Victron Energy Phoenix 800VA 12-Volt 120V AC Pure Sine Wave Inverter advice please.

[Deleted member 23531]

I think you should just buy this sort of thing on Amazon: Inverters-R-Us is a legit retailer and sells through both their own website and Amazon. I bought the 24V 1200VA version of this same inverter from them through Amazon, with 2 day shipping. I paid $362 plus tax with free shipping. It's the same architecture as the 800VA one, I believe, (full-bridge with a gigantic toroidal transformer), they just offer it in a few different sizes. In my opinion it's very good quality, but I don't have longevity anecdotes other than "it works".

I am running a full size refrigerator, a minifridge, my modem/router/security system, and some random other things like landscaping lights and sprinkler system. It handles surges to about 1500W for the refrigerator compressor starting up; thereafter the fridge draws 155-300W. I load tested it with a 1200W heat gun and it worked well, although not stellar efficiency at that high of a load. I posted initial data in the Show-And-Tell forum and have been using it for about a week now.

If you need help setting it up, reply to this thread or message me. I just did that this week. Note that you need a VE.Direct to USB cable (or the Bluetooth one) in order to configure things like the low-voltage cutoff. If you don't need to configure that, you don't need the cable.

 

[Primal1]

Once again I'm getting a runaround about when I will get a replacement. Dates they'll ship come and go. Now they have to test the one I sent in before shipping a replacement. I hear this 3 days after the replacement was supposed to be sent same day air according to the dealer. Now my wife is riding my behind because this has stopped her refrigerator and freezer install and stopped work installing internal walls. We cant do anything until they stop the games. Its certainly my last purchase from Victron and the dealer. We upspent for quality, reliability and to avoid hassle. This has been nothing but a hassle. If I dont have confirmed tracking by Monday I'll be calling the credit card company to stop payment since the dealer ignored this request.
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[Primal1]

Replacement arrived today, its installed and started my mini fridge without issue. The Inverter gives off a sljght low frequency humm when its running but if thats as loud as it gets I have no complaints. Cant tell if its the fan or the transformer, the unit it replaced was totally quiet until the fan kicked in and the fan sounded like a low flying biplane. Either way its seems pretty awesome. Thanks for the help and recommendation.

 

[Bud Martin]

I am glad you finally get the working unit, I really like my unit a lot, thinking about getting another one for the second small system, I cannot complain about the $231 price and no tax and shipping charge. I hope yours will keep on working.

 

[Bob142]

I am glad you finally get the working unit, I really like my unit a lot, thinking about getting another one for the second small system, I cannot complain about the $231 price and no tax and shipping charge. I hope yours will keep on working.

@Bud Martin, thanks for mentioning this unit in some threads over this past year. After seeing it a few times it finally sunk in that I didn't need to pay an extra $130 for the newer VE.Direct version for features I don't care about. I just ordered from Colorado Standby and expect to have it in a couple weeks. Assuming it works as advertised I owe you some beers if we ever cross paths IRL.