Sine Wave Inverter Anomaly
After following this recent discussion about how to best utilize a sine wave inverter for RV use I decided to go ahead and buy the 1000 watt model mentioned in this discussion since it was on sale for...
Forum Discussion
Gdetrailer wrote:
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The difference with cheap BTL inverters vs higher priced BTL inverters is one major step.. It is called ISOLATION, the cheap inverters SKIP a expensive step in the process that isolates the 12V ground from the the output of high voltage chopper circuit.
The more expensive BTL inverters will include a high frequency transformer in the high voltage chopper circuit which allows the output stage of the inverter to be "bondable" to the equipment ground.
If you take a inverter which uses BTL output without an isolated 12V input and SHORT one of the output lines to the battery ground you now only have 60V AND often the inverter has a meltdown.
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Thanks for that explanation.
Just wondering if there are any 120VAC appliances that require or assume neutral to be isolated from ground? If the appliance somehow shorts neutral to ground the results would be just as bad as doing it deliberately at the cheap inverter, I imagine.
Have heard of many issues with using cheap inverters, but all I recall could be traced back to using a MSW rather than a PSW inverter. This lack of isolation issue is new to me.
