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Giandel 1200 watt inverter spec

TomTilly

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Looking at the Giandel 1200 inverter, the specs have the cutoff voltage as 9.8 VDC , that would give a 4s lifepo4 battery a cell voltage of 2.45vdc . The minimum cell discharge voltage for lifepo4 is 2.5vdc ... anyone every have any problems with this situation? I suspect the 0.05vdc difference can be accounted for in the voltage drop from the cell to the guts of the inverter, but it seems like it would be nice to have a little more of a buffer. .... 2.45 is technically out of spec for the battery.
any thoughts?
 
Personally I would not discharge my lifepo4 cells lower than 3.0 volts.
2.5 volts is 100% discharged.
Once the cells hit the low knee they tend drop off really quickly and come out of balance.
Hopefully your bms will disconnect the load if any cells goes lower than its spec which is often 2.5 volts.
For my setup I am using a Victron battery protect to shut off my inverter at 12.0 volts.
 
Looking at the Giandel 1200 inverter, the specs have the cutoff voltage as 9.8 VDC , that would give a 4s lifepo4 battery a cell voltage of 2.45vdc . The minimum cell discharge voltage for lifepo4 is 2.5vdc ... anyone every have any problems with this situation? I suspect the 0.05vdc difference can be accounted for in the voltage drop from the cell to the guts of the inverter, but it seems like it would be nice to have a little more of a buffer. .... 2.45 is technically out of spec for the battery.
any thoughts?
I think if you have a BMS you can set the disconnect where you want. Many inverters use 10.5 volts, still low for my taste.
 
I think if you have a BMS you can set the disconnect where you want. Many inverters use 10.5 volts, still low for my taste.
To the best of my knowledge most commodity BMSs are not configurable.
 
I think if you have a BMS you can set the disconnect where you want. Many inverters use 10.5 volts, still low for my taste.
Yes, the bms could take care of it but I don’t really want to have to reset the bms after a low voltage cut off, the inverter is where it should happen, the bms is a SHTF last chance device.
 
Yes, the bms could take care of it but I don’t really want to have to reset the bms after a low voltage cut off, the inverter is where it should happen, the bms is a SHTF last chance device.

All your loads should have low voltage disconnect.
The better inverter/chargers have configurable low voltage disconnect.
Giandel is cheap and cheerful.
 
Yes, the bms could take care of it but I don’t really want to have to reset the bms after a low voltage cut off, the inverter is where it should happen, the bms is a SHTF last chance device.
I did not know you would need to reset a BMS after a low voltage cut off...my knowledge grows....slowly
 
I did not know you would need to reset a BMS after a low voltage cut off...my knowledge grows....slowly

I believe many can recover on their own, but a common port BMS like the common port version of the Daly BMS would not be able to recover on its own. This is acceptable if your BMS is the 'last line of defense' (and you will be onsite regularly to manually recover if there is an issue).

Yes, the bms could take care of it but I don’t really want to have to reset the bms after a low voltage cut off, the inverter is where it should happen, the bms is a SHTF last chance device.

This is a subjective statement (which I agree with in many contexts--particularly with commodity FET based BMS), but is not universally true (especially with more sophisticated or higher end BMS').
 
I believe many can recover on their own, but a common port BMS like the common port version of the Daly BMS would not be able to recover on its own. This is acceptable if your BMS is the 'last line of defense' (and you will be onsite regularly to manually recover if there is an issue).

I have a daly and it recovers once the charger hits the restore voltage.
 
I have a daly and it recovers once the charger hits the restore voltage.

Actually mine is a separate port bms.


Yours could recover on its own right? LVD would disconnect discharging, but charging would continue functioning, and then discharging would resume once the recovery voltage is reached?
 
Yours could recover on its own right? LVD would disconnect discharging, but charging would continue functioning, and then discharging would resume once the recovery voltage is reached?

I was doing both charging and discharging on the discharge port and discharge would recover when the charge brought the cells up to the recovery threshold.
 
I was doing both charging and discharging on the discharge port and discharge would recover when the charge brought the cells up to the recovery threshold.
I have the BMS being sold with the fortune Al cells that Will tested...no Brand name, kind of hard to talk about. I pick them up Friday at the post office so I don't know anything yet... But back to Giandel inverters,I was considering the 2200 watt based on Will's recommendation, cheap but durable. Planning on full time Van life...is it a poor choice? In your humble opinion?
 
I have the BMS being sold with the fortune Al cells that Will tested...no Brand name, kind of hard to talk about. I pick them up Friday at the post office so I don't know anything yet... But back to Giandel inverters,I was considering the 2200 watt based on Will's recommendation, cheap but durable. Planning on full time Van life...is it a poor choice? In your humble opinion?

Giandel is cheap and cheerful but they do work.
In my opinion you need proper low voltage disconnect at 12.0 volts.
If your BMS can do that great.
If not there are ways to do it but the inverter needs to support remote on/off.
Do you have any other loads than the inverter?
 
Does the charger have switch load output? It may be practical to use that to disconnect the AC load from the inverter with a relay. The Giandel's idle draw is 'less than an amp', so this may be an acceptable solution.
 
Other loads are 12vdc...fridge, lights, computers, phone chargers, fans, propane stove, propane heater....would a Victron battery protect be a better solution for low voltage cutoff? Really not expecting frequent big draw on inverter, TV, kitchen appliances and heat gun for wiring, soldering iron, biggest possible draw envisioned would be a table saw at 1800 watts.
 
Other loads are 12vdc...fridge, lights, computers, phone chargers, fans, propane stove, propane heater....would a Victron battery protect be a better solution for low voltage cutoff? Really not expecting frequent big draw on inverter, TV, kitchen appliances and heat gun for wiring, soldering iron, biggest possible draw envisioned would be a table saw at 1800 watts.

I would use a victron battery protect for the dc loads inline and use the battery protects remote switching and a relay to control your inverter similar to @gnubie's idea. A cursory glance at a giandel inverter on amazon indicates that it supports remote switching.
Another alternative is https://www.sterling-power-usa.com/SterlingPowerUSA-ProLatch-R.aspx
 
Giandel's remote is usually just a parallel of the front panel soft button, not easy to control from the BP as it would require some smarts to press the button the right way (covered in another thread, done with an arduino)
 
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