Samlex PST-600-12 \ Pure Sine Wave Inverter at Amazon $168

[Vixen21]

I know that this is one of the forums favorite Inverters and it is on sale for thee lowest price ever


Samlex Solar PST-600-12 PST Series Pure Sine Wave Inverter at Amazon $168.63 Free Shiping, Lowest Price Ever According to Camelcamelcamel.com
From Amazon with Free shipping and no tax if you buy from Green Energy Direct with Fulfillment by Amazon


http://www.amazon.com/Samlex-Solar-PST-600-12-Pure-Inverter/dp/B00AYH6BSO/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1454295963&sr=1-1&keywords=Samlex+Solar+PST-600-12

Info from manufacturer
http://www.samlexamerica.com/prod...px?pid=499

[pnichols]

Almot wrote:
You can control the inverter but you won't have much control over kids and DW. One wants to do something on tablet, another one have run out of battery and needs to put it on charger,

Hmmm ... we don't travel anymore with kids, but our phones, the laptop (triples as a computer, TV, and movie player), and our iPad .... all can be charged by plugging them directly into 12V receptacles in the RV. We use a small PSW inverter only for one CPAP machine (the other one is 12V), a shaver, and a couple of toothbrushes.

[Almot]

eDUBz wrote:

Yeah I ordered samlex remote control to turn it off

You can control the inverter but you won't have much control over kids and DW. One wants to do something on tablet, another one have run out of battery and needs to put it on charger, and somebody wants to watch TV. Inverter will be On most of the day, no matter that you have a remote switch.

Paid $20 for my 175W MSW GoPower 🙂

[westend]

I have never owned the PST- series Samlex inverter posted here but have seen good reviews about it.
I do own the 600W SSW- model and it is sitting in it's original box. Two problems I had with the SSW-600 inverter: Loud fan noise, unable to handle motor draw of the published 1200W.

I replaced the Samlex with a Xantrex 1000W unit and there is no fan noise (has never come on?) and handles what I use perfectly.

[SkiSmuggs]

The Kisea is impressive at that price, but the Samlex PST-600 is on the way.

[landyacht318]

On my 800 watt coleman msw inverter with a loud 40mm fan, I ran wires to a rocker switch I could reach from bed as it had upto a 0.8 amp no load draw and I did not want to get out of bed to turn it off.

Never really needed 800 watts so that rocker switch is not connected to anything anymore, and got a 400 watt Wagan EL2601 PSW inverter that has a 0.26 parasitic no load draw. I like the small size of the Wagan, and the silent fan at under 150 watts.

It was able to sustain a 435 watt load in summertime. It's $116 on amazon right now but it varies upto 170$. I've not tested its waveform.

Never heard of Kisea until I read the above post, but had not heard of Wagan before purchase either

[ol_Bombero-JC]

Not 600W but -

Good info, price & specs comparison/s of Samlex 300w & Kisea 400w -

Clicky - Be sure to see post #11 & Kisea link...:W

~

[time2roll]

Go Power 150w and 300w have a provision for a remote. Need to supply your own simple rocker switch.

[SkiSmuggs]

smkettner wrote:
The available remote adds a lot of value.

Exactly! And the PST-600 is lowest amp model that supports a remote.

[eDUBz]

Almot wrote:

eDUBz wrote:
I'm sure we will end up using more than originally planned, nothing wrong with having more than what we need,

In theory - yes, nothing wrong as long as long as you shut it off between uses, but this can be a problem with kids. More power = more idle current when not in use.

It would be difficult to exceed 200W. All electronics and similar toys are low current. Small appliances like toaster, hair drier, vacuum or 110V power tools put you in a whole different league, and you need 1000-1500W at that point.

Yeah I ordered samlex remote control to turn it off

[Almot]

eDUBz wrote:
I'm sure we will end up using more than originally planned, nothing wrong with having more than what we need,

In theory - yes, nothing wrong as long as long as you shut it off between uses, but this can be a problem with kids. More power = more idle current when not in use.

It would be difficult to exceed 200W. All electronics and similar toys are low current. Small appliances like toaster, hair drier, vacuum or 110V power tools put you in a whole different league, and you need 1000-1500W at that point.

[time2roll]

The available remote adds a lot of value.

[pnichols]

RoyB ... thanks for your thorough explanation of how you dry camp without solar!

