Are there any inverter/charges for under $500 that don't suck?

[Gazoo]

Well it's here! That was really quick. It departed Cincinnati at 10:07A.M. and arrived in Dallas at 12:30P.M. Out for delivery at 3:40P.M. and delivered at 5:33P.M. I'm impressed with DHL and the driver even took the time to knock on the door...lol Glad he found the right apartment.

Surprised they shipped it in a plywood box. I will get a couple more photos posted later today or tomorrow.

 

[Gazoo]

Here are a few more pics. The unit is well constructed and beautiful...no scratches, dents or other defects. The only thing I don't like is they use din rail terminals for the battery connections. It might be ok. More when I get it hooked up and review how well it behaves.

 

[Bud Martin]

Well it's here! That was really quick. It departed Cincinnati at 10:07A.M. and arrived in Dallas at 12:30P.M. Out for delivery at 3:40P.M. and delivered at 5:33P.M. I'm impressed with DHL and the driver even took the time to knock on the door...lol Glad he found the right apartment.

Surprised they shipped it in a plywood box. I will get a couple more photos posted later today or tomorrow.

Wow, they sure care about packaging.

 

[Bud Martin]

Here are a few more pics. The unit is well constructed and beautiful...no scratches, dents or other defects. The only thing I don't like is they use din rail terminals for the battery connections. It might be ok. More when I get it hooked up and review how well it behaves.

What is the dimension of the unit? About the same size as PC case?

 

[Gazoo]

Yeah about the same size as a PC case. L=15.5, W=8.25 and H=13. I was really impressed with the packaging. Thick foam all the way around and it was in there tight. Except on the bottom they used thick cardboard and cut squares in it to match the round feet on the bottom of the case. This would allow the unit to shift a bit and not put stress on the feet. The bottom of the unit rested on the cardboard. The units feet never touched the plywood on the bottom. The unit was enclosed in a plastic bag.

All of the Snati unboxing videos I have watched they used cardboard but the units were very well packed. It's possible they use plywood if the unit exceeds a certain weight, or maybe it's because I told Camille I love her....oh wait....that was after the unit was packaged. But she did reply with a couple roses so...... lol

Anyways, I am sure she was as frustrated as I was with some of the translation throughout the order process. That was partly my fault because I had decided on their AIO but then changed my mind when I found this design could be done with a 2K inverter. I remained cool, calm and very polite. The Chinese love that and respect will work both ways buy understanding this.

 

[Bud Martin]

Cannot wait to see the screen shots and the functinality of the unit, and also the inside construction.
BTW, so this model is basically UPS that you just have to add the batteries to it, correct?
Is there PDF for the user manual?

 

[Gazoo]

Cannot wait to see the screen shots and the functinality of the unit, and also the inside construction.
BTW, so this model is basically UPS that you just have to add the batteries to it, correct?
Is there PDF for the user manual?

Yes that is correct. It's exactly what I was looking for. I will attach a photo of the insides of the 1kw model for now and the manual The manual is zipped because it's a docx file and the forum doesn't allow uploading files with that extension. I found the photo on another website and I did notice he cut a hole in his case with the green wires running through it. I have no idea what that's about.

 

[Gazoo]

So it's taking me longer to complete my review than I had thought it would. I will say the UPS is working as advertised except it charges at 15 amps rather than 30 amps. For all I know that's what it was designed for. I haven't seen any reviews of any of the UPS's other than the 1000 watt ones. And they are supposed to charge at 10 amps. I have been going back and forth with Camille about this. It has a dumb charger. I have it set to charge to 26.8 volts but it always charges to 27.07 volts and keeps the battery held at that voltage. A little less than 3.40 volts per cell.

I had thought once the cells are charged I could turn charging off, but then the UPS draws apx. 300 ma's from the battery on grid power. So I will leave it at 3.40 volts and cycle once in awhile which I had planned to do anyways.

I am going to attach a couple of pics for now. I might go ahead and post what I have next week and do an ongoing review. The AC outlets are good for up to 10 amps. Once I hard wire a power strip to the AC output I will be able to test it out better. So far I have been able to draw 600 watts for an extended period of time and the fans have remained quiet. The fans do run all the time. The idle draw averages 14 watts.

 

[Bud Martin]

So it's taking me longer to complete my review than I had thought it would. I will say the UPS is working as advertised except it charges at 15 amps rather than 30 amps. For all I know that's what it was designed for. I haven't seen any reviews of any of the UPS's other than the 1000 watt ones. And they are supposed to charge at 10 amps. I have been going back and forth with Camille about this. It has a dumb charger. I have it set to charge to 26.8 volts but it always charges to 27.07 volts and keeps the battery held at that voltage. A little less than 3.40 volts per cell.

I had thought once the cells are charged I could turn charging off, but then the UPS draws apx. 300 ma's from the battery on grid power. So I will leave it at 3.40 volts and cycle once in awhile which I had planned to do anyways.

I am going to attach a couple of pics for now. I might go ahead and post what I have next week and do an ongoing review. The AC outlets are good for up to 10 amps. Once I hard wire a power strip to the AC output I will be able to test it out better. So far I have been able to draw 600 watts for an extended period of time and the fans have remained quiet. The fans do run all the time. The idle draw averages 14 watts.

Thanks for the follow-up.
So if the unit has AC input, the outlet is getting the power from incoming AC, not from inverter, correct? The inverter will only come on and runs from battery when the input AC is not present, correct? It is like line interactive UPS, not true online UPS.

 

[Gazoo]

Thanks for the follow-up.
So if the unit has AC input, the outlet is getting the power from incoming AC, not from inverter, correct? The inverter will only come on and runs from battery when the input AC is not present, correct? It is like line interactive UPS, not true online UPS.

You are welcome.

Yes. It does pass through the AC and the inverter remains off as far as I can tell. I have verified this by taking AC readings. When connected to the grid the voltage at the AC output is the same as the grid. When disconnected from the grid the voltage output is very close to 110 volts.

During the snow storm we had here in Texas, I did hear the relay click several times when the AC input voltage fell to 111,116, and 117 volts. This was three separate times and I started watching it when the relay started clicking. It never used power from the batteries when it did that. So I would say it's line interactive. The specs list the ac input as 85-138VAC/170-275VAC.

I will also add these are the voltages I measured between line, neutral and ground when the inverter is active.

Inverter AC Output No Load:

LN = 108.6 Volts LG = 85 Volts NG = 18 Volts

Inverter Ac Output 150 Watt Load:

LN = 109.7 LG = 62 Volts NG = 47 Volts.

I couldn't get accurate readings because the lower voltages were fluctuating while the voltage measured between the line and neutral remained stable.

 

[Skid]

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[Barbar0ssa]

I've really appreciated this thread and am getting whiplash by mentally dithering between a YIY 6kw with lcd remote from ebay with slow shipping for $850, A re-branded older Must inverter that I think is shipped from the US via Fuel Zero, and a Snadi NKM-6KW (wish I had a link or better data) for $595 USD (which is insanely cheap) and shipping for $460 by DHL which seems insanely expensive.

The Snadi is the highest risk and highest reward but the manual was awful. I am leaning towards a YIY and and Epever so at least I know the solar charging won't kill my batteries.

@Gazoo what parameters did you have them manually configure for you? They are offering for me but I am rather intimidated. I wonder if it is too much to go wrong in one poorly-configurable box...

 

[Gazoo]

what parameters did you have them manually configure for you? They are offering for me but I am rather intimidated. I wonder if it is too much to go wrong in one poorly-configurable box...

I didn't. Everything I know about mine is posted in my review.