Looking for the quietest inverter/charger

[offgridjimmy]

Hi folks, new to the forum and not very tech savvy. What is the quietest inverter/charger that is at least 4000 watts for our little offgrid cabin where the electrical room is close to where we are living please?

Love our current system: Magnum 4024SAE, Schneider 60 amp charge controller, 4 12 volt 206 ah SOK batteries, and 2.5 kWh of panels. Our Magnum has just blown 2 circuits, so their tech support said before they shut down and there is no more tech support, so we can't charge the inverter on cloudy days with our old Honda 5000 genny. Not good. The installer on our little island wants us to go to a 48 volt system and get the EG4 6000xp because it is all in one. We can also get a new MPP Solar LV 6048 Inverter/Charger for such a deal of 800 Canadian bucks, but I see on the forum it might sound like a jet.

We are happy to stay at 24 volts for the inverter because it gives us options if one of the batteries goes bad.

Any advice would be very much appreciated. Many thanks!!

 

[chrisski]

If you're not installing this yourself, I recommend going with what the installer recommends and is familiar. IMO, not a good idea for an installer to learn new equipment on your dime.
--------
The Victron MPPTs I use up to at least the 100/50 are 24 volts and passive cooled so very quiet. I use that in the shade up to 115 F and it does not derate.

I have a Victron 1200 VA inverter, much smaller than you're asking the fan is whisper quiet. My other inverters are or were not quiet: Outback Radian, Smalaex 2000 watt PST; Samalex 3000 watt PST.

Morningtstar makes a passive cooled inverter up to 2500 watts that should be quiet. You'd be the first to buy and try that. Underneath your 4000 watt limit, but if quiet is important, two may do you well. These are not capable of grid tie and are not capable of being put in parallel, so would need to be two totally seperate curcuits.

 

[robbob2112]

If you are paying an installer they will likely want to use what they are familiar with and will refuse to use anything your buy... they make a good profit on equipment markup.

That said if you want to DIY this it isn't that complicated to remove one inverter/charger and install one that has similar capabilities. It will take learning on your part and a willingness to fiddle. We can help with that and tell you how to do things safely and to code. But, make no mistake- the voltage and current can be dangerous or deadly if you don't understand what you are doing.

If your old inverter put out reports you can see see the power you actually use. If not you should start with an energy audit and a few basic tools like a clamp meter that reads DC voltage. Then youtube videos until you are confident you can safely read AC and DC voltages and current.

 

[Madcodger]

The installer on our little island wants us to go to a 48 volt system and get the EG4 6000xp because it is all in one.

We are totally off grid and have two PV systems in two separate buildings (and I had another small, off grid system in a previous property we owned). The bottom line if you are worried about noise is to avoid ANY system that isn't passively cooled when charging. For our house, I have three EG4 6000XPs and love them, BUT they are located in a dedicated mechanical room specifically designed with noise suppression, because if they weren't located there, it would be unbearable. On a sunny day they sound like a small jet engine, and the same happens under a decent load (which doesn't happen often, and it's not quite as loud). If you are worried about noise, ANY inverter that includes a charger with active cooling (an "All In One", or AIO) is a bad idea. Fans are noisy!

My second system is similar to the small system I had at our previous property because the equipment sits in a small closet just off the "living" area (the building is used as my office). There, I rely on passively-cooled (no fan) Victron MPPT charge controller. It makes no noise at all, so you can be a few feet away on a sunny day and you hear nothing. And if you find you need more charging capacity than a single passively-cooled controller can handle, just split the panels into another string and install another controller. That system also has a small (2 KVA) Victron inverter that will make a little bit of fan noise when under a decent load (perhaps over 500 watts, but I've never measured it), but that doesn't happen often in the office. So, most of the time I hear nothing from it.

The most important factor when it comes to quiet is passively-cooled charging.

We are happy to stay at 24 volts for the inverter because it gives us options if one of the batteries goes bad.

If you have 12V batteries in series (to make 24V or 48v) and one goes bad, you cannot operate your 48V inverter on the remaining batteries. So, keep that in mind during your planning. Your inverter will direct the voltage of your system. I went with 24V for the system in that previous property out of economy, but 48V in the more recent build. Both were fine, but 48V is all I would build in the future.

If you already have the batteries and cabling for a 24V system and it worked for you before, I see nothing wrong with it for a while. But if you need to replace the batteries I'd go with 48V in large part to keep the cabling smaller. I would not wish to have batteries in series if I could avoid it, so making 24V or 48V from multiple 12V batteries (i.e., in series) is not a path I would pursue long term as it's hard to keep batteries in series balanced with each other. It might be fine for a while if you are trying to use existing batteries until they are worn out, but at some point that would be a change I would make if I were you.

