Forum Discussion

clhamon's avatar
clhamon
Explorer
Jan 25, 2016

Go Power! 1750HD Inverter

Has anyone had experience with these inverters overheating? Nothing has changed in the past three years but recently our inverter has started overheating. It is located in an outside storage compartment and even with the compartment door left open it still overheats. Time to replace with something bigger, newer and different brand? Is there a better brand?
Can be seen here!
  • http://www.donrowe.com/Power-Bright-PW3500-12-p/pw3500-12.htm

    It is modified sine wave so don't run your roof air conditioner on it. It may, or may not "eat" your microwave--but they are inexpensive.

    Do NOT use it to power a Mac (Apple) computer.

    Do NOT use it to power a heating blanket.

    Charging a cordless drill or similar item may be a problem, depending on the particular maker.

    I'd get a DC to DC converter for any laptop and avoid the overhead of running the inverter.

    When it fails throw it away. Keep the wattage as low as you can. Use thicker wire than recommended and a catastrophic failure fuse at the battery post. 350 amps would be my choice for the fuse with wire designed for that much load.

    The owner's manual has at least one error. It suggests a 2000 watt item would represent a 100 amp load @ 12 volts. The correct answer may be around 200 amps. I hope you have a largish battery bank.

    This is not the unit I would have chosen. In my opinion you have down graded by going away from the Go Power unit. I hope I'm wrong.
  • beemerphile1 wrote:
    clhamon wrote:
    I took JC2's and purchased this one... http://www.donrowe.com/Power-Bright-PW3500-12-p/pw3500-12.htm

    Great price, free shipping, arrived in 2 days and large enough to convert the whole motor home over to the inverter. I've always heard not to use a pure sine inverter but I can't remember why or what the difference is.

    Thanks for all the input. Now to see how this one works over time!


    I think you have it backwards. Pure or true sine wave is the same as what you get from your utility company. Modified is a cheaper version that doesn't play well with some electronics.


    Oops! I stand corrected... I had it backwards. Thank you for making me look into it again.
  • clhamon wrote:
    I took JC2's and purchased this one... http://www.donrowe.com/Power-Bright-PW3500-12-p/pw3500-12.htm

    Great price, free shipping, arrived in 2 days and large enough to convert the whole motor home over to the inverter. I've always heard not to use a pure sine inverter but I can't remember why or what the difference is.

    Thanks for all the input. Now to see how this one works over time!


    I think you have it backwards. Pure or true sine wave is the same as what you get from your utility company. Modified is a cheaper version that doesn't play well with some electronics.
  • I took JC2's and purchased this one... http://www.donrowe.com/Power-Bright-PW3500-12-p/pw3500-12.htm

    Great price, free shipping, arrived in 2 days and large enough to convert the whole motor home over to the inverter. I've always heard not to use a pure sine inverter but I can't remember why or what the difference is.

    Thanks for all the input. Now to see how this one works over time!
  • I really like this one. http://www.bestconverter.com/Samlex-PST-2000-12-Pure-Sine-Inverter_p_550.html#.VszcUMdp5B8
  • Hi,

    I used a 2500 watt Cobra for five years and pushed it HARD. $199 on Ebay. I upgraded to pure sine wave (at about ten times the price). Cobra CPI 2575 2500
  • Just as an FYI.... After disconnecting and removing the inverter from it's compartment I opened it up to examine the insides. The only easily replaceable item was the cooling fan. Everything else is hard soldered. After removing the fan I could see that it was not operating properly and did not spin freely. I squirted a few drops of light oil down into the fan and spun it till it freed up. I figure this will last a few weeks at best.

    I contacted the company and was told they did not sell replacement parts but they would check their RMA items to see if they could send me a fan from a returned inverter. It's been a week and no fan and I'm worried that if it came out of an RMA item, was it returned for the same reason mine is not working. I'm not waiting on a fan that may, or may not work any better than the one I have. I will look around and purchase a larger inverter and just replace what I have. Lesson learned!
  • JC2 wrote:
    If you do end up replacing it, we got ours at http://www.donrowe.com/. Good pricing, fast shipping.


    Thanks for the info... Great prices at that link. A 3500W modified sine wave inverter for only $319. Everything else in that range has been over $2000. Wonder how they sell so cheap?