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Hey folks. I'm shopping for high powered inverters. I was looking at the AIMS 24V 6000W inverter/charger, which apparently is marine grade (manufacturer claims) but was wondering if people had recommendations for other brands? AIMS seems to have poor customer support.
I was on hold on the phone when I saw your message, hence my answer was typed one-handed and quite brief: "Xantrex is a popular brand, as is Victron."
Now I'm off "hold" and am updating the post.
I have a 5000W Victron Quattro inverter/charger, they also manufacture pure chargers and pure inverters. This is my second boat with a Victron system and I believe that they are cutting-edge and one of best brands for boats. See Victron Inverters/Chargers for more information.
I've currently got a 3000W Xantrex inverter for backup purposes (which means it was already installed when I ordered the boat and couldn't be removed) and have been using that on and off with no problems at all. Xantrex inverters can be found at Xantrex inverters
I don't need much 110v ac power. My Xantrex is 1000w Mostly used for charging some batteries and a few chorded hand power tools... and occasional sump pump to empty a filled dink. Stopped watching TV... use a NUC and monitor run at 19v DC using a buck transformer. No micro waver, toaster, dishwasher, coffee maker.
I don't know about the original poster's requirements, but I have an electric galley and have heavy-duty consumers like a Nespresso coffee machine and a dive compressor. So I wouldn't questions the OP's 6kW requirement. My 5kW inverter is good enough for me, since the Victron will combine sources to temporarily go above the 5kW when firing up the dive compressor.
Victron Quattro inverters seems to be the current fad in today's market. I am running a Magnum Energy MS2812(3kw) inverter/charger. Works fine with no issues and is a pure sine inverter.
Not sure what your running, but i have no judgement on power requirements. We all choose to live life differently, and I even can't accept not having some things - and my wife and I lived out of a 1996 4Runner for nearly 10months traveling around - with FAR less than what we have now.
Ditto. We love it. Substantially better charge profiling too, especially with a shunt and advanced remote, if the OP is interested in the charger features.
I've been using a 3k square wave inverter for about 8 years now and have run everything from our microwave to motored tools and pumps with no apparent problems. I've even run DVD player/TV's off it. I don't see the value in sine wave inverters these days for all that extra money. It seems almost anything one plugs into household current has a power supply of it's own to regulate what power it operates on.
Your experience with non-sine wave inverters is different than ours. We almost had a fire from a computer charging transformer burning up using a quality one. Thought that was a one-off until we had it again with the replacement. Then noticed that many of our charging bricks were running very hot under the inverter, but not from shore power.
Square wave inverters are terribly noisy on rf, so can cause considerable radio interference. They are inefficient, since they don't use the full cycle. This is important if you want to use them for higher loads. Many things with digital controls won't operate off them.
There are many reasons to use a pure sine wave inverter on a boat. There aren't many still selling marine inverter/chargers that aren't sine wave. Xantrex is one of the few. The cost is ~35% more comparing Xantrex square wave to sine wave offerings. However, Xantrex is crap that will cost you more in the long run, so once one moves into quality gear, sine wave is about it.
I've heard good things about AIMS, but have no experience. There is more to being "marine" than just coated circuit boards or whatever they say. Transfer switches have to disconnect ground properly, among other things. Otherwise, they should not be permanently wired into the boat AC system.
Just to loop back, I ended up going with a Victron 3KVA unit, mostly because I can stack them, and they have modern software, have well specified network protocols, and all their equipment works well together. I ditched AIMS because of reported poor after-market support. I also considered the Magnum hybrid inverters, but decided against since Magnum's software seems to be stuck in the past.
So far very happy with the Victron, and I became a fan of their product line in general.
I'm interested. Other than sine vs square, what does the software have to do with inverting? I understand various charging software differences, between units.
It's easy to program different charge profiles and it plays well with various networking protocols to, for instance, make it talk to my battery BMS over CAN. It also combines well with all the other products in their lineup, all showing up in the VenusOS (which you can run anywhere), and in turn can be rebroadcasted over other protocols like Signal K or NMEA networks. They also provide good info to do all sort of integrations or hacks should you wish to, on their forums and when I contacted them by mail.
The network availability of data is interesting. I have a remote panel at the nav station and never felt I needed more access to inverter/charger data, but I understand.
The rest is as I expected. You're talking about charging profiles, not inverter. An inverter, as the thread is titled, does not inherently come with a charger. Still, I find the Magnum to have been night and day improvement from my old Xantrex. The Magnum has multiple options for charge profiles and allows for multiple inputs. I particularly like that I can move from Absorb to Float based upon charge amp acceptance. My old Xantrex was just guessing.
The major advantage the Magnum had for us was virtual plug and play replacement of the Xantrex, after adding a shunt. Even the remote panel had the exact same screw holes and cut out.
Have the victron. Gets its juice from the high output alt or the northern lights. The dc and ac that comes out is perfect. Worth the bucks. Can handle wet cells, firefly, Li or agm without issue. Interface with the Phillipi and other devices is no issue.
Is there an advantage to the charging capacity of such a large unit?
I have never been on a boat with anything other than a small localized inverter. With a unit that big do you wire the AC outlets throughout the boat to the inverter?
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