250 Wattt Invertor

[Rabbit]

Can anyone suggest a really good, reliable brand of 250 Watt inverter? This isn't for van life-- I'm using some extra left-over solar panels on my home base so they don't just sit around doing nothing. This inverter will have to run 24/7 in my application, so I'm willing to spend on a good, safe one. As bulletproof as possible, in fact.

Thanks!

 

[John61CT]

Magnum is the best, Vanner, Victron, MasterVolt, Sterling, Outback, ProMariner but pricey. Samlex and Tripplite solid middle ground.

Xantrex is good but terrible CS attitude.

 

[jimindenver]

Morningstar 300 watt Pure sine wave

 

[Rabbit]

Thank you very much!

 

[tx2sturgis]

Just a side note on Samlex:

The PST series are a higher quality then the SSW series....

I have one of each.

The SSW seem to be mostly plastic and run the fan more, where the PST series are all metal and run the fan only when needed. 

I would avoid the SSW models (had I known) but the PST series are good quality.

 

[Rabbit]

Just a side note on Samlex:

The PST series are a higher quality then the SSW series....

I have one of each.

The SSW seem to be mostly plastic and run the fan more, where the PST series are all metal and run the fan only when needed. 

I would avoid the SSW models (had I known) but the PST series are good quality.

Thank you! With any luck, I'll be buying something in the next week or so.

 

[wayne49]

The actual continuous wattage will be about half of the advertised wattage for a cheap unit.

150 watt inverter above 75 watts the power falls off. 60W bulb then add 40W bulb and the 60W dims. A three lamp light pole is a useful test instrument.

I have a Samlex PST 1000. It is built like a tank. Has a much larger footprint and mass than the Energizer 2000 watt inverter. The Samlex is more reliable at delivering power. The Energizer would often go into overload and after a few minutes it would return to service. I did not observe that behavior with the Samlex in the same setup. The system was powering an apartment fridge only when the thermostat closed. The process was controlled by a RaspberryPi and later replaced by an Arduino. The Pi logged transitions states and that log is where I could see the Energizer not switching on when required until a few minutes had passed.

Another observed behavior is the parasitic amps, with no load, were about the same for the 150 watt unit and the Energizer 2000 watt unit. So trying to go with a smaller unit does not save anything in that respect.

 

[Rabbit]

Thank you!

 

[John61CT]

The wasted conversion power is least when using more of the inverter capacity.

 

[tripper]

Grid tie inverter might be what you want, it directly takes your solar power and feeds it into your house AC power, so part of your house loads will run off solar Might be illegal to use with your electric company. There are a lot of them on Amazon. No need for a battery.

 

[Rabbit]

Grid tie inverter might be what you want, it directly takes your solar power and feeds it into your house AC power, so part of your house loads will run off solar Might be illegal to use with your electric company. There are a lot of them on Amazon. No need for a battery.

Thank you.

I'm trying to avoid grid-tie. There are tons of power outages where I live, and I'm trying to set up my (large) desktop computer and wireless hub to run through them without a hiccup, sharing components with my cargo-trailer conversion as much as possible. For now, that's enough expense.