Renogy vs Sungold Power 3000w inverter-charger

[eric_h]

Hi,
I searched through the forums and couldn't get the answer I was looking for.
I saw a few recommendations for the sungold power inverter, but yet to figure out if the huge price difference (in Canada) between the Renogy 3000w PSW Inverter Charger and the Sungold Power 3000w PDW Inverter Charger that costs 367$ (467$ CAD) more is actually worth it.

On paper, the seem to be very similar.

I'd love your input!

Thank you.

 

[Cabinfever]

Hi,
I searched through the forums and couldn't get the answer I was looking for.
I saw a few recommendations for the sungold power inverter, but yet to figure out if the huge price difference (in Canada) between the Renogy 3000w PSW Inverter Charger and the Sungold Power 3000w PDW Inverter Charger that costs 367$ (467$ CAD) more is actually worth it.

On paper, the seem to be very similar.

I'd love your input!

Thank you.

Wondering if you ever purchased the Renogy ?

 

[eric_h]

Wondering if you ever purchased the Renogy ?

Yes, and it works very well, actually.
I'm not happy about not being able to connect a monitor or Bluetooth and having to raise the bed cover to see the status, but it functions well. And if you turn off the beeps, it's mostly quiet on that sense (some beeps you can't get rid of, such when you turn it on...).

It's a bit of a hassle to program, but I guess most of them are.

The ATS works seamlessly, it charges my batteries without a problem and allows me to get as much power as I need.
I was able to use power tools, cut wood (to install it...) and drill holes on 110v from battery with no shore power around without a problem.

One thing- the fans are a bit loud, and when charging they might come on every few minutes for 15 seconds, but I put it under the bed, with some vent holes I installed on the side of the box and it's not that bad. I got used to it very l quickly.

Hope this helps!

Eric

 

[Cabinfever]

Yes, and it works very well, actually.
I'm not happy about not being able to connect a monitor or Bluetooth and having to raise the bed cover to see the status, but it functions well. And if you turn off the beeps, it's mostly quiet on that sense (some beeps you can't get rid of, such when you turn it on...).

It's a bit of a hassle to program, but I guess most of them are.

The ATS works seamlessly, it charges my batteries without a problem and allows me to get as much power as I need.
I was able to use power tools, cut wood (to install it...) and drill holes on 110v from battery with no shore power around without a problem.

One thing- the fans are a bit loud, and when charging they might come on every few minutes for 15 seconds, but I put it under the bed, with some vent holes I installed on the side of the box and it's not that bad. I got used to it very l quickly.

Hope this helps!

Eric

Thanks for the reply much appreciated. Thinking I will go this route over an MPP.

 

[eric_h]

Thanks for the reply much appreciated. Thinking I will go this route over an MPP.

MPP is good if you have limited space, if you have a good location to install it, if 1000w is enough for you, if you don't want to go through the installation process (and that could be a long and tiring process).
Yes, I paid more, and I worked much more, but I got so much more. Cost-efficiency wise I prefer the separate parts over the integrated solutions, also because I want to be able to replace the various parts without having to replace the entire costly system.

 

[FrankSquid]

How is the charger working on the Renogy? Are you using LifePo4 batteries? The reason I ask is that my Sungold 3000 is only charging to 13.7v and should be charging to 14.2-14.6v

 

[eric_h]

I have the Renogy 3000w inverter charger over three Renogy Lipo batteries, 100ah each.
At first, it was not charging beyond 82%, or 13.1v, but after I reset all of the batteries it started working very well. I suspect the batteries BMSes going into an unknown state, probably over-voltage for to the charger. I used the control cable to turn them into "storage mode" and back again into "active mode:.
I also changed the charging voltage to 14.2v instead of the default 14.4v. So far, all seems well now.

Which batteries do you have?

 

[FrankSquid]

I'm using (2)Zooms 200ah plus batteries with a 200amp BMS. I was thinking about getting a 60amp 14.6v dedicated AC charger and tying it into my buss bars. I have to research that a little but from what I've read it's OK to do. This should give me 150 amps of bulk charging until the Sungold kicks off at 13.7v then the dedicated charger will do the absorption charging to 14.6v. Interesting about resetting the batteries, I need to look into that. Thank you for responding.

