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Replacement 2000w inverter/charger for all AGM-battery Sportsmobile - recommendations?

Thorne

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Jan 4, 2021
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It looks like the old Tripp-Lite mrv2012u inverter / charger in my 2011 Sportsmobile Sprinter 2500 is failing, and I'm looking for a 12v replacement. The two new house batteries are 105 Ah AGMs in parallel, the chassis battery is of unknown age but also a AGM, solar is two rooftop panels to an old Zamp charge controller that works fine, and I just installed a Victron 712 Battery Monitor.

The exact replacement from Tripp-Lite is around $800 and doesn't seem to be sine wave, plus seems to be older tech. I'd consider something newer with sine wave from Tripp-Lite, but am attracted by the Victron MultiPlus either 2000 or 3000w for $1200-1300. Not sure if my existing Victron 712 would work better with the Victron inverter/charger or not. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AD2MJSK/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=AOB8BJ7E6EJXR&th=1

Van is all-electric but we don't use the electric stovetop -- so the main 110 appliance is the 6-gallon water heater, which the Victron 712 tells me pulls 1800 at startup and then drops. So most of our power usage is 12v, with cooking and heating via portable propane, and I'm guessing that staying with a 2000w inverter would be fine.

Any other recommendations? Would like to keep the cost below $1500, nicer to be under $1000. Thanks!
 

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I can't recommend the Victron hardware enough. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone being unhappy with their Multiplus.

The BMV won't work any better with it, but if you ever want more integration, a GX device can have them sharing info to some degree. The magic happens when you add a smart solar and have a complete ecosystem.
 
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I can't recommend the Victron hardware enough. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone being unhappy with their Multiplus.

The BMV won't work any better with it, but if you ever want more integration, a GX device can have them sharing info to some degree. The magic happens when you add a smart solar and have a complete ecosystem.
Can you recommend a Victron solar charge controller that would play nice with the MultiPlus? I've only got the two original 2011 solar panels which may be 100w, hard to say. The old Zamp solar controller seems to be working well and I do like the LED volts or watts readout, but would consider replacing it if I'd get improved functionality with a Victron unit.
 
for 2 panels a smartsolar 75/15 model is probably good enough, get their smart sense its also blue tooth and will relay temp info to the charge controller as well as tell you the battery voltage. By going to mppt you will most likely see more production out of your system.
 
In addition to the above, if you plan to add panels in the future, it wouldn't hurt to go larger.
 
Yes I'd go for a 30 amp unit to replace the existing old 30 amp Zamp controller. Here's photo of the current setup, old Zamp solar and old Tripp-Lite 2000w inverter/charger head/remote unit, plus the new Victron 712 battery monitor.
 

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Any of there smartsolar mppt charge controllers will play nice with their other equipment, same app for all of them+ built in bluetooth.
the bluesolar designation means it doesnt have bluetooth but with those you can buy external adapters.

i run the blue solar, in my experience their seperate dongle has more range, can have the dongles higher up on the rv is probably why (depends on your specific application)
 
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