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Hello All, Got a question. What's the difference between the 1500 watt inverters on Amazon and Ebay for 150 dollars and the inverters on Defender? Made for the marine environment? Thanks, Kevin
Technically there is no difference, marine inverters might be a little bit better for the marine enviroment. Modified sine wave inverters are not true sine wave inverters. Many devices will work with these devices but some devices might need sine waves specially the ones with electric motors.
I used modified sine wave inverters for my mains charger of the laptop. Normally it should be OK because the charger changes the voltage and the current to what the computer demands. there was no problem with charging but when I move the mouse from right to left the cursor was moving from left to right, a lot interferance. I am no longer using modified sine wave inverter or power inverter, which are the same thing, any more. Prefer the 12 to 19v converters for charging and use electricty directly from the marina only. Sine wave inverters are the way to go but they are really expensive.
Some may have better RF suppression than others. Noise on the AC line or transmitted from the units can interfere with things like FM radio reception or cause your laptop to misbehave like the touch pad no longer working and having to use a wired mouse. Might depend on the installation too.
I found that some devices, like laser printers, will not work even on a pure sine wave inverter. Not sure how much practical advantage there is. My non-marine pure sine wave inverter emits a LOT of Rf interference which necessitates turning it off to use the SSB to download Wfax images. It's very possible that the marine units are better shielded against Rf leakage that interferes with radios. Would like to hear if others can leave the inverter on while using computer interface to SSB/Pactor.
Have two, a magnum modified SW for most stuff aboard, and a smaller victron pure SW for electronics. Main inverter is noisy, causing interference with SSB. Victron great, no noticable EFI at all. Not many inverters have low to no EFI.
For serious, trouble-free work you want a pure sine wave inverter. The best ones will be expensive and heavy...because the parts that make them good are both. There's no way around it.
I use a GoPower 300 Watt presently. It is absolutely silent on the SSB. The laptop makes more RF noise.
It will definitely power any device. It's output is far cleaner than any land-side utility power. Except since many products, like cheese-ball printers, have power supplies that have ridiculous power factors. So you may need a 300 Watt inverter to power a "100 Watt" device.
Good info. I was just thinking of an ice machine, maybe a fan. Don't have a SSB, don't need a printer. Not sure why I wanted one. Seems like everyone has one. Ice machine would be nice. Thanks, Kevin
The one I purchased has a modified sine wave and the only problem I have is a small fan that doesn't run quite as fast. Everything else works great, and no RF interference at all with the VHF or SSB, or TV.
What kind is that Gary? I will have to change mine because the SSB interference is terrible. As I mentioned above, I have to turn the darned thing off to get anything but snow when downloading Wfax images.
One major difference between the Victron, Magnum, etc. inverters is that they are just built better. We have a standing joke - friends don't let friends buy Xantrex. They are expensive, heavy, and are the brands that show up on just about every megayacht. Of course you can purchase several crappy inverters for the price of one Victron - so when they burn out you just replace them.
Smurf, here's the one I purchased. The main reason I purchased it was for running my wife's C-pap machine and the boat's microwave oven. Now, the microwave oven does interfere with the SSB radio, but the inverter alone had no noticeable effect on either the SSB, VHF or TV.
Smurf, here's the one I purchased. The main reason I purchased it was for running my wife's C-pap machine and the boat's microwave oven. Now, the microwave oven does interfere with the SSB radio, but the inverter alone had no noticeable effect on either the SSB, VHF or TV.
Thanks Gary. Think I'm going to have to change mine. It's only 600 watts so that 1500w would give me more power if needed. A small microwave would be nice. Another thing I discovered puts out a lot of Rf interference are the l.e.d. bulbs I put in all my 12v light fixtures.
We currently operate a 3.5 kw modified sine wave inverter and we can run almost anything we choose without problems on it.
Microwave, coffee machine, toaster oven, any kitchen appliance, and of course the shop vac, etc. All electric tools do fine. I've never tried a 110 vac fan, as all ours are 12vdc, even the 10" box fans.
My refrigeration and watermaker would run off it if I wanted to (not together) and even the ship's air conditioning, but some things are better left for generator time.
The only things that I find will not operate at all on a modified sine wave inverter are some personal electronics chargers, like for a phone or camera batteries.
I'm very happy with my relatively inexpensive, modified sine wave inverter.
My big modified sine wave inverter (buffered square wave) ran everything I asked of it ,even the convection microwave. But she burned the hard wired fire alarms and the controls for a fancy floor heater left in the wrong onboard plug.
Most cpap and Bipap 's actually run on 12 V so are a lot more efficient and no fan of inverter. Done it both ways but the 12v line to cigarrett type supply ($45) or make your own] was a good move for me.
