Inverter life expectancy.

[MrAubin]

Good 'ol Trace SW5548. Continually working non stop for 21 years.... and counting. Great old heavy low frequency sine wave inverters.

Holy crap do they still make them ?

 

[amendt]

10 minutes and it seems to be still working. MPP LVX-6048
I have an old Aero-Sharp 6k for 8 years but it started to only allow for 5k input.

 

[NPhil]

Awesome. But hey what kind of array or single panel did you have on the 20 amper, I have 1 and am ordering 4 more. But only plan on a single 405 watt panel per charge controller. I'm hoping they last like Wills 40 amp tracer he swears by.

it's a test setup of my planned 1200 watts on a minivan (there will be some folding and unfolding required), which went as high as 2S2P of NewPowa 100 Watt panels.

 

[Hebdomatical]

Trace SW2512; Used from 1997 to 2014 not a hiccup ever. Now putting it back into service.

 

[Steve777]

Old Trace SW4024, in service for 21 years, no issues.

 

[anadiner]

Schneiders can't be stacked unless you get the hybrid one which cost twice as much, Victron and Outback are more expensive per a watt they put out, lastly Magnum is American made also besides being able to be stacked 4 high.

Hey, I too think some good rep like Victron r just too pricey for me. Im big fan of AIMS.

 

[Wellbuilt]

I have a old freedom inverter charger , from 1988 in my sail boat it still is working fine
my neighbor has a 3000watt 24v outback system from 95 he has replaced the battery’s and charge controller .
I think most of the brand name equipment holds up .
The Chinese stuff is just for temporary power 4/5 years .
A lot of the stuff just dies 2 weeks after the warranty is up

 

[rhino]

Outback VFX3648, 15 years, zero issues. Even runs my 120V well pump.

 

[anadiner]

I have a old freedom inverter charger , from 1988 in my sail boat it still is working fine
my neighbor has a 3000watt 24v outback system from 95 he has replaced the battery’s and charge controller .
I think most of the brand name equipment holds up .
The Chinese stuff is just for temporary power 4/5 years .
A lot of the stuff just dies 2 weeks after the warranty is up

Think problem with solar components today is all of them, literally all, are composed of parts made in China. USA assembly and sold but not the components.

Seems everything has low quality today. Im old school = reliable like late 70s Electrolux vacuum is what we need today. (Note: those MIGHT quit if u run over 20 times with a truck. LOL)

 

[kpw]

outback vfx3524 ten years daily use no issues

 

[kpw]

would love to hear input on the longevity of the growatt all in one inverters

 

[Hedges]

4x SMA SI 6048US battery inverters, sitting as grid-backup for 18 months. Inverting time a few days. zero failures.

Had 5x GT PV inverters, SMA SWR2500U. Those ran about 17 years with 2 failures, total MTBF works out to about 35 operating years (during daylight) per failure.

Now using newer PV inverters, zero failures so not enough time to report any MTBF.


If you use AC coupling like my system, available PV adds to AC power during the day, so good for A/C and the like.

 

[OffGridICF]

Xantrex/Schneider XW6048 and 3x XW-MPPT60 installed in Dec 2011. The system ran 24-7 in a grid-interactive mode until May 2016 when we sold our house. The buyer did not want any of the PV system so we moved it all to our new off grid property and reinstalled it there. It's been our primary power system since that time so in service for 10.5 years now with no issues.

The old house originally had a Trace SW4048 that ran grid-interactive from 2001 until 2011 when it was upgraded to the XW6048. The SW4048 is in storage but it probably still works.

The place we bought had an Outback VFX3648 that I'm pretty sure was new in 2005. It's our backup system and still works fine at about 16 years old.

 

[Fusion is the future]

I thought if every owning a 12/24/36/48 Volt inverter or inverter's, could tell us which model of inverter and how long you've been using it for. Also a general daily draw would be great. This could be useful for people choosing battery inverters to have a list like this.

8 years .
outback-international-gvfx3648la

 

[BMcL]

I'm looking at two MPP LV6548's or 2 Growatt 48V 6000T 6kw.
The Growatt says it's a low frequency inverter. Anyone know if the LV6548 is too ?

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

MUST EP3000 Plus inverter (6kW Low Frequency, EU, 240V/50Hz) - been using it over a year now, including stress testing. No issues. None the less, I have a spare power and control board so if something ever pops, I just replace the boards. It's a low frequency inverter, so the main thing in the inverter is a huge copper coil, the rest are relatively simple (and serviceable) electronics, so repairing it when it breaks isn't too hard either (and yes, I checked the main components and they're all available on Mouser and the like).

 

[WalterM]

I have a old freedom inverter charger , from 1988 in my sail boat it still is working fine
my neighbor has a 3000watt 24v outback system from 95 he has replaced the battery’s and charge controller .
I think most of the brand name equipment holds up .
The Chinese stuff is just for temporary power 4/5 years .
A lot of the stuff just dies 2 weeks after the warranty is up

I just replaced my Chinese inverter after 5.5 years.

 

[Wellbuilt]

^^^^^^^^^
5.5 years ? You don’t think that is good do you ?
I’m 58 I’m sure my out back system is going to out live me . ?

 

[Sanwizard]

2 MPP LV6548's going for 7 months now. Just bought a house with a 2004 SMA SB3000 and 2008 SB6000, still running strong, and according to the previous owner, not a single issue in 17 years.

 

[WalterM]

^^^^^^^^^
5.5 years ? You don’t think that is good do you ?
I’m 58 I’m sure my out back system is going to out live me . ?

No I was just confirming what you said about Chinese stuff. On the other hand I'll bet my Morningstar charge controller will outlive me.