Newer designed inverters
Anyone who has spent some time on eBay has seen the incredibly low priced Chinese inverters. Some of the spec are out right lies (5000W output using a 12V battery ? Right. Sure.) But there is a sp...
Forum Discussion
theoldwizard1 wrote:atreis wrote:
There is almost always better technology available than the technology that we actually buy and use. COST is usually the limiting factor, not technological capability.
But that is my point ! Many (most?) of the top quality inverters on the market are using technology that is >10 years old. There is no need for huge transformers and modern Power MOSFETs limit the losses due to heating. These things REDUCE cost and improve efficiency.
If it were cheaper they would be using it (and charging everyone the same amount). Companies like higher profit margins.
theoldwizard1 wrote:atreis wrote:
5000W 12V input inverters - not impossible - not even hard. That's 427 amps at 12V.
IMHO anyone wanting to run a 5000W inverter off of 12VDC is nuts ! Somewhere around 2000W, you should be using 24VDC. Above 4000W, 48VDC.
While I agree in principal (and most every circumstance), there are reasons one might not want to go that route.
With 48V, you have to add batteries in groups of 4. With 24V, in groups of 2. (Assuming 12V batteries. If using 6V, then it would 8 and 4. If using 2V, it would be 24 and 12.) Sticking with 12V, while generally not the best approach, is the most flexible.
Another reason would be that the system was built (by someone else) as a 12V system with a (say) 2KW inverter, and one wants to upgrade the top end capacity in order to better support a load that doesn't run very often or for very long (see previous example of a well pump) without changing anything else.
