Comparison between 2500W Reliable high-frequency inverter and APC 2700W low-frequency UPSverter

[Delmar]

My beloved UPSverter worked perfectly with my golf cart 48V FLA battery set. Later added solar panels to the cart which also worked perfectly with the battery set.

Then tested the UPSverter while using the solar panels. Not so perfect. Whenever the battery climbed above 53V the UPS started blinking indicating higher than expected battery voltage. Later it would rarely pass the self-test and boot.

Since I can no longer trust the UPS replaced with a 2500W Reliable simply because it’s one of the lowest priced pure sine inverters. Cost was $257+ $21 tax and free shipping = $278 to my door. Only need for grid down so hopefully will never use it, if I were using daily I would get something more…well…reliable.

The 2500W vs 2700W capacity will make a good apples-apples comparison. Following is a size comparison with the Reliable sitting on the UPSverter. Weight reduction was 90lbs (even without batteries) vs 16 lbs. My old back greatly appreciates the lighter weight.



Repeated my fridge power test that draws only 110 watts AC which is minimal loading, however is the most critical appliance during a hurricane extended grid-down:

• APC UPSverter would draw around 4.5A @ 50V = 225W. Not efficient at all with low load.
• Reliable would draw around 2.5A @ 50V = 125W. When the fridge was disconnected the no-load amps was 0.4A = 20W. Very impressive, I almost doubled my battery runtime.

Not that it’s a concern for me, but the Reliable was dead silent with the low loading not requiring the fans. Conversely the UPSverter would start both megafans regardless of temperature or loading, and the dual huge transformers emit a 60hz hum. If you are placing an inverter inside your living space this could be an issue.

Next test…connecting the inverter to my breaker panel having bonded neutrals. I’m concerned with some Reliable inverters having a live neutral and smoking when bonded. That was the exclusive reason I initially purchased the UPS. I’ll connect to the panel before powering the inverter, and keep a fire extinguisher nearby. Wish me luck.

 

[DavidAnderman]

I use a 3000W Reliable Inverter. Or, at least I did until the Inverter died. It just stopped inverting a few days ago, so, no output.

 

[Delmar]

Update: I tested my Reliable 2500W inverter with my house breaker panel. The Reliable manual states “if the house neutral is combined with the ground, connect the black wire with it. Do not connect the inverter yellow wire (ground) with the black wire (neutral).”

For this test I made no modifications to the inverter internal ground wire. However I connected a neutral inline 5A fuse in the event of a 60V short. Wired all three leads to my home breaker panel effectively bonding the inverter neutral and grounding the case. Worked just fine, no smoke and did not blow the 5A fuse. Loaded it to around 4.5A

Disconnected the inverter from the panel and tested with nothing connected to the AC output: confirmed the floating 60V hot-ground and 60V neutral-ground.

After Hurricane Laura taking out a power plant in east Texas we had a 3-hour rolling blackout. No problems whatsoever running multiple lights, ceiling fans and my refrigerator. Loaded between 500W-1000W and the fan only ran 25% of the time with a 93F ambient. With the low loading the efficiency was around 93%, way better than my previous UPSverter. So far am very pleased with the Reliable.

 

[John Frum]

Update: I tested my Reliable 2500W inverter with my house breaker panel. The Reliable manual states “if the house neutral is combined with the ground, connect the black wire with it. Do not connect the inverter yellow wire (ground) with the black wire (neutral).”

For this test I made no modifications to the inverter internal ground wire. However I connected a neutral inline 5A fuse in the event of a 60V short. Wired all three leads to my home breaker panel effectively bonding the inverter neutral and grounding the case. Worked just fine, no smoke and did not blow the 5A fuse. Loaded it to around 4.5A

Disconnected the inverter from the panel and tested with nothing connected to the AC output: confirmed the floating 60V hot-ground and 60V neutral-ground.

After Hurricane Laura taking out a power plant in east Texas we had a 3-hour rolling blackout. No problems whatsoever running multiple lights, ceiling fans and my refrigerator. Loaded between 500W-1000W and the fan only ran 25% of the time with a 93F ambient. With the low loading the efficiency was around 93%, way better than my previous UPSverter. So far am very pleased with the Reliable.

Sounds like you had 2 neutral/ground bonds which is not cricket.
Did you try an outlet tester?
Do you have any gfci outlets, if yes did they work properly?

 

[Delmar]

Sounds like you had 2 neutral/ground bonds which is not cricket.
Did you try an outlet tester?
Do you have any gfci outlets, if yes did they work properly?

I assume the 60V live neutral was only a floating voltage, as when I bonded the neutral there was no smoke or blown 5A neutral fuse. Also I made sure the neutral was bonded before I turned the inverter on.

No reason to test the outlets since the neutral was bonded. None of the GFCI breakers in the house tripped, everything worked properly.