What to look for in an inverter/charger?

[dedmiston]

We recently bought a new fifth wheel (see sig) and now I need to research inverters. About twelve years ago we had a Xantrex Freedom 458 installed in our Toy Hauler. It was fantastic and it never gave us a bit of trouble.

It's 12 years later though. What should we consider when shopping for a new inverter/charger? How much should we be prepared to spend?

Requirements:

* I would like to have all the outlets powered from the inverter.

* It should have a good multi-stage converter charger.

* I would like to be able to run one or both TVs, DVD players, phone chargers, and a coffee maker in the morning.

* Overnight it only needs to run a CPAP and everyone's phone chargers.

* I don't care about running the microwave. We can run the generator for that.

What brands should I look at?

What are people paying nowadays to have them installed?

Thanks in advance,
Dave

[MrWizard]

1500w inverter 75amp charger



Or

Pure sine wave 1000w inverter 40 amp charge



Trip-Lite PSW 1000 combo $699 Amazon

[GordonThree]

Tripplite makes solid IT products, and they stand behind their warranty, headquarted in Chicago, a call to tech support gets you someone with the pleasant great-lakes accent.

I almost bought the TL inverter myself, before going with the Magnum, I was suckered in by Magnum's fancy bells and whistles that can be added on (AGS, BMK, etc)

[MrWizard]

Currently using a 70 amp PD with wired push button remote for the charge wizard

The boondocker quit working sent it back to mfg in Florida,(yeah I know they are built in China) under warranty two months ago
No response too email asking about status

Of course Dave's question is about inverters

I suggest Looking at the Trip-Lite brand
They have some pure sine wave inverter charger combo units
And they are built to industrial standards
The power verter 1250 we have , has been running our fridge for 5.5 years
With occasional use for the MW coffee maker and hair dryer, even the built in vacuum cleaner, I even used it to power my electric chain saw, and circular saw, just because I needed a quick cut and it was not generator hours

[christopherglen]

I run a Xantrex Freedom SW 3012. I have the main power cable go to the generators transfer switch, then a subpanel with the AC's, converter, and Electric side of the water heater. There is a pair of 30 amp brakers going to the I/C. The I/c powers the factory panel with everything else on it. 3kw running 6kw surge 150 amp charger. With the wired remote you can program it with the incoming power braker, and the charger will power share with downstream loads - turn down the charger when you are making coffee, thru it back up when you are done - automatically.
I have a 100 amp converter on the sub panel for those times when I only have 20 amp service, and need to do double conversion to keep the coffee pot, toaster, microwave, and/or hair drier happy at the same time.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I linked to the IOTA site and read their blurb. There are TWO physical states of charging and one of maintenance.

Constant voltage regulated stage. When voltage arrives at the regulation limit, it is critical for the user to have the ability to adjust the total time the battery remains at this stage. Iota says when the voltage limit is reached the charger automatically defaults to 14.2 volts -and stays there up to 8 hours-

You'd better have enough fuel and a whisper quiet generator and be ready to shackle yourself to your campsite when boondocking. 14.2 is car alternator charging voltage. Got an hourglass? Alarm clock? Patience? Tranquilizers?

If an exercise is ACTUALLY conducted on a flooded battery, it will become apparent that 2 hours of generator run-time is woefully inadequate with this algorithm. The battery will end up 70-75% charged. When battery capacity is cut to a fine edge for an overnight (like with a heater blower in operation). Imposing short rations recharge will lead to overdischarge and blackouts.
Four + hours of generator run time every day? Maybe for you but not for me. I want a battery to be 95% filled before defaulting to float value. You might get there with a full day's running of a generator. Boondocking is not a weekend stint. It is 10-days or a month or forever of being off grid.

This is like getting steered to a chow hall for $25.00 then claiming the experience is a "miracle". If you spew out "ewwwwwww" with the thought of having to touch something other than an "on" button, be prepared to fork over lots of money for he luxury.

Many people can get away with short-term smart charging because before the batteries are damaged they get reconnected to a 24 hour "smart" power pedestal. Off grid long term boondockers, get it in the shorts.

[Chris_Bryant]

dedmiston wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
Como? I use IOTA's on very isolated microwave sites and they just sit there and run. The only add-on I remember is an equalize module that plugged in, but its just logic, no current

Our 2005 Weekend Warrior came with an "IOTA Smart Charger". It had a little RJ11 modular connector with a resistor looped through it. You could remove or re-insert this connector to switch the charger between its two modes:

* Never fully charge your batteries as long as you shall live
* Boil

We were never happy with it.

You just needed the IQ4 module to plug in there- http://www.iotaengineering.com/iq.htm
Iota actually has better voltages than PD.
Leaving the module out was cost cutting by the OEM, same as PD9100 series with no pendant.

[time2roll]

dedmiston wrote:

smkettner wrote:
110 amps of IOTA is $400.

Never Iota again. Their cute little phone plug for multi-stage. No thanks.

Every post I read that has the IQ module plugged in seems to be positive on IOTA.

What is better?

[GordonThree]

dedmiston wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
Como? I use IOTA's on very isolated microwave sites and they just sit there and run. The only add-on I remember is an equalize module that plugged in, but its just logic, no current

Our 2005 Weekend Warrior came with an "IOTA Smart Charger". It had a little RJ11 modular connector with a resistor looped through it. You could remove or re-insert this connector to switch the charger between its two modes:

* Never fully charge your batteries as long as you shall live
* Boil

We were never happy with it.

Sounds like it was programmed for the wrong charge profile. Could you plug a computer into that jack as well, for programming, or are there pots to turn somewhere?

[dedmiston]

SCVJeff wrote:
Como? I use IOTA's on very isolated microwave sites and they just sit there and run. The only add-on I remember is an equalize module that plugged in, but its just logic, no current

Our 2005 Weekend Warrior came with an "IOTA Smart Charger". It had a little RJ11 modular connector with a resistor looped through it. You could remove or re-insert this connector to switch the charger between its two modes:

* Never fully charge your batteries as long as you shall live
* Boil

We were never happy with it.

[SCVJeff]

dedmiston wrote:

smkettner wrote:
110 amps of IOTA is $400.

Never Iota again. Their cute little phone plug for multi-stage. No thanks.

Como? I use IOTA's on very isolated microwave sites and they just sit there and run. The only add-on I remember is an equalize module that plugged in, but its just logic, no current

[dedmiston]

smkettner wrote:
110 amps of IOTA is $400.

Never Iota again. Their cute little phone plug for multi-stage. No thanks.

[time2roll]

110 amps of IOTA is $400.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Price

A

120 amp

Charger

[GordonThree]

2oldman wrote:

GordonThree wrote:
Air conditioning draws over 200 amps, still no heating of cables or connectors.

I used to try to run air @12v with 6 batteries/inverter. Everything was ok for maybe 1/2 hour, after that, things started heating up.

Even at 48v, I got some soldering iron heating on one crimped connection (the + at the buss). Wire too small. Replaced with bigger. NO more heating.

100 pct agree, bigger wires, bigger connectors = can't go wrong.

I used 4/0 gauge welding cable and heavy solid copper lugs instead of the more common thin folded copper kind; crimped, soldered and sealed with marine grade 3M adhesive lined heat shrink.

With my 4x 12v batteries I can run the AC for almost four hours before hitting 50 pct state of charge. I've only done it a few times when dry camping and I get overwhelmed by heat. Now with twin Yamaha, I don't need to stress my batteries like that anymore. If I need the AC, I fire up the twins and get about 6 hrs of A/C before the fuel runs out.