The Cobra Invertors are pretty good and reasonable! I initially purchased one of the Cobra 400's on sale on Amazon. It had enough to run a spare laptop I had running OpenCPN. It also had a small USB charger for a cell phone charge but I had not tried charging both. I needed to find a larger one and started searching EBay for reconditioned one with a warranty and return and during the search somehow EBay had some special overstock store and found a brand new xantrex 1500 for like 50% off. Then, you had to find the additional cables and fuses to hook it up. I would say overall the Cobras are a really good deal.
I was going to do the same but I has had done some spring cleaning and thrown out the old battery jumper cables. Who would have thought I would have needed them! That is how it always seems to go though....soon as you throw it out....you need it....they would have been perfect as you know! Those Cobra invertors are great! They have a pretty good warranty too!
I do not have AC on board. There is a heavy duty fuse and the xantrex 1500 directions for the particular model I have said to go directly to the battery terminals. The xantrex has its own on/off and everything is powered by a renogy 100 watt solar panel with a 30 amp charge controller. It said something about going direct to the battery because of the voltage drop part and the cable had to be max/min length so it could handle something like a microwave or one of those little portable coolers. I do have to be sure to turn the xantrex 1500 on and off.
And if something were to fail inside the unit, as does happen, you're going to need to pull the fuse to shut it down. Many cheap inverters don't even offer a remote on/off switch so this can mean tearing the boat apart each time you need to turn the inverter on/off. A battery switch is just a much faster way to interrupt the 12V supply, in an emergency, and makes for a well executed installation.
I replace 6-10 remote inverter panels or On/Off remote switches per year. With no battery switch the quiescent loads kill your bank and it winds up costing a lot more than a $30.00 battery switch.........
I think we might have miscommunication here...I have this: battery (+/-) > heavy duty suggested cable (+/-) > negative to negative to negative inverter connect (negative line)> positive to heavy duty suggested fuse inside fuse line holder (a big black fuse about the size of a half dollar) then out from the fuse to the positive inverter connect(positive line). Then, on the unit itself there is a on/off. I do have the standard battery switch but it is too small to connect the cables within it. The wire gauge is too large to fit inside and making the wire gauge smaller or reducing its diameter will create too much heat within the small diameter wires. Did that make sense?
Ideally the inverter gets its own battery switch not the ships battery switch... When you do this even a simple Blue Sea m-Series (mini series) ON/OFF battery switch can handle 4/0 wire with ease. I regularly wire m-Series switches with 2/0 and larger and they are designed for 300A continuous current...
Realistically, if you intend to install an inverter and already have shore AC, you need to install a transfer switch as well. In fact, I would think it insane not to do so. The transfer switch allows you to utilize your shoreside AC breaker system in the boat, and safely transfer the shore power input to the inverter input to the breaker box. Now, like any transfer switch system, including those used for emergency generators in homes, the main breaker(s) should be turned off prior to transferring the power sources (shoreside/inverter). This eliminates arching of the transfer switch and surge load changes in power when being transferred. I was able to find a transfer switch on Ebay for just $10, but most of them sell for much more. You really don't need anything all that heavy, just something that can handle about 30 amps will usually suffice.
Again PLEASE do not wire this type of inverter into your on-board AC system. Best practice is to keep it separate.
How are you going to handle the neutral/ground bond issue.....???? If you don't understand the point I am making please keep these AC systems separate. Even if you do keep them separate they still do not meet marine criteria for neutral / ground bond while operating but it is still safer than the entire system not conforming...
I have yet to step onto a vessel with a properly wired "portable" inverter that was tied into a boats on-board AC system and I am on hundreds of vessels per year..
If you want to tie an inverter into an AC system buy a marine inverter with its own marine specific transfer switch that properly handles the neutral ground bonding issue.
When I wired Thane for AC I used a 4 conductor line .(tec)The 2500 w inverter/charger input had its own breaker and the output ran on the blue and red wires to split duplex boxes ,Painted 1/2 red. Only I was allowed to plug into red without permission.Left to itself, plugged in was automatic and all plugs were hot and charger was on .Unplugged only reds were hot off the inverter. Micro wave/ convection was hot all the time as all the reds and outlet on the dash. Worked well.
We use a Outback Sealed FX2012MT (60Hz) Inverter/Charger. It is a "true sine wave" type. It has been in service for about 3 years and has behaved flawlessly. It provides up to 17 amps of 120 with about 92% efficiency. We can run our A/C off battery for about 8 hrs. We have had no issues of incompatibility but we still turn it off when using the SSB. All electrical devices will have some effect on signal, seen or unseen.
The only thing I have not tried to run off the inverter is my AC/heat-pump, which draws about 8 amps, well within the operating specs of the inverter. Might have to give that a shot tomorrow.
No AC or heat pump for me It was 97 degrees at the boat today with 100+ heat index. Let me know how it works I think mine can handle an ac but unsure about only 1 battery
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