We do something similar camping in our small Class C. We idle the main engine and use it's alternator to dump about an hour's worth of heavy current into the 12V AGM batteries and then use a small and very quiet Honda EX650 for another few hours to bring the batteries up some more. We still have only the stock converter in the RV because that is all that's needed with fast charging AGM batteries. I intentionally chose AGM batteries that require a float voltage 13.6 volts so that we could float them and long term charge them using only the stock 13.6 volt converter. This converter is left connected to the batteries almost 24/7 while the RV is in storage between trips.

I've been saying for 6-8 years "we may add solar later" ... but keep putting it off because what we have been doing has worked so well without having to take the time and money to replace the stock converter or add roof solar.

[SkiSmuggs]

Thank! On order with the remote kit and Cobra cable kit.

[RoyB]

I have been using the AIMS Power (PWRI60012S) 600W Pure Sine Power Inverter with Cables (AMAZON) since around 2009 ($159 back then) and have had great luck with this model. It looks very similar to the Samlex Solar PST-600-12 PST Series Pure Sine Wave Inverter at Amazon (Currently $168.63) you are listing... I think AMAZON still has the AIMS model as well...

I started out with a 150W PSW Power INVERTER then went to the 300W size and finally ended up with the 600W size. Once you start adding things to the emergency power grid the more you want to add haha...

I have never considered using the MSW type Power Inverters but I read alot of folks do this and do just fine. In my case I like the idea of having Pure Sine Wave emergency power and then I don't have to worry what gets plugged into it.

My truck has a 300WATT MSW Inverter in it and when I plug in my 20-inch BOX fan to sit around a bon-fire to keep mosquitoes away from us the AC Motor starts humming pretty loud and getting hot. It will eventually burn up this motor for sure... This same fan running off the 600WATT PSW Inverter run quiet as a mouse and cool to touch just like like on Shore Power. No way would I plug in my high dollar electronics into the cheap $39 MSW Power Inverters from PEPBOYS and AUTO ZONE...

In the older days the PSW Power Inverters were pricy but this not the case anymore... Why chance it...

In my setup I just simply run two out-of-sight extension cords from the 600WATT unit which is installed very close to the battery bank, one going to the Home Entertainment area and the other one to a cabinet top near my bed area. Main use is the run all of the Home Entertainment item, WX ALERT RADIO, a couple of fans, some plug-in 120VAC chargers for laptops, and tablets, My flashlight charger, and a couple of items associated with my Ham Radio setup.

These items are usually plugged into the emergency power receptacle all the time even tho we are at Shore Power hookups...

I usually end up running around 300WATTS of these items drawing around 22-24AMPS DC from the battery banks between the hours of 6PM to 11PM when camping off the power grid. This is designed to run down my POPUP battery bank to around 50% charge state (12.0VDC) the next morning at 8AM when I am allowed to run my 2KW Generator to power up my on-board 60AMP smart Mode Converter/charger setup to recharge my battery bank back up to its 90% charge state. This takes around three hours of generator run time each morning. This is also when I hookup a couple of high wattage items directly to the generator like our Cuisinart DB-600 Grind and Brew Coffee maker that pours up into a Thermos Carafe and a couple of things the wife may want to run for cooking up things.

Been playing around with this setup since 2009 and it is all more or less second nature now camping off the power grid. We are lit up around the campgrounds just like we are at electric campgrounds...

Thinking about adding solar panels now to aid the charge of the batteries each day after we make our initial 50-55AMP Current demand when our battery bank first gets hit with 14.4VDC from the converter/charger. When the DC AMPS tapers back down to around the 6-8AMPS DC CURRENT then the solar panels can use the high sun the rest of the day to get my batteries back up to their at least their 90% charge state. I think I can easily produce around 20AMPS of DC CURRENT using three solar panels on the roof of my POPUP setup.

Have learned along time back we can't do our daily run off the batteries unless we start out with at least a 90% charge state on the batteries otherwise it gets dark on us around 10-11PM at night and we are not allowed to run the generator until 8AM the next morning... We have also learned over the years that just doing some 30 minute trickle charging from time to time is very harmful on the battery bank. I get the best performance starting out with at least a 90% charge state and running it down to its 50% charge state in one run and then charging it back up to its 90% charge right away before using it again... I think they tell me i can do 12-14 of these 50% to 90% charging cycles before I have to do a full 100% charge state run which would take over 12 hours to do with my battery setup... My battery bank was installed back in 2008 using four each 12VDC 85AH batteries in parallel and still working good... I did lose one 85AH battery in 2009 when it got over-charged and boiled out its fluids using a non-smart mode converter/charger unit. After I replaced the older converter/charger with a PD9260C converter/charger all is still working great with my three remaining 85AH Interstate batteries.

My camping off the power grid experiences...

Roy Ken