Inverter question: Do I have to get another 200 watt inverter or can I go bigger?
1795784
Wow, did I call it junk? I mean, it's not the worlds greatest inverter, and if only used a few minutes at a time for small loads, it would be ok. But going bigger means you are going to run some serious equipment, and most likely expensive stuff too. Xantrex has recently come out with a line of inexpensive sinewave inverters to compete with what china is producing in their sunforce line. These are in the $289-300 price range. Personally I'd take the Xantrex first over the sunforce because it WILL deliver 1000W, while the sunforce shuts down just below 1000W and does not have any surge capacity like the xantrex does. I reviewed 3 inverters, 2 xantrex (the grey one is the one i'm thinking of), a yellow one, and one sunforce inverter (black) - all specified to be 1000W. The GREY xantrex offers the most bang for the buck and is not overrated like the sunforce is. The yellow xantrex has a nice powerdown mode called power save that minimizes the inefficiencies of having an inverter - it turns on every couple seconds, looks for any load, then goes to sleep for 2 seconds. As a result the neon lights on power strips blink because they are below the threshold to put it in run mode, but as soon as you really need power it enters run mode. Just beware that these larger inverters come at a price - idle current - the DC power wasted when no AC power is needed. Yellow (expensive) xantrex has the lowest idle with power save, but you can also just turn off the grey unit when you don't need power. The sunforce has a cute keyfob on/off controller - its range is limited but it does work. It's just not able to do 1000W and nowhere near the surge rating on the inverter. I kept that model anyways for the remote control feature. My personal experience says go with the $289 grey xantrex I reviewed. It's got clean power and just don't run it 24x7 (don't run ANY inverter 24x7 - 1.5 A x 24 = 36 AH, which is almost the daily production of the 60W panels! If you leave the inverter running you won't have any room for running devices.)
2130365
You need either that kit or an equivalent, as the inverter does not come with connection equipment. The kit includes the cables and a (very necessary for safety) fuse. If you are replacing an existing inverter and already have cables, then the kit would not be necessary (unless this is a much larger unit and your cables are not properly sized). for 12V 3000W you will need 0000 cable size.
1947253
From my experience I have a 500 watt sun gridtie inverter and a 600 watt sun gridtie inverter with 4 250 watt grape solar panels connected in parallel everything is good runs warm but I keep a small fan on them I would say no more than 500 watts on that 600 watt inverter.
851444
No you cannot use this inverter. This inverter is not to be used for anything intended to produce heat ie kettle. Do not use for anything above 200 watts
638773
You can use extension cords from the 120 vac end of the inverter. It is recommended that you use less than a 100 foot cord, preferably 50 feet.
277879
How many amps does your compressor pull? It may be too many for such a small inverter.
937540
As long as you have a large enough battery bank feeding it there should be no problem. I have a series-parallel battery bank with 12 batteries with a 1,400 amp capacity & my inverter never misses a beat.
462130
need 20 amps . Not sure on inverter . And you need a heavy.duty extension if you use one.
1506279
The inverter should handle the start up spike just fine and the normal pumping will not be a problem. You might end up being a bit lean on your energy production with just one solar panel, depending on your energy draw.
2228489
I would use 6 gauge stranded copper wire as you don't want any more than 3% voltage drop. If operating at the high end of the 600 watt, 4 gauge would even be better. You're actually better off positioning the inverter closer to the battery source and running an extension cord from the inverter to the usage area.
1794618
NOT SURE ,, BUT ITS SOUND LIKE you have the right amount connected.. to you inverters. i think they are faulty inverters truly i think they are not ment to last a long long time.. i may be wrong.. because i have the same inverter and its still working bin 3 month.. will have to see how long they last..
2154616
I don't know. I don't have such an inverter. I seriously doubt that the battery would produce many watts for very long anyway.
375513
That's a great battery for an inverter, but I wouldn't go any larger on the inverter with that size battery. Just watch your usage and time so that you don't run the battery all the way down.
864560
The inverter requires a 12v source it does not have a rechargeable battery in it. You could bring along a 12v battery and use that as a power source, but pulling 1200 watts from a battery is 100 amps, so it would drain a smaller sized battery in minutes if not less.
99344
Need more info. Do you have the unit connected to anything else before you hook it up to the battery. If not, you most likely have a short somewhere, in other words, a bad unit. Send it back for a replacement and maybe even think about going up to the next larger size inverter for your needs. Better to have too much than not enough.
313387
For a battery of this size, I'd not go over 240 watt inverter. Actually, you can use any inverter (I got a 400 watt unit that came with a lighter plug as well as other wires), but I'd not connect up a load greater than that ~240 watts. I have at least 2 reasons. First, the lighter outlet that you'll likely want to use is for sure intended for under 20 amps (and maybe fused for only 10 amps). Secondly, the battery is likely rated "18 amp-hour" hinting it can give you 18 amps for 1 hour, or 9 amps for 2 hours, etc. For something needing just 1 amp at 120V the inverter will pull 10 amps at 12V from the battery making it last under 2 hours (or under 1 hour for 2 amps at 120V). I recommend against pulling power faster than it's rating (~20 amps) since I've seen statements in manuals like "Don't crank a car for even 5 seconds because the battery will overheat internally" and I think you're pushing your luck to expect more than that continuously.
1839260
The grid tie hooks directly to solar panels, you do not want to go through a charge controller nor do you want to hook to a battery bank. Using this small inverter I am assuming you have a twelve volt system, make sure you do not exceed the 250 wattage or you will fry the inverter For a little more money you can get a 500 or 600 watt inverter, I have 6 600 watt inverters that have been working great for over a year. I have 3 185 watt panels for a total of 545 watts on each 600 watt inverter, It is best to stay a little under what the inverter can handle