Whats a Good Brand for a Inverter

Do your batts usually have a resting ocv of 13.3v, or is that surface charge from just turning off the charger?

"Test 1 : After shutting the main electric off and running on batts only the batts read 13.3 volts on meter, "

On what meter? A handheld multimeter, or the inverters display?

"even at the solar controller panel, measured at back of inverter the same reading 13.3 volts,"

It is normal to see Vbatt at inverter output, and throughout the entire circuit, when there's no draw.

"so after test the batts voltage went back to 12.90 volts,"

How long after? It can take a minute or so to rebound. Loosing .13v in just 20 seconds sounds like it may have been burning off some surface charge. And have you compared various meters/displays for accuracy?

"We did another test with micro wave and voltage again dropped to 12.60 but than inverter kicked off only after 4 seconds and cooling fan on inverter kicked on"

What was Vbatt after 2nd microwave run?

I am a very happy owner of Prosine 2.0, since 2006, and a very happy owner of PROwatt SW600 from 2011. I am an electrical engineer and I know what I am doing. And I read Instruction Manuals.

Well I just did the test and here is the results..

Test 1 : After shutting the main electric off and running on batts only the batts read 13.3 volts on meter, even at the solar controller panel, measured at back of inverter the same reading 13.3 volts, also measured my wire length and its 4 feet exact.

Test 2 : Set microwave to run for 20 seconds while reading back of inverter the voltage dropped to 12.67 volts as to tester, it never went under that and the microwave made it the whole 20 seconds, usually cuts off at 8 seconds, so after test the batts voltage went back to 12.90 volts,

Test 3 : We did another test with micro wave and voltage again dropped to 12.60 but than inverter kicked off only after 4 seconds and cooling fan on inverter kicked on.

Am I correct the inverter should Not shut off even with more than 12.5 volts on batts..

Also as I am typing this I have the main power back on and the inverter is on standby, usally I have to shut the inverter off because it wont go on standby but right now it is but maybe a hour from now it will kick off and sometimes throw my GFI..

So you think I don't know what I am doing, my inverter is not acting like it use to..

Time for a new one..

I am now on my second Xantrex Prosine 2.0 Runs a large microwave without problem. The first failed after many 6 years of service; would not pass the AC through. Suspected the internal transfer switch. Xantrex says "parts no longer available". An internet search found me a "reconditioned" one for about what it would cost me to ship off the old one to to someone who repairs Xantrex so I went with that. I now have a great 2 KW inverter that won't charge the batteries. I can use it at home as a stand alone inverter with my ham radio battery bank and use an automotive charger to recharge.

Assuming we head south to Mexico next fall I may drop it off for repair and pick it up on the way home.

I've otherwise been happy with Xantrex. I took it apart to see what I could see and the construction look top line.

hershey wrote:
Can't tell you the best but I can tell you that I'm on my third 2000 watt xantrex. Saw that they are now made in China??? Well that might be a step up in its quality. I would have any other brand but the extended warranty insists on replacing with same brand/unit as what was installed originally. Xantrex is junk.

Yep been reading this as of late, lots of issues with this brand.

timmac,

Ford Motor Company makes Explorers and Escapes... both Ford's, but I assure you the quality and ruggedness are in no way comparable. So what makes you think the prosine and x-power are exactly the same?

Nevertheless, if you still have not checked the input voltage to the inverter, you are only deluding yourself. Moreover, after two years there could be loose wiring, or something similar causing the inverter to shut off. Have you checked everything related, or are you simply jumping to conclusions? May I suggest your time would be better spent doing some trouble shooting, rather than trying to defend a bunch of amazon reviews... And yes, there are lots of boaters out there with more dollars than sense. (pun intended)

msiminoff wrote:

timmac,


The problems I have seen and heard about are typically the result of a poor installation and/or insufficient battery capacity.

Based on your description, the problems you are experiencing are a result of low voltage to the inverter. Either you wiring is too small, too long, your batteries cannot provide sufficient current without sagging (I suspect that it is a combination of all three).

Hoping to operate a ~1500W load (e.g. microwave) from a pair of cheap Group 31 FLA batteries without the inverter shutting down is wishful thinking. If you only have room for two batteries, consider two Group 31 AGM's (e.g. Lifeline or Odyssey). More (or larger) batteries is better.



Cheers,
-MS

That is the 2 batts I put in 31 group AGM Durcell Platinum deep cycle, I now have 200 amp hrs, more amps than I did with the 34 group batts, yes I now know the wire feed needs to be larger but at one time it did run my microwave with the smaller batts but it no longer does, that is also not my only problem now, the inverter even shuts off sometimes for no reason, the book says I can hook to power and the inverter will power down, it no longer does this, it trips off, even sometimes it takes out my GFI, maybe I was not posting correct all my issues, maybe I will try 4/0 wire and see what happens but I also suspect the invertor it self is gone bad.

What all the people posting here don't know when I bought this RV almost 2 years ago this system was already in RV and working fine for almost a year than troubles started, since the batts were small and older I thought new stronger better batts would have fixed my problems but it has not.

Can't tell you the best but I can tell you that I'm on my third 2000 watt xantrex. Saw that they are now made in China??? Well that might be a step up in its quality. I would have any other brand but the extended warranty insists on replacing with same brand/unit as what was installed originally. Xantrex is junk.

2oldman wrote:

timmac wrote:
, your link also shows the many problems with the Xantrex Prosine inverters.

That article doesn't mention Prosine anywhere.

In the article, read below, it says Xantrex, guess what they also make the Prosine..

Later I suggested to somebody that a Xantrex replacement for this might be good for them. Guess what, the newer Xantrex X-Power inverters (which are made in China) shut off at 15V. This changed at some point in time, earlier units worked at over 16V. I had a 400 watt unit of theirs with a 16.5V limit that we used for small loads for a while until it started to have run away output voltage problems.

Not saying this is the case here, but I have read inverter reviews, where people seem to think inverters pull power out of thin air. For example, they hook up a 1000w inverter to a small starter battery, using too thin a wire, and try to run a 1000w microwave from it. When it doesn't work, they give a scathing review. Then another reviewer explains to them, in detail, why it didn't work, and gives a 5 star review of the same unit. Does the original reviewer ever get the message? Who knows? But there's certainly no excuses here, if this is the case.

I have about 2' of 2 ga, to and from my 430Ah bank, (4' in total), to a 1000w Prowatt, and I can run my 900w microwave, which pulls well over 1100w. Only time the low voltage alarm has sounded was on half the bank, at about 65% soc, IIRC. Not saying that proves anything, but if the OP is using similar size wiring, with a smaller bank and a larger inverter/load, then it's no wonder it's shutting off... because it's supposed to.