1500W Inverter at Costco......$85

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Arya Ebrahimi

Arya Ebrahimi

Joined
Dec 2, 2003
Threads
211
Messages
3,419
Location
Rockville, MD
Was at Costco tonight looking for an invertor and I found a 1500 watt Xantera(I think I spelled that right) unit for $85. From all the shopping I've done this seems to be a great deal. I didn't buy it because I don't have a membership(have to drag my aunt back tomorrow, lol), but I will and will report back when I have it. I'm planning to hard mount it in the rear quarter panel of my 80 along with all my other electronics(don't worry, I'm planning on two fans to cool it all). The unit is supplied with 4GA leads that looks to be about 6' long. I'm very excited about this and just wanted to share in case anyone was looking for one. BTW, it is 1500w constant w/ a surge capacity of 3000w. I papered through the manual and it seemed to be pretty indepth, even gave a diagram showing how to wire up dual batteries.

Ary

BTW, the unit is 3"x6"x14"
 
I got a 450 watt at costco for $17 awhile back, never let me down.

I may go back to look for that one.... seems those kind of items are often seasonal.

Thats definatly a deal.
 
450 watt for 17 bucks, or 1500 watt for 85 bucks.

Hmmm.

I don't really know what your average appliance uses in the way of power. What can you do with 1500 watts that-- that you would actually want to do-- that you can't with 450?

Or is this just a bigger is always better kind of thing?

Jared
 
you can never have too much power :D I anticipate running a circular saw and work light simultaneously and I had been looking at 1000w inverters to the tune of $100-120, so this seems like an amazing deal.
 
One thing you need to look out for is the motor starting capacity. As a motor starts it has a surge current that gets the magnetic field going and accellerates the load. For a motor a rule of thumb commonly used is to multiply the nameplate current by 8 to get an idea of maximum inrush current. The actual inrush will be related to inertial loading, moon phase, etc. (its hard to predict)

So, a 450 watt inverter makes (450 watts)/(120 volts)= about 4 amps

For a 1500 watt inverter (1500)/(120)= 12.5 amps.

Thus, if you want to run a professional style 15 amp circular saw, even the bigger inverter is potentially over capacity. (nameplate current will be greater than actuall running current under normal load).

Something like a variable speed drill will not have as high of an inrush current due to the electronics of the variable speed circuit.

Anyway, that sounds like a good deal for an inverter.
 
Arya Ebrahimi said:
This inverter has a 1500W constant duty capacity and a 3000w surge capacity. So it should be fine, no?

Ary
Click to expand...


That is a lot of power. At what point is the battery (or batterys) the limiting factor? Can one battery supply enough current at 12V to provide 3000 watts?

I would guess so, given that a winch probably uses a lot more juice than even Phil's Microwave, but how long would the battery last?

Jared
 
250 amps. Probably 20-30 minutes of use (at the most) before the battery hits 10 volts which will trigger the low voltage cutout.

Scott
 
I have a Costco Xantrex 1000 watt inverter in my trailer. Cost $69.00. The 1500 watt unit could probably run a table saw - for a little while, anyway.

I you get a lot of electrics on a second battery, an isolator and marine 3-stage charger is a good idea. So is an alternator upgrade. My 60 is going to be rewound to provide 90 amps output.
 
Mike S said:
I have a Costco Xantrex 1000 watt inverter in my trailer. Cost $69.00. The 1500 watt unit could probably run a table saw - for a little while, anyway.

I you get a lot of electrics on a second battery, an isolator and marine 3-stage charger is a good idea. So is an alternator upgrade. My 60 is going to be rewound to provide 90 amps output.
Click to expand...

So you've been pleased with the quality of the Xantrex unit? This is good to hear. Thanks

Ary
 
I also saw the 1500watt inverter, looked like a great deal, awhile ago I looked on Ebay and you could have bought it at Costco and sold on Ebay and made a profit, odd. The only offroad tool I can think I'd really use would be a sawzall, they can cut so fast, that would be great to have that to use if needed. Also if space wasn't an issue you could use a small air compressor, just a cheapie 110v one, but would take up some more space.

Arya, you putting this inverter behind the plastic in the rear quarter? You mentioned fans, you wouldn't have to have the fans run all the time, a temp sensor on the fan circuit would be nice so they'd kick in when needed. PM me if you need help figuring something like that out.

Later..
Mark Brodis
 
Mark, yes, I'm planning to put it, along with an amp and sub, behind the rear quarter where the factory sub was. I'm planning to run a trigger for the intake and return fans to either the amp's fan or the inverter's fan. That way when they start to get warm and their fans come on, the additional fans will kick on too. I'm planning to use the front dash speaker grills(the cloth parts that have no function) as covers for the aux. fans for a nice factory look. I've already run 1/0 welding lead to the quarter panel and will be tieing it into my dual battery system. I'm planning to cut the back off of the cubby back there and put my circuit breaker panel, disconnect switch for the 1/0, the on/off switch for the inverter, and a pair of GFCI outlets in there(I'm putting a 1/2" MDF panel across the opening to hold everything and then the plastic panel on top to make everything look original).

Thoughts?? Suggestions??

Ary
 
mabrodis said:
The only offroad tool I can think I'd really use would be a sawzall, they can cut so fast, that would be great to have that to use if needed.

Later..
Mark Brodis
Click to expand...


Why not get a Dewalt 18 volt Reciprocating Saw? Mine is one of my favorite tools and yes it does cut very well. It rips through metal with the Milwaukee 'the Torch' blades. I guess the invertor is cheaper. Sorry for the hi-jack!
 
Maybe try the outlet housing found in the bed of the new Tacomas...its really pretty slick. This might even be incorporated into the rear bumper for true outside power. Just a thought!
 
Well I got the piece of MDF all cut and fit into the rear quarter panel, and then realized that I had planned to utilize the holes that the panel snaps into to screw the MDF in. Then I realized how little space there is to the left of the cubby. I think what I'm gonna have to do is mount at least the amp on the other side. That should give me enough room to do everything else. The other obstacle is mounting everything on the MDF panel and then sliding the panel into place. I may have to make it a two-piece panel and find an alternative means of securing it. I'm planning to work on this tomorrow for most of the day, so we'll see how it goes.

Also, I'm planning to put an exterior grade outlet box under the hood as well.

I'm hoping to pick up the Optimas and inverter tomorrow and get them all at least mocked up. We'll see, and yes, I'll be sure to document the whole process.

Thanks

Ary
 
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