What to look for in an inverter/charger?
We recently bought a new fifth wheel (see sig) and now I need to research inverters. About twelve years ago we had a Xantrex Freedom 458 installed in our Toy Hauler. It was fantastic and it never ga...
Forum Discussion
Hey Dave,
The Magnum will do all you ask with ease. Running the entire rig, or not is just how you wire it, and whole house is way simpler. Do not look at anything other than Pure Sine Wave (PSW). Some will say MSW is fine, but there are LOTS of things that will puke smoke and it's not easy to blow it back in. MSW also tears up AM receiption worse than PSW, and it's often heard in the audio of some TV and audio equipment. Some folks like separate components, and there are advantages to both systems, but I think you will find the problems with inverter/ chargers are extremely rare. Even so, Magnums are actually serviceable (unlike Xantrex) and the support staff is great (at least one of the tech's hangs on the forums). If you want come take a look at mine again and a tour through the remote (this one has all the option), let me know.
Having a 50A system totally depends on the way the rig is wired. My 2nd phase only supports the second HVAC compressor/ heat pump, and the water heater element, everything else else is on the 1st phase (although one day I may swing the fridge elements over and get it off the inverter too), so it's a simple job: YMMV
As far as running the microwave, we do it for a quick heat up or popcorn, anything longer than about 4 mins, we use the generator. It's all about battery capacity, the 2000w class inverters can run most microwaves given enough supply current.
The Magnum will do all you ask with ease. Running the entire rig, or not is just how you wire it, and whole house is way simpler. Do not look at anything other than Pure Sine Wave (PSW). Some will say MSW is fine, but there are LOTS of things that will puke smoke and it's not easy to blow it back in. MSW also tears up AM receiption worse than PSW, and it's often heard in the audio of some TV and audio equipment. Some folks like separate components, and there are advantages to both systems, but I think you will find the problems with inverter/ chargers are extremely rare. Even so, Magnums are actually serviceable (unlike Xantrex) and the support staff is great (at least one of the tech's hangs on the forums). If you want come take a look at mine again and a tour through the remote (this one has all the option), let me know.
Having a 50A system totally depends on the way the rig is wired. My 2nd phase only supports the second HVAC compressor/ heat pump, and the water heater element, everything else else is on the 1st phase (although one day I may swing the fridge elements over and get it off the inverter too), so it's a simple job: YMMV
As far as running the microwave, we do it for a quick heat up or popcorn, anything longer than about 4 mins, we use the generator. It's all about battery capacity, the 2000w class inverters can run most microwaves given enough supply current.
