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Question about a 600 watt pure sign inverter

Johndobbs

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Dec 9, 2019
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Hopefully I posted this in the right place.
I'm looking at a pure sign inverter 400 w minimum for an expensive radio control lipo charger.
I am looking at one on Amazon I believe this is a brand will approves of not completely sure.
Just wanted to see if the following link if the link is allowed is good for this charger I'd hate to do damage to a nice lipo charger.
The charger is 120 volts at 3 amps which is about 360 w maximum.

Basically the question is is the following pure sign inverter in the Amazon link a quality one.


I am also looking at a Victron Phoenix 500va pure sine wave inverter


Thank you
 
You may want to read the thread below and hopefully what ever inverter you choose will not have same problem.

I like Victron inverter, it uses HF hybridge with massive power transformer not like HF (High Frequency) inverter that can only handle surge in milliseconds.
500VA is about 400W.
I have Victron 1200VA/1000W non -VE direct, it is built like a tank.
 
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I would go with the Victron..

600 watts for only $109 seems a bit cheap.

Personally, if I was looking for a good 12 volt inverter that I could abuse, I'd get on craigslist and find a used Sensata Dimensions N series inverter..

At just 600 or 800 watts, they weigh around 15 to 20 lbs.. that's because of the big honking LF transformer inside..

They pop up on craigslist all the time.. I see about one a month and no one wants to buy them because they're usually scratched up and dirty looking.. But they're a damn fine heavy duty inverter.. the kind of thing Ambulances and Power company trucks use.. heavy duty stuff.

Last one I saw was 3600 watts for $400.. but I've seen the 800 watt units going for $150 used.

Here's an 800 for sale in Ohio(?) I believe..
 
Something to consider. Presumably you plan to use some DC batteries (or other DC source) to power an inverter which will convert that DC power into AC power (at a loss). You will then plug in your fancy LiPo charger which will in turn convert that AC power back into DC power (at a further loss) to charge the DC LiPo batteries.

Surely there must be a way to charge LiPo batteries from a DC source directly without the energy cost of DC -> AC -> DC and the cost of buying an inverter.
 
Presumably you plan to use some DC batteries (or other DC source) to power an inverter which will convert that DC power into AC power (at a loss). You will then plug in your fancy LiPo charger which will in turn convert that AC power back into DC power (at a further loss) to charge the DC LiPo batteries.
An example of how much loss;
I do what OP wants to do, backwards. I have an AC to DC power supply, that feeds a DC/DC charger for my batteries.

I loose about 15% from the initial AC to DC (and I use a very high quality switching mode power supply), then another 15% or so when turning 12.1v into 14v for charging LiFePO4's. That's ~30% of my total power wasted.

In my situation, it's wasteful of mains power, which is plentiful, so not really a huge issue. For your case, you (OP) are starting with a limited source (your battery). You also have 3 conversions (DC to AC, AC to DC, and DC to DC again) so you could loose anywhere from 20-50%

A single DC to DC charger would be ideal for your needs, unless of course you would like a PSW inverter for other uses.
 
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