way or the other? This way or that way being Victron vs Magnum and 12V vs 24V. And yes I understand that the tie breaker is that Magnum is made here in the USA.

Oh, and that brings up another point. I can't find the warranty info on the Victron units....that alone is enough to sway me toward Magnum's 3 year warranty....anyone have info on Victron's warranty?

Thanks,
And Cheers,
DJ

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  • BFL13's avatar
    BFL13
    Explorer II
    Jul 09, 2014
    hbski wrote:
    That said, if the only duty for the Honda 2000 (1600W continuous) is the charger, it should be able to keep up 1600/12 = 133 Amps.....of course there are efficiencies to consider too so 100ish at least. Since I'm going the res frig, I'm going to be putting a significant battery bank of ~ 360 Ah usable....thus the desire to charge at over 100A.


    I question paying for the 125 or higher (some inverter/chargers have 150a) charger portion if you have to dial down your input to suit the small genny, but there are always trade-offs in this game.

    IMO the OP is under-estimating the difficulties of high amp charging and gen VA to run the charger(s). Eg my Honda 3000 is maxed with 130a of non-PF corrected charger. 135a will pop its breaker. Using the PF corrected 100 amper and additional 50a of non-PF corrected Vector chargers, I can do 150a charging to max out the 3000.

    The 100a PF corrected charger has a big starting in rush too so the Honda has to be warmed up a few minutes, leave eco-off, start the 100a, let it run a minute or two, then turn eco off. (or it will just conk out)

    The 100amp PF corrected charger will run on 15a ( 1800w?) just barely, but AFAIK the Honda 2000 is less than 15--ISTR 13a (1600w) AC rated?

    Charging at over 100a means you need to get serious about the generator supply! ISTR the Yamaha with electric start has some feature the Honda does not where its little battery can help with a starting surge like the 100a charger in-rush resembles?

    PT is the expert on the OP's main question; I am just mentioning the gen/charger match issue on the side. However if it does lead to more gen, the inverter boost requirement might go away, can't say.
  • mrekim's avatar
    mrekim
    Explorer
    Jul 09, 2014
    I seem to recall that there's a difference with how you set up the "assist" between the two. It may be that the Magnum lets you go into assist mode at a lower amperage than the Victron. You may want to get the manuals and check that out.
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Jul 09, 2014
    hbski wrote:
    Considered 24V and the DC converter, but there is more efficiency out the door :(
    With 800ah of batteries and 800+ w of solar, I don't worry too much about that. :) With 24v you don't need those thumb-sized wires.

    One other nice thing about the dc-dc converter is that the coach is *always* at 12.5v, user-defined, no matter the fluctuations of the converter, or when equalizing.
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Jul 09, 2014
    Hi,

    I have the Magnum MSH3012M. I also purchased the remote which allows me to limit the 120 volt amps going into the inverter/charger.

    The charger will work well on 15 amps--but I can "dial it down" quickly and easily.

    The inverter works well with a Yamaha 3000 sIEB allowing me to run the generator in eco mode without significant voltage drop. I did choose to dial the input down to the 23 amps that the Yamaha can output.

    The Magnum has a 60 amp transfer switch.

    I was able to purchase the inverter and remote for $1880.00 including free shipping in the lower 48.

    The air conditioner runs with ease on the inverter.

    I did load the inverter with the air, water heater, fridge and OEM converter (by accident) voltage dropped to 100 and amps were 339 @ 12 volts.

    After about five minutes, I plugged back into 30 amp shore power and saw 89 amps going into the battery bank.

    I will be using the air conditioner while driving tomorrow and will have the generator remote beside me should the alternator show signs of being stressed.

    I did run the fan only on the air conditioner to help "share" the dash air with the rest of the RV. That worked quite well for a 3 hour trip. The last hour I ran the roof air with the fan set to run.

    This worked well to keep my class c cool upon arrival. I did go out for supper and did not keep the air conditioner on--and the RV went up 4 C from 22 to 26 (71.6 to 78.8 f). The heat from the exhaust and transmission radiate up from the floor.

    In short, the Magnum will run any single high wattage load easily and with little fan noise. At 3000 watts the fans were quite loud.
  • hbski's avatar
    hbski
    Explorer
    Jul 09, 2014
    2oldman wrote:
    hbski wrote:
    but not sure I want to go 24V for the house batts. If I use the inverter just as an AC source than this is a moot point.

    My goals are to be able to ... run the AC off of a 2k inverter genny (honda or yamaha)
    I do 24v, no problem. Just need a small dc-dc converter for the 12v side.

    If it does work at all, it's too much for a 2kw gen to handle for very long. And it will be loud.


    Considered 24V and the DC converter, but there is more efficiency out the door :(
  • hbski's avatar
    hbski
    Explorer
    Jul 09, 2014
    2oldman wrote:
    hbski wrote:
    but not sure I want to go 24V for the house batts. If I use the inverter just as an AC source than this is a moot point.

    My goals are to be able to ... run the AC off of a 2k inverter genny (honda or yamaha)
    I do 24v, no problem. Just need a small dc-dc converter for the 12v side.

    If it does work at all, it's too much for a 2kw gen to handle for very long. And it will be loud.


    HA...no way as loud as my ridiculously loud Onan...that thing is a beast....my portable champion 3500watt gas generator is quieter!!!

    Sooooo, thinkin' about this some more the charger MUST only use what is available because you can set the input AC limit on both the Victron and the Magnum
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Jul 09, 2014
    hbski wrote:
    but not sure I want to go 24V for the house batts. If I use the inverter just as an AC source than this is a moot point.

    My goals are to be able to ... run the AC off of a 2k inverter genny (honda or yamaha)
    I do 24v, no problem. Just need a small dc-dc converter for the 12v side.

    If it does work at all, it's too much for a 2kw gen to handle for very long. And it will be loud.
  • hbski's avatar
    hbski
    Explorer
    Jul 09, 2014
    That said, if the only duty for the Honda 2000 (1600W continuous) is the charger, it should be able to keep up 1600/12 = 133 Amps.....of course there are efficiencies to consider too so 100ish at least. Since I'm going the res frig, I'm going to be putting a significant battery bank of ~ 360 Ah usable....thus the desire to charge at over 100A.
  • hbski's avatar
    hbski
    Explorer
    Jul 09, 2014
    Thanks for the reply. I guess I'm assuming that the 125A is the maximum capability, not the always draw....pretty sure that's true, but I guess something to look into. Planning to add 420W of solar too to help with the charging duties.
  • BFL13's avatar
    BFL13
    Explorer II
    Jul 09, 2014
    Can't speak to the rest, but the 2k Honda may not be able to run the 125a charger even if the charger is PF-corrected. You may want a Yamaha 2400 or twin Honda 2ks. With that, you may not need a booster type inverter. There are also 100amp PF corrected chargers you can get as stand alone, such as the PowerMax model, so you could look into a separate inverter that may give you more set-up options.

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