Good luck with your system!

 

[offgridjimmy]

If you're not installing this yourself, I recommend going with what the installer recommends and is familiar. IMO, not a good idea for an installer to learn new equipment on your dime.
--------
The Victron MPPTs I use up to at least the 100/50 are 24 volts and passive cooled so very quiet. I use that in the shade up to 115 F and it does not derate.

I have a Victron 1200 VA inverter, much smaller than you're asking the fan is whisper quiet. My other inverters are or were not quiet: Outback Radian, Smalaex 2000 watt PST; Samalex 3000 watt PST.

Morningtstar makes a passive cooled inverter up to 2500 watts that should be quiet. You'd be the first to buy and try that. Underneath your 4000 watt limit, but if quiet is important, two may do you well. These are not capable of grid tie and are not capable of being put in parallel, so would need to be two totally seperate curcuits.

Many thanks!!

 

[offgridjimmy]

We are totally off grid and have two PV systems in two separate buildings (and I had another small, off grid system in a previous property we owned). The bottom line if you are worried about noise is to avoid ANY system that isn't passively cooled when charging. For our house, I have three EG4 6000XPs and love them, BUT they are located in a dedicated mechanical room specifically designed with noise suppression, because if they weren't located there, it would be unbearable. On a sunny day they sound like a small jet engine, and the same happens under a decent load (which doesn't happen often, and it's not quite as loud). If you are worried about noise, ANY inverter that includes a charger with active cooling (an "All In One", or AIO) is a bad idea. Fans are noisy!

My second system is similar to the small system I had at our previous property because the equipment sits in a small closet just off the "living" area (the building is used as my office). There, I rely on passively-cooled (no fan) Victron MPPT charge controller. It makes no noise at all, so you can be a few feet away on a sunny day and you hear nothing. And if you find you need more charging capacity than a single passively-cooled controller can handle, just split the panels into another string and install another controller. That system also has a small (2 KVA) Victron inverter that will make a little bit of fan noise when under a decent load (perhaps over 500 watts, but I've never measured it), but that doesn't happen often in the office. So, most of the time I hear nothing from it.

The most important factor when it comes to quiet is passively-cooled charging.

If you have 12V batteries in series (to make 24V or 48v) and one goes bad, you cannot operate your 48V inverter on the remaining batteries. So, keep that in mind during your planning. Your inverter will direct the voltage of your system. I went with 24V for the system in that previous property out of economy, but 48V in the more recent build. Both were fine, but 48V is all I would build in the future.

If you already have the batteries and cabling for a 24V system and it worked for you before, I see nothing wrong with it for a while. But if you need to replace the batteries I'd go with 48V in large part to keep the cabling smaller. I would not wish to have batteries in series if I could avoid it, so making 24V or 48V from multiple 12V batteries (i.e., in series) is not a path I would pursue long term as it's hard to keep batteries in series balanced with each other. It might be fine for a while if you are trying to use existing batteries until they are worn out, but at some point that would be a change I would make if I were you.

Good luck with your system!

Many thanks!!

 

[offgridjimmy]

We are totally off grid and have two PV systems in two separate buildings (and I had another small, off grid system in a previous property we owned). The bottom line if you are worried about noise is to avoid ANY system that isn't passively cooled when charging. For our house, I have three EG4 6000XPs and love them, BUT they are located in a dedicated mechanical room specifically designed with noise suppression, because if they weren't located there, it would be unbearable. On a sunny day they sound like a small jet engine, and the same happens under a decent load (which doesn't happen often, and it's not quite as loud). If you are worried about noise, ANY inverter that includes a charger with active cooling (an "All In One", or AIO) is a bad idea. Fans are noisy!

My second system is similar to the small system I had at our previous property because the equipment sits in a small closet just off the "living" area (the building is used as my office). There, I rely on passively-cooled (no fan) Victron MPPT charge controller. It makes no noise at all, so you can be a few feet away on a sunny day and you hear nothing. And if you find you need more charging capacity than a single passively-cooled controller can handle, just split the panels into another string and install another controller. That system also has a small (2 KVA) Victron inverter that will make a little bit of fan noise when under a decent load (perhaps over 500 watts, but I've never measured it), but that doesn't happen often in the office. So, most of the time I hear nothing from it.

The most important factor when it comes to quiet is passively-cooled charging.

If you have 12V batteries in series (to make 24V or 48v) and one goes bad, you cannot operate your 48V inverter on the remaining batteries. So, keep that in mind during your planning. Your inverter will direct the voltage of your system. I went with 24V for the system in that previous property out of economy, but 48V in the more recent build. Both were fine, but 48V is all I would build in the future.

