Best Price-to-Quality line for Pure Sinewave Inverters

We've been using a Sunforce 2500 watts (4000 peak) pure sine inv. for 2 years now w/o any problems. It's got a remote for on/off that we keep in the camper. It's powering everything (the toaster and Tassimo machine simultaneously). We never tried the a/c. We payed $399 at Costco.

I have and recommend GoPower sine wave. Yes they have 150, 300, 600, 1000+ watts with a remote or provision to connect a remote switch.

Joe, the Xantrex PROwatt SW series are very competitively priced PSW inverters. I use my inverter pretty much the same as you, and have no need of a big one that also charges. There is a remote switch available for about $20 that works with all the PROwatt models.

I've got the PROwatt 600 and I'm totally satisfied with it.

You can find them on Amazon for about $160 with "free" shipping.

You might even be able to find one for a little less if you look hard. I paid about $150 with shipping two years ago.

:):)

I have the big Magnum in our living pod (4kW with generator sharing, about $1800) but in the garage pod we use a smaller 1kW Magnum that is pure sine, has remote, and was around $700. Both have been performing flawlessly.

$700 might still be out of budget, but it can do 1600 watts for 5 seconds, enough to start a power tool motor or vacuum cleaner.

For an inverter only Samlex. If you want an inverter/charger then Outback or Magnum.

Coffeemaker couldn't care less for pure sine, unless you have one with digital pad.
Bare in mind that bigger inverts have bigger fans, that not only make bigger noise, but also draw bigger power.
I found that for small stuff like laptop, or cellphone charging the 100W inverter is the best. Those are very compact, no fan and I bought one for $8 on sale. You just plug it into 12V socket inside the camper, so no hassle with wiring.
Than when you need big guns, the 1500w or more would be probably more recommended as you could hook up microwave to it. With this one you have to worry about big cables, proper cooling and remote.
Although I install my 1750W inverter under kitchen sink and can reach the switch on its panel by opening the cabinet. It come with remote, so used it after-all just above duplex extension at the countertop. I also installed switchable 150 amp breaker on big cable, so I can completely disconnect it when is storage.

Highest quality look at Outback, Victron, and Magnum. All of them make a hybrid inverter/charger. All of them have temperature sensors that may be used to optimize charging. Outback even has a model that could be grid tied to a home to extract power when the RV is in storage.

Best bang for the buck may be the pro-watt line from Xantrex. These are throw away units. 2000 watts from bestconverter is $347.50. This would last a long long time if never taxed with more than 1000 watts.

The Magnums must be very nice!

Pure sinewave inverters w/remote. I personally have had 3, and still use 2 of the 3.

I had the Xantrex Prosine 2.0 charger/inverter combo in my TC. I replaced it with the Magnum 3,000 Hybrid inverter /charger combo because of it's ability to pair with a Honda Generator and provide surge power from battery to help the Honda. It also has an auto-switch to battery in case the shore power goes out or the genny runs out of gas.
I also have the Xantrex Prosine 1800 in my Wells Cargo trailer backed up with 3 of it's own AGM batteries on 600 watts solar.

But, that being said....

I feel for the money vs. your need, the Xantrex Prosine 1000 should be your choice, for multiple reasons--
* Pure sinewave of course - you can run an electric blanket all night...;-)--and they don't actually draw much. Modified sinewave inverters are not compatible with electric blankets. I've tried.
* Coffee makers generally draw 900 watts. Awful nice to just flip a switch and make a pot. RV Microwaves may or may not run off of it, some are 900, some are 1,100.
* Very easy to wire, and a couple different options for the remote on/off - a simple switch or a switch with LCD volt/amp draw status.
* Good warranty - 2 years P&L
* US Company and support - Elkhart Indiana, the home planet for the RV industry.

I've done a LOT of tinkering with various inverters and inverter/chargers over the years. If money were no object I would unequivocally say get a Magnum - Made in the USA, Everett WA. Great people to meet and talk to, and a great product. But my Magnum 3,000 ran about $1,800.

jimh425 wrote:
I don't think you are going to easily find an inverter with a remote on/off that isn't good quality.

I'm not a big believer in highend inverters, but this guy on youtube is pretty good reviewer and he demonstrates how to wire a remote. Fast forward to about 8 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoeU5iJnbwY

I've found that I use my small inverter most of the time for tv etc since it just requires flipping a switch instead of changing my fridge to gas, unplugging my battery charger, and plugging my shore power into the big inverter.

I gave the 1000w as an upper figure, as I doubt I'll use anything that draws that much. The inverter is primarily used for two things.

1.) Powers Fridge on A/C going down the road (Works better than the propane and I don't have to worry about it blowing out, since its a fully mechanical unit, it doesn't self relight), I already have a 100amp charging system setup for the camper, and I've used this before with my current MSW inverter.

2.) Running small electronics that I don't have a direct DC option for.

Kayteg1 wrote:
I think first you should figure out your needs more precisely.
There is big difference between 500 and 1000W class inverters.
Than how critical is pure sine?
Even if you find one without remote, adding 100 amp relay and remote switch is not a big deal.
I think it might be actually better this way. My 1700W inverter has remote, has switch on it, yet when I hook up the cable with everything off, I am getting big spark.
The inverter is having big capacitor on it, that is before the relay. My meter shows no other draw after first spark, but it has to draw milivolts to keep capacitor charged.

I don't need a big relay shut off, just a remote switch connection. I made one on my last inverter, by opening it up, and running two lengths of wire attached to the on/off wires going to the switch on the unit self and installing a little remote flip switch, worked really well.

Pure Sinewave has always been a goal, I have a MSW unit now, which does the job, but makes a lot of electrical noise which usually translates into alot of heat in the power supplies for various sensitive electronics.

Since I'm doing this all from scratch this time, I figured now would be a good time to switch over and build a specific setup for one, vs the original rig that had it grafted on.