Good cheap-ish inverter? I've always used xantrex but wondering about alternatives

[wrybread]

I'm looking for a 1000-ish watt 12v inverter for a friend's installation. I've always used Xantrex inverters, but I havnt looked for alternatives in probably 5 years and guessing a lot has changed.

The most complicated thing he's planning to use it for is a TV, which I *think* is 400 watts max. Open to other info on that too since i havnt measured it directly. Other than that just the occasional light power tool and things like charging laptops via ac.

Not sure if we need pure sine wave or not.

 

[TorC]

Unless you have to go real cheap, I wouldn't get a modified sine wave. Pure sine isn't that expensive these days. Probably the first place I'd look is Samlex PST or Evo (latter is inverter/charger, and priced accordingly.) I think they're still less expensive than Xantrex, and they're RFI quiet. I was just getting an inverter (chose a bit smaller), and rejected all the other ones priced lower (even from Samlex) for lacking FCC 15B declaration.

 

[A.Justice]

I have a Xantrex and a Giandel, the Giandel is much cheaper, and performs just as well.

 

[wrybread]

I have a Xantrex and a Giandel, the Giandel is much cheaper, and performs just as well.

Thanks for that! Reading about Giandel, there's some great reviews.

I can't decide between the 1200 watt and the 2000 watt. I gather the standby load of the 2000 watt is 6 or 7 watts, which is about double the standby load of the 1200 watt.

I guess it is nice to have a bit of extra power in the inverter, but I don't think the person I'm buying this for will ever need more than 700 watts or so.

Which models have you used? Any thoughts by chance? Any idea if the 1200w and 2000w are both built just as well?

 

[Chris Walker]

I've been caught out by supposed "idle" "no draw loads" on Victron and Selectronics. The typical lowest no load is 8-10W for 1500W, but with the "search" blip every second, can go lower. Victron is 15W for 2400W. The Victron search blip is so large, that it triggers the inverter to run, if set less than 60W. Not really an achievement. In Australia, we have Latronics, which is expensive and old school, but works to spec.

 

[Bud Martin]

I bought a couple of these EATON 1000W 12V PSW from EBAY to run my washing machine and small stuff in my garage, so far so good.

Eaton Cooper BussMann 12V 1000W PSW inverter 12-110-1000 New Old stock for $115

I found this unit on Ebay for $115, so I bought two, one for me and one as a present for my friend. It is New Old stock, the two I bought are made on July 7, 2015. The unit looks well built, seems to be made by Xantrex which was acquired by Eaton (Eaton acquired Cooper Bussmann), these units are...

diysolarforum.com

 

[A.Justice]

Thanks for that! Reading about Giandel, there's some great reviews.

I can't decide between the 1200 watt and the 2000 watt. I gather the standby load of the 2000 watt is 6 or 7 watts, which is about double the standby load of the 1200 watt.

I guess it is nice to have a bit of extra power in the inverter, but I don't think the person I'm buying this for will ever need more than 700 watts or so.

Which models have you used? Any thoughts by chance? Any idea if the 1200w and 2000w are both built just as well?

I have the 2200w, I'm not sure about the 1200, but I imagine it's a similar build quality.