Inverter recommendations? 48V and sine wave, no grid tie

spinningmagnets

spinningmagnets

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Dec 8, 2017
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I have seen youtubes about Aims and Samlex as popular companies, but don't know if they are shills. I'm not looking for a tight budget recommendation, and I'm willing to pay for reliability.

One youtube indicated that I would need a 1500W continuous rated inverter (2500W temporary peak?) to run a full-sized home refrigerator by itself. If I add a TV and a couple lights (when power is temporarily out), I might need 2000W for a single inverter.


I am also considering two 1500W inverters (one for fridge, one for TV and computers).The inverter will not be for the whole house for extended periods, only power outages, and...only for the fridge, TV, laptop computer, and phone chargers.I'm open to all suggestions...
 
Victron Phoenix or Multiplus.
Happy with mine :)

Running a fridge, unless the fridge motor is specifically inverter controlled (not the above inverter) you'll need to up spec it to ensure starts are OK.
 
For the laptop and the phone chargers I would just use a direct DC supply and buck or boost as necessary.

Can't really comment much on the inverter. However I would consider a good quality inverter, often they have a decent surge rating, and will defiantly handle it repetitively.
 
When I started out, I went with "Reliable" pure sine wave - one the cheapest. I did 24v@2000w and 48v@3000 watt and both were OK for low stress loads like refrigerator (about 250watts for full size one) and TV and computers and lights. First one failed when I tried to ground it to the house ground. The other (48v@3000w) blew up when I tried to run a 12,000 BTU air conditioner. I still have a 24v@1500 watt one I use in my DIY Yeti. Now days I went up a notch (but still on cheaper side) to AIMS - you can see the blue AIMS in my member picture to the left. Only 4-6 months with each of these - so long term use is not yet clear. :)
 
Thank you all for the great replies! I will continue my research, but you have provided some extra names to look into.
 
I've got 15 years on an outback VFX3048 - not a spot of bother with it. Runs welders, compressors, charges my chevy volt, had 3.9kW on it last night, didn't complain once.
 
Keep a close eye on the standby &/or idle power use numbers as you can loose a lot of power from this.
Some inverters have much better numbers there.
 
PS, don't know if you realize, this inverter is a high frequency unit without an iron core transformer, meaning it won't have much surge capability, eg starting a fridge, etc
 
Thanks redpacket. I hadn't heard that before, and it is very useful info for me, and also for future readers...
 
Have a look at the Specs of your fridge. My samsung Beast only draws 950W on start and runs at 150W while cooling and it's a massive fridge and freezer
 
And for some devices a soft start can be installed. This can help with needing a larger inverter to handle surges
 
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