Inverter with low RF, EMI noise/interference ? 2000W/24V

[martan]

Hello,
Does anyone know of any quality inverter with low or non existing interference with my HAM radio equipment ? So far most of them I tested (mostly chinese made) produce a lot of noise. Looks like Samlex is one of the better ones, is there anything else on market worth looking at?
The specs I need are about 2000W continuous power, 24V, I would prefer adjustable low voltage cutoff, but that's a perk not many have, so I can deal with external relay to turn it on/off.
Thank you !

 

[Craig]

I use samlex but have you looked at magnasine or everybody here's favorite Victron

 

[Steve_S]

BTW: Samlex is not Chinese hehehe, from Taiwan.
I believe that Victron may suit your need. There are some HAMS on here but it may also be worth asking HAMS on a HAM site which re running with solar power. I never worry about RF & EMI as the powerhouse is 75' from the home and even then, I found that inside the PH, it's super low as is no noise even on a cheap AM radio which picks up everything (even the neighbours dog's electronic collar thing). psst, I use Samlex.

 

[martan]

Yeah, Samlex is Taiwan, I know I own a 12V version of 2000W. I'm thinking about getting the same in 24V, but exploring other options as well.
I think more noise than inverter I get from my Morningstar Solar MPPT60 charge controller, it's a steady every 40khz spaced noise on 40meter band and some on 80 meter. It's very pronounced on my spectrum scope. As soon as I disconnect the cables from panels to the controller, the noise is gone. So I'll have to deal with that as well.
The only thing I don't like about PST series from Samlex is the 85% max efficiency, I think they can do better than that.

 

[martan]

I use samlex but have you looked at magnasine or everybody here's favorite Victron

I'll have to check this out, thanks.

 

[martan]

I use samlex but have you looked at magnasine or everybody here's favorite Victron

Correct me please if I'm wrong, but Victron doesn't have a 2000W/24V version, do they?

 

[hagensieker]

Following. I'm a ham and have a GoWise 1000 watt inverter from Will's recommended page. It delivers power just fine but it is NOISY on HF radio with my Software Defined Radios and Short Wave Receivers. Really noisy.

John
KN4FMV

 

[JoeHam]

In the ham community I believe Genasun is considered the quietest (rf wise) For SCC but I dont think they make inverters.

I use a Reliable cheap Chinese inverter and can work even 160m fine (CW) with a KX3. However, when I used FT8 I was shocked at how much noise was on the bandscope. YMMV

 

[Steve_S]

I don't know much about the PST series, I run EVO series, a slightly different beast.
On the SCC's Hmmmm.... I use a Midnite Classic 200 and that nasty little AM radio doesn't hear anything from it.... is that a good sign ? Sorry don't have a proper EM/RFI tester. I'm sure that there are suitably quiet ones out there but I have a feeling they won't be found in a Bargain Basement or Value Line.

 

[JoeHam]

Take a look here:

Power Inverters, Any that are RFI-Quiet ?

With 12,000 watts of PV in operation, and 5 Power Inverters buzzzing away day and night, as expected I have a minimum S5 noise level on lower HF...

forums.qrz.com

You will find opinions ranging from “thats like trying to find a quiet saturn V rocket” to ”Schneider is the best”

 

[martan]

Following. I'm a ham and have a GoWise 1000 watt inverter from Will's recommended page. It delivers power just fine but it is NOISY on HF radio with my Software Defined Radios and Short Wave Receivers. Really noisy.

John
KN4FMV

I don't know much about the PST series, I run EVO series, a slightly different beast.
On the SCC's Hmmmm.... I use a Midnite Classic 200 and that nasty little AM radio doesn't hear anything from it.... is that a good sign ? Sorry don't have a proper EM/RFI tester. I'm sure that there are suitably quiet ones out there but I have a feeling they won't be found in a Bargain Basement or Value Line.

EVO has features I don't really need, so I think PST is just fine for me. But I do like the EVO, no doubt a great unit. As far SCC, I'm not looking at Value Line, believe me, I paid for my MPPT60 about $600 at the time when I bought it (about 9-10 years ago). I'm not shy about spending money for good components, they are just hard to find.
Would be interesting to see a band scope with your controller ON. Your AM radio will not tell you a lot.

 

[martan]

Take a look here:

Power Inverters, Any that are RFI-Quiet ?

