Quality Pure Sine Inverters 300-600 Watts

[Mike3]

I'm in the market for a good inverter to go with a new solar setup on my truck camper. Plan on installing three 100 watt panels to keep my two Trojan 6 volts charged. I was leaning towards a Morningstar 300 but I recently saw a Go Power 600 on Amazon for about $100 more. Is that a good brand?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Kudos to the gent who thinks of other RV'ers = Electric leaf blower instead of 2 cycle...

When I was north getting my wrist glued back together the Saturday mornings went like this...

0735

brap, brap, brap, BRAP

ding, ding, ding, ding....

BRRRRAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Rose me vertical out of bed like an impacted tooth.

I wiped away tears of frustration and homesickness...

[ken_white]

landyacht318 wrote:
I have a Wagan elite PSW 400 watt. Nice and small and quiet. Fan does not become audible until the 175 to 200 watt range. Standby current of around 0.3 to 0.04 amps.

Came with ciggy plug and a 100 watt warning on that, or 8awg alligator clips for the full 400 watts.

I wouldn't trust a ciggy plug/ receptacle to carry 100 watts for long. They are poor connections prone to heating and voltage drop which just gets worse with age.

I use a 400W Wagan Elite too as a portable and it works very well.

I was so impressed with the little unit, I went with the 1000W Elite Pro for a permanent install in my camper and it is a nice addition

[Desertboy]

Thank you.

[time2roll]

Desertboy wrote:
(Beauty of 300w is you can use existing main battery connection. No pulling wire.)

Can you go in to a little more detail on that Sir? You have me curious.

Most RVs have #8 or #6 wire from the battery which is plenty for the 30 amps max the inverter will draw. So you can tap on the main battery feed to get 12v power. Then with a small transfer switch connect the 120v power to the circuit of choice. So no pulling 120v wire from the battery compartment to the place of use. Yes you still need to wire it up, just no pulling through walls or compartments.

[landyacht318]

I have a Wagan elite PSW 400 watt. Nice and small and quiet. Fan does not become audible until the 175 to 200 watt range. Standby current of around 0.3 to 0.04 amps.

Came with ciggy plug and a 100 watt warning on that, or 8awg alligator clips for the full 400 watts.

I wouldn't trust a ciggy plug/ receptacle to carry 100 watts for long. They are poor connections prone to heating and voltage drop which just gets worse with age.

[Desertboy]

smkettner wrote:
I have a 300w and 2000w GoPower sine wave inverter and recommend them often.
Morningstar is also highly regarded.

Beauty of 300w is you can use existing main battery connection. No pulling wire.

(Beauty of 300w is you can use existing main battery connection. No pulling wire.)

Can you go in to a little more detail on that Sir? You have me curious.

[Ron3rd]

Mike@Asheville wrote:
Thanks guys, I'm going to stay with the Morningstar 300. I like the fact it has no fan so it will be quieter and 300 w is all I need for TV, charging phone/ipad, etc. I'll still carry my Honda 2000 if I need coffee maker, MW and higher watt stuff.

Excellent choice.

[Ron3rd]

Sandia Man wrote:
Both Morningstar and Go Power have good followings, we chose to go with a 300 watt Samlex and it has performed well, it is used to power our flatscreen, HD sat and receiver, DVD and Bose system.

I learned you get what you pay for with inverters. Do your homework before you buy and you’ll discover why some are much more expensive than the cheapies. The cheapest have a noisy fan that runs ALL THE TIME. The better ones have a quiet thermo-controlled fan that only comes on when necessary. Go with a PSW (Pure Sine Wave) inverter for cleanest power as “some” electronics, TVs, etc, don’t play nice with the cheaper Modified Sine Wave (MSW) inverters. Samlex, Go Power, Morningstar, etc ,are all good brands.

I went with the PST-300 from Samlex for about $150 from bestconverters.com. Samlex makes a cheaper 300 watt inverter (around $100) that does not have the thermo controlled fan, ie, it runs all the time, and is noisier. I read some bad reviews about this model on Amazon and opted for the PST series which is heavier duty and has a quiet thermo controlled fan. The best is probably the Morningstar which does not use a fan at all but runs about $300 for the 300 watt version.

[msiminoff]

Mike@Asheville wrote:
I was leaning towards a Morningstar 300… Is that a good brand?

MorningStar FTW ! !

[crcr]

Mike@Asheville wrote:
Thanks guys, I'm going to stay with the Morningstar 300. I like the fact it has no fan so it will be quieter and 300 w is all I need for TV, charging phone/ipad, etc. I'll still carry my Honda 2000 if I need coffee maker, MW and higher watt stuff.

I have the Morningstar 300, and am very happy with it. I'm not sure about the other units mentioned, but you hardwire the output on the Morningstar, not just plug into it, which is my preference. It as a low at rest draw, you can hook any switch to it to turn it off and on using very thin gauge wire, and it has surge capability to 600w, which will handle the surge at startup of my small laser printer. All in all, great unit.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

7.5 a X 120 v / 0.9 X 1.25 = 1250 watts to reliably run the leaf blower. You *might* get by with 1000 watts if the battery bank is brim full.

[2oldman]

SkiSmuggs wrote:
7.5 amp motor is all I could find about it online. What size inverter would that require?

Watts= volts x amps.

[SkiSmuggs]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

I don't think you will find a leaf blower that will run on a 600 watt inverter.

SkiSmuggs wrote:
TV, DVD player and leaf blower are all I would need it for.

7.5 amp motor is all I could find about it online. What size inverter would that require?
Edit: 7.5 * 120 = 900. I think I got it, thanks.

[otrfun]

For $150 (Amazon) the Power Bright APS600-12 PSW inverter is worth a look. Only has a parasitic draw of .25 amps with no load (measured with my clamp-on). The fan is not obnoxious and only turns on under medium to high load. Is rated at 600 watts/5 amps; but, I've successfully powered inductive loads up to 6 amps (drill, vacuum, etc.) with it.