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Recommend a pure sine wave inverter for 12v marine usage

alansmith

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Jan 2, 2020
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I am shocked at Victron prices. I am putting together a system for my boat. Lifepo4 400amp/hr 12v or 24 volt system. Need an inverter that is pure sine wave. Would like protection software on it. Preferably 1200-1500 watt with some surge capabilities. Would be nice if had usb ports on it. I saw the Victron Phoenix 12 volt 1200 watt for about 400 dollars. The next jump up is the beast at 1200 dollars. I have a 30 foot trimaran that I keep in San Carlos Mexico and sail the Sea of Cortez. It is remote and i want everything shipshape after rewiring. I watch almost all of Will's blogs. Fabulous stuff. I have rebuilt 2 houses from top to bottom....so can get by. If it ain't broken i can still find a way to make a mess of it. Smile

What can you fellas recommend that won't break the bank?
 
Just been through same thought process as you, I've ordered a Giandel - seemed to be a OK brand, but no personal experience yet.
 
Allan, have a look at Samlex, there is a link for info in my signature.
A Low Frequency Pure Sinewave inverter is always going to be more expensive than a High Frequency one and will weigh considerably more due to the coils but it handles everything better & is far more robust and won't pop a mosfet if something goes amiss leaving you in a lurch. Sea Going, reliability & dependability goes in hand with common sense.
 
Allan, have a look at Samlex, there is a link for info in my signature.
A Low Frequency Pure Sinewave inverter is always going to be more expensive than a High Frequency one and will weigh considerably more due to the coils but it handles everything better & is far more robust and won't pop a mosfet if something goes amiss leaving you in a lurch. Sea Going, reliability & dependability goes in hand with common sense.
I'll add this little tid-bit of info to my selection criteria. Is there an easy way to determine what frequency an inverter uses? I've looked at a few inverter sites and I see no mention of frequency or the internal workings (coil vs MOSFET). As you mentioned weight is certainly a good indicator as a copper wound coil will weight significantly more than a MOSFET chip but not 100% conclusive. It seems that the surge load parameters is also a good indicator (high surge loads for a few seconds for low frequency coils vs lesser surge loads for less than a second for high frequency MOSFET) but again it's just words that might not be true.
 
There are pretty much no fully low frequency inverters anymore. Even the ones that use big chunky transformers as their output stage use PWM on the low voltage side of the transformer. Frequencies range around 20kHz to 50kHz. Using transistors in their linear mode to amplify a sine wave and drive the transformer is just far to inefficient and produces very large amounts of heat.

Weight vs watts output is a pretty good indicator of the inverter being a 'low frequency' design. HF direct done properly will have a decent choke on the output but nowhere near the mass of the output transformer in a what is usually refered to as a low frequency design. Some low frequency designs even have a beefy choke on the PWM output of the transistors before being fed to the output transformer. They weigh even more.
 
Allan, have a look at Samlex, there is a link for info in my signature.
A Low Frequency Pure Sinewave inverter is always going to be more expensive than a High Frequency one and will weigh considerably more due to the coils but it handles everything better & is far more robust and won't pop a mosfet if something goes amiss leaving you in a lurch. Sea Going, reliability & dependability goes in hand with common sense.
Sounds great, just like the Victron, and about the same price, so what am I missing?
 
I have used the “reliable” brand from Amazon, also listed under WZRELB.

Others have found them less than reliable but I’ve had no problems in the 3 years I’ve had mine. I use a 48v 3kw model.
 
Easiest way to know if inverter is LF or HF is the surge watts description.
If surge is 2 to 3 times rated watts, for 15 or more seconds, it is LF, if the surge is about 2x rated watts, for only a few nanoseconds, it is HF...
 
Sorry to dig up this thread, but I wanted to confirm just because it hasn't been stated explicitly yet: are the Victron Multiplus inverters a low-frequency type? I want to assume that's the case since they're considered top-tier, but looking at the spec sheet, surge wattage is only double continuous, and duration isn't specified. I also don't see unit weight. Thanks, I'm sure this has been answered somewhere, but sifting through a few pages of forum search results hasn't yielded a clear yes/no.
 
Sorry to dig up this thread, but I wanted to confirm just because it hasn't been stated explicitly yet: are the Victron Multiplus inverters a low-frequency type? I want to assume that's the case since they're considered top-tier, but looking at the spec sheet, surge wattage is only double continuous, and duration isn't specified. I also don't see unit weight. Thanks, I'm sure this has been answered somewhere, but sifting through a few pages of forum search results hasn't yielded a clear yes/no.

I don't believe they are true low frequency inverters, but I'm not sure.

This video of a teardown and explanation of how the multiplus operates probably contains an answer or at least enough clues to reasonably infer an answer, but I'm not watching the whole video to find out.
 
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I am shocked at Victron prices. I am putting together a system for my boat. Lifepo4 400amp/hr 12v or 24 volt system. Need an inverter that is pure sine wave. Would like protection software on it. Preferably 1200-1500 watt with some surge capabilities. Would be nice if had usb ports on it. I saw the Victron Phoenix 12 volt 1200 watt for about 400 dollars. The next jump up is the beast at 1200 dollars. I have a 30 foot trimaran that I keep in San Carlos Mexico and sail the Sea of Cortez. It is remote and i want everything shipshape after rewiring. I watch almost all of Will's blogs. Fabulous stuff. I have rebuilt 2 houses from top to bottom....so can get by. If it ain't broken i can still find a way to make a mess of it. Smile

What can you fellas recommend that won't break the bank?
Promariner 1000 watt or 2000 watt pure sine. The 1000 runs my microwave and most of the led lights on my 40 ft sailboat. Has built in 30 amp transfer switch and conformal coated boards.
 
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