With 12,000 watts of PV in operation, and 5 Power Inverters buzzzing away day and night, as expected I have a minimum S5 noise level on lower HF...

forums.qrz.com

You will find opinions ranging from “thats like trying to find a quiet saturn V rocket” to ”Schneider is the best”

Yeah, I know I'm asking A LOT, finding RF quiet equip. , Solar power "stuff" and HAM radio don't play nice together. I'll just have to do my best shielding and "choking" everything I can. Or just turn things off when I operate HAM radios.

 

[martan]

In the ham community I believe Genasun is considered the quietest (rf wise) For SCC but I dont think they make inverters.

I use a Reliable cheap Chinese inverter and can work even 160m fine (CW) with a KX3. However, when I used FT8 I was shocked at how much noise was on the bandscope. YMMV

Previously I had a VertaMax 12V/2000W "pure sine", what a junk that was. VEEERY noisy not just with RF, but the fans were so loud and turning ON so often you could not talk in the room. It stopped working after about a year and went out with a fire inside. I'm glad I was in the room and was able to put out the small fire that was starting, otherwise my whole house would burn down. Never again a cheap built inverter for me...

 

[martan]

Following. I'm a ham and have a GoWise 1000 watt inverter from Will's recommended page. It delivers power just fine but it is NOISY on HF radio with my Software Defined Radios and Short Wave Receivers. Really noisy.

John
KN4FMV

Thank you John, I might be wrong, but I think majority of those inverters in the similar price range are built about the same way, many time in same factories, they just have different colors and shapes, but the guts and performance is the same, given the specs.
I was wrong, Victron does make 24/2000, I just don't see much info that I am after. I might stick with PST 2000-24 from Samlex.

 

[svetz]

There are some inverters mentioned in this thread that are noisy: dirty electricity

 

[JoeHam]

Yeah, I know I'm asking A LOT, finding RF quiet equip. , Solar power "stuff" and HAM radio don't play nice together. I'll just have to do my best shielding and "choking" everything I can. Or just turn things off when I operate HAM radios.

I don't know if you are an ARRL member but twice in the past few years they have done a fairly exhaustive discussion on choking solar systems in QST magazine. If you aren't aware a member can log in to arrl.org and search a topic to find a BUNCH of targets to look at.

"solar" as a search gets 6870 hits. "inverter rf" gets a more manageable 134 hits.

 

[LarryC]

I don't know if you are an ARRL member but twice in the past few years they have done a fairly exhaustive discussion on choking solar systems in QST magazine. If you aren't aware a member can log in to arrl.org and search a topic to find a BUNCH of targets to look at.

"solar" as a search gets 6870 hits. "inverter rf" gets a more manageable 134 hits.

Good advise Joe!
Seams like everything made these days makes noise in RFI/EMI and all those wall-warts too!
You can spend days looking for noise that will drive you up the wall.
I had a neighbor that had an old scanner that drove me crazy from the oscillator.

 

[Picasso]

@hagensieker many of those power packs with inverters dont tie N to ground with it floating and no real ground things can get messy.

 

[martan]

Following. I'm a ham and have a GoWise 1000 watt inverter from Will's recommended page. It delivers power just fine but it is NOISY on HF radio with my Software Defined Radios and Short Wave Receivers. Really noisy.

John
KN4FMV

I just did some testing with this inverter, it is Giandel 2000/24V , it's awful , very noisy, it's going back where it came from. For people not concerned with RF noise it might be ok, but for anyone having a RF sensitive equipment at home, or any HAM radio operators, stay away from it. It's just another chinese junk wrapped in a "brand name". I have not tested performance at 2000W level or 4000W peak they claim. So far Samlex is the only inverter that I can't detect any noise with on my radio equipment. And after speaking to Samlex tech support today, they are improving PST series for RF noise even more, adding more filtered capacitors and improving RF noise for use with their RC-300 remote. Since that remote doesn't have a shielded cable, it radiates noise very bad. This will be solved within next month or so.

 

[Dlello2]

Hello,
Does anyone know of any quality inverter with low or non existing interference with my HAM radio equipment ? So far most of them I tested (mostly chinese made) produce a lot of noise. Looks like Samlex is one of the better ones, is there anything else on market worth looking at?
The specs I need are about 2000W continuous power, 24V, I would prefer adjustable low voltage cutoff, but that's a perk not many have, so I can deal with external relay to turn it on/off.
Thank you !

Can you link the Samlex 2000w you're referring to?