Edited to add; I have two more 200ah batteries on the way.

 

[eric_h]

I'm using (2)Zooms 200ah plus batteries with a 200amp BMS. I was thinking about getting a 60amp 14.6v dedicated AC charger and tying it into my buss bars. I have to research that a little but from what I've read it's OK to do. This should give me 150 amps of bulk charging until the Sungold kicks off at 13.7v then the dedicated charger will do the absorption charging to 14.6v. Interesting about resetting the batteries, I need to look into that. Thank you for responding.

I think it would better to research why the SGP is behaving the way it does, before buying an extra charger, as this is an odd behavior.
It should be charging to at least 14.2v. Did you try their customer service?
It must be a wrong setting. I know it was easy to make one in the Renogy.
I would also try to factory default the SGP and reconfiguring, to make sure it is set correctly.
Good luck!

 

[FrankSquid]

I think it would better to research why the SGP is behaving the way it does, before buying an extra charger, as this is an odd behavior.
It should be charging to at least 14.2v. Did you try their customer service?
It must be a wrong setting. I know it was easy to make one in the Renogy.
I would also try to factory default the SGP and reconfiguring, to make sure it is set correctly.
Good luck!

Sungolds inverter chargers only charge to 14v in lithium mode as per their documentation. That would almost be acceptable but then there’s a calibration error in their software that is off .2-.3 volts. So when it tops out at 13.9 is really 13.6v based on my testers and Renogy shunt. Ive sent a half dozen emails to Sungold about this and they say that a .2 error or software limitation as they call it is acceptable. They are telling me to use the SLA profile but I’m not going to risk the health of my batteries. So basically I’m on my own with the problem at this point. I’m glad you went the Renogy route.

 

[eric_h]

Sungolds inverter chargers only charge to 14v in lithium mode as per their documentation. That would almost be acceptable but then there’s a calibration error in their software that is off .2-.3 volts. So when it tops out at 13.9 is really 13.6v based on my testers and Renogy shunt. Ive sent a half dozen emails to Sungold about this and they say that a .2 error or software limitation as they call it is acceptable. They are telling me to use the SLA profile but I’m not going to risk the health of my batteries. So basically I’m on my own with the problem at this point. I’m glad you went the Renogy route.

Do you possibly have a custom profile, like I have in the Renogy, to set your own threshold?
It would mean some work to define everything correctly, but you might just be able to get things working thec way you want them to.
Sorry to hear about these problems that you're experiencing. This is concerning.

 

[FrankSquid]

Do you possibly have a custom profile, like I have in the Renogy, to set your own threshold?
It would mean some work to define everything correctly, but you might just be able to get things working thec way you want them to.
Sorry to hear about these problems that you're experiencing. This is concerning.

There are 9 preset charging settings based
on battery type, no user defined settings. I'm amazed that these Sungold power LFP series inverters don't even charge to LifePo4 specs and that NOBODY has even mentioned this. We see a lot of these inverters on YouTube, split phase or 110v from 1000-6000 watts and no mention that it doesn't charge to manufactures specs for LifePo4 batteries? (14.4v +\-.2v) Otherwise the inverter works good. Not a hiccup with the ATS and clean power but I wish I got the Renogy unit because of the charging section.

 

[Lasalinagry]

LiFep04 specs are all over the place. Some of the 48-volt batteries charge at 57.6 and some charge at 50.4 depending on the battery and configuration used. Sungold only gives one charging rate for lithium that is not user friendly, I think it better to go with a separate charger rather than depend on the fixed charge by the inverter.

 

[SupraSPL]

Fwiw when I installed a few of these recently the DC reading was accurate and they were charging the LiFePO4 up to 14V, which is perfect for what I needed, mostly unsupervised with just enough to get a little top balance time without pushing the limits of perfection for balancing (3.65v x 4= 14.6).

You could use an AGM setting if you wanted a few extra tenths and it has a low float. It can be a bummer when you get a device that's off by a tenth or more though.