If you already have the batteries and cabling for a 24V system and it worked for you before, I see nothing wrong with it for a while. But if you need to replace the batteries I'd go with 48V in large part to keep the cabling smaller. I would not wish to have batteries in series if I could avoid it, so making 24V or 48V from multiple 12V batteries (i.e., in series) is not a path I would pursue long term as it's hard to keep batteries in series balanced with each other. It might be fine for a while if you are trying to use existing batteries until they are worn out, but at some point that would be a change I would make if I were you.

Good luck with your system!

Many thanks!!

 

[offgridjimmy]

If you are paying an installer they will likely want to use what they are familiar with and will refuse to use anything your buy... they make a good profit on equipment markup.

That said if you want to DIY this it isn't that complicated to remove one inverter/charger and install one that has similar capabilities. It will take learning on your part and a willingness to fiddle. We can help with that and tell you how to do things safely and to code. But, make no mistake- the voltage and current can be dangerous or deadly if you don't understand what you are doing.

If your old inverter put out reports you can see see the power you actually use. If not you should start with an energy audit and a few basic tools like a clamp meter that reads DC voltage. Then youtube videos until you are confident you can safely read AC and DC voltages and current.

 

[offgridjimmy]

Thanks, I'm an old guy. lol. I need an installer!! And that is where the problem lies.

 

[Madcodger]

Thanks, I'm an old guy. lol. I need an installer!! And that is where the problem lies.

In what state is your little island located?

 

[seneysolar]

Personally id get another magnum while you still can. Swap ot out yourself.

If your generator is old loud and makes dirty power, time to upgrade the generator because if it doesn't work with a magnum it wont work with anything. Magnums are very tolerant to gen input. 6000xp.... not a chance!

You can omit the generator input on the magnum and use a stand alone charger directly to your batteries. Then you dont need to worry about what kind of power the generator makes.

Iota or Powermax make 24v chargers in the 40-50amp range.

 

[offgridjimmy]

If you're not installing this yourself, I recommend going with what the installer recommends and is familiar. IMO, not a good idea for an installer to learn new equipment on your dime.
--------
The Victron MPPTs I use up to at least the 100/50 are 24 volts and passive cooled so very quiet. I use that in the shade up to 115 F and it does not derate.

I have a Victron 1200 VA inverter, much smaller than you're asking the fan is whisper quiet. My other inverters are or were not quiet: Outback Radian, Smalaex 2000 watt PST; Samalex 3000 watt PST.

Morningtstar makes a passive cooled inverter up to 2500 watts that should be quiet. You'd be the first to buy and try that. Underneath your 4000 watt limit, but if quiet is important, two may do you well. These are not capable of grid tie and are not capable of being put in parallel, so would need to be two totally seperate curcuits.

Thank you very much!!

 

[offgridjimmy]

Personally id get another magnum while you still can. Swap ot out yourself.

If your generator is old loud and makes dirty power, time to upgrade the generator because if it doesn't work with a magnum it wont work with anything. Magnums are very tolerant to gen input. 6000xp.... not a chance!

You can omit the generator input on the magnum and use a stand alone charger directly to your batteries. Then you dont need to worry about what kind of power the generator makes.

Iota or Powermax make 24v chargers in the 40-50amp range.

Forgive me, how does a stand alone charger work? Does it plug into the generator and then into the cabin system. How can I charge the batteries by hoking the Iota or the Powermax into the cabin system when I don't have enough juice in the batteries? Many thanks for any more info!!!

 

[offgridjimmy]

In what state is your little island located?

I'm in Canada. On Savary Island. An off grid island off the coast of British Columbia.

 

[offgridjimmy]

Personally id get another magnum while you still can. Swap ot out yourself.

If your generator is old loud and makes dirty power, time to upgrade the generator because if it doesn't work with a magnum it wont work with anything. Magnums are very tolerant to gen input. 6000xp.... not a chance!

You can omit the generator input on the magnum and use a stand alone charger directly to your batteries. Then you dont need to worry about what kind of power the generator makes.

Iota or Powermax make 24v chargers in the 40-50amp range.

Ya, maybe I should just try to get a second hand Magnum!! I understand about the 6000xp. The installer on island doesn't want to install it with my old generator.

 

[seneysolar]

Forgive me, how does a stand alone charger work? Does it plug into the generator and then into the cabin system. How can I charge the batteries by hoking the Iota or the Powermax into the cabin system when I don't have enough juice in the batteries? Many thanks for any more info!!!

The charger just goes directly to the batteries. If your system uses a battery monitor it will need to be on the inverter side of the shunt. Otherwise the batteries dont care how they get charged.