2000 watt inverter and can't use appliances

[happyVanderer]

I have a 2000 watt inverter and am unable to use a 700 watt microwave or a 600 watt blowdryer, even when only one appliance is plugged in. The appliance will be on for about a second and kick off. Any ideas on what I need to do to be able to use my inverter? Thanks!

 

[happyVanderer]

Also, I have 500 watts of solar and 200ah in my agm batteries...

 

[mjbeam]

Hook a voltmeter up to your batteries and monitor what voltage it is dropping to when you turn on your appliance. You may need to use a lower power appliance to do this test if your inverter is switching off after only one second. My suspicion is that your battery voltage is dropping down below what your inverter needs when you use that much power. This could be because your batteries have aged or the wires from your battery to your inverter are too long or of too small a size or a poor connection.

 

[abnorm]

Well I helped you install part of this...………..Is it as "we" left it in YARC camp ?


Your solar controller display should tell the battery voltage...……….


Cables were large and short as supplied with the inverter...……... mounted close to the battery bank...…...BIG, heavy solar controller

No additional source of charging.....solar ONLY

 

[highdesertranger]

it sounds to me that something is up with your inverter. what happens if you just turn the inverter on with no load? highdesertranger

 

[happyVanderer]

It is as we installed. When I turn on the inverter, the red fault light flashes so I'm thinking it must be indicating a problem...

 

[wayne49]

Are the appliances off when the inverter is turned on?
Those two appliances probably draw a heavier than normal startup load.
Inverters need to come up to speed, so to speak, before engaging the load.
If you have a voltage display (it sounds as if you do) watch the reading before the inverter is on, then after just the inverter is on, then when the appliance is turned on.

 

[happyVanderer]

Wayne49 I'll check it out. I didnt know that about inverters. Thank you! And to everyone else, too!

 

[pure_mahem]

Some of those Inverters are seriously over rated...literally. You may need a better quality one. An inverter with almost 3 x the load capacity should surely run that microwave. On initial draw a 700 watt Microwave may pull 1400 watts but a 2000 watt inverter should not be having an issue, unless it was over rated by the manufacturer/reseller.

 

[happyVanderer]

Pure mayhem, thanks. I am wondering about the quality of it because it charges my DVD player and some other small things.

 

[speedhighway46]

I bought a 3000 watt pure sine wave inverter off eBay a few years ago. Very short 2 gauge leads between the house batts and the inverter. When the fully charged house batts ( 3 group 31 AGM deep cycle) are switched on and the inverter is turned on and put under load, voltage is 12.6 and the inverter is not capable of delivering much more than 750-1000 watts of 120 VAC. Another example of typical Chinese junk.

Buy yourself a Hart or Xantrex inverter that actually works.

My Chinese inverter does perform flawlessly holding my back door open.

“You get what you pay for” really is good advise!

 

[Firebuild]

Hook a voltmeter up to your batteries and monitor what voltage it is dropping to when you turn on your appliance. You may need to use a lower power appliance to do this test if your inverter is switching off after only one second. My suspicion is that your battery voltage is dropping down below what your inverter needs when you use that much power. This could be because your batteries have aged or the wires from your battery to your inverter are too long or of too small a size or a poor connection.

 I second this.