Pure sine wave inverters

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rhyary

rhyary

Joined
Apr 5, 2006
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Location
Albany, NY
HI,
I am looking for feedback on pure sine wave inverters in the range of 3000 to 5000 continues power.

I am looking at product from Xantrax and AIMS. Any feedback on these two company is greatly appriciated.

The purpose is to install it at the back of the track and connect it to the house power in case of emergency, or to use it in the field.
 
Hey Rami,

I have the Xantrex 1500 inverter in my truck. Not pure sine. I really didn't see the need for it. Runs power tools just fine. I even ran a long extention chord from my truck down into my basement to test fire my sump pump (my rationalization for the purchase). Works a charm.
 
rhyary said:
HI,
I am looking for feedback on pure sine wave inverters in the range of 3000 to 5000 continues power.

I am looking at product from Xantrax and AIMS. Any feedback on these two company is greatly appriciated.

The purpose is to install it at the back of the track and connect it to the house power in case of emergency, or to use it in the field.
Click to expand...

Sounds like overkill to me. get a good generac for a whole-home solution, or go with a guardian portable. you should be able to get a 5500/8500 for around $600 and use the balance to work on your cruiser. :cheers:
 
You only need PURE SINE for those items that are crucial that they have a smooth current supply. Such as laptops, some camera batteries, some medical devices, etc. PURE SINE is $$$$$. Generator sounds more like the solution you need. I'm all for overkill but this one doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
 
rhyary said:
My furnace is a DC veriable speed unit and it requires the pure sine wave unit, or so I was told.
Click to expand...

These things need to be confirmed before any power solution is considered. I would call Xantrex and talk to one of their engineers NOT the sales person. I got much further once I talked to an engineer.
 
NLXTACY said:
You only need PURE SINE for those items that are crucial that they have a smooth current supply. Such as laptops, some camera batteries, some medical devices, etc. PURE SINE is $$$$$. Generator sounds more like the solution you need. I'm all for overkill but this one doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Click to expand...

So could I potentially fry my laptop or camcorder battery if I use my cheap-o autozone inverter for charging?
 
nicholas said:
So could I potentially fry my laptop or camcorder battery if I use my cheap-o autozone inverter for charging?
Click to expand...

For laptops DC-DC converters are best. I have personally seen MOD SINE inverters fry laptop batteries. What I witnessed is the charge light being solidly lit but the battery does nothing. Then smokes.

Anything you plan on plugging into a MOD SINE inverter you should always make a quick check in the instructions to see which you need. Anything I have the truck now I have labeled as MOD/PURE or PURE ONLY.

IIRC its the NiCad batteries that explicitly say NO MOD SINE.
 
nicholas said:
So could I potentially fry my laptop or camcorder battery if I use my cheap-o autozone inverter for charging?
Click to expand...

Not likely. Laptops have external DC power supplies (transformer, rectifier, and regulators) that have a fairly large tollerance for crap power. Even devices with switching power supplies have gotten more tolerant as the supplies themselves have improved, but I wouldn't recommend running one off a dirty inverter.

Rami, I would research your furnace specs and talk to a support tech. I would be very surprised if it didn't work just fine.
 
I talked to the AIMS engineer (tech support) and he said pure sine. I seemed to know what he was talking about.

The furnace is a 24V unit DC motor.

I think that the comments about "overkill" should be dished out gently. Overkill is only appropriate when the final goal is known.

I am known to do thorough research before I actually buy or take action. I know that my furnace is not typical and I want during emergencies to run it off the truck, and use it otherwise for the normal inverter useage.

I just finished three and a half days without power due to the ice storm in the north east.
I don't want a generator I will use once in 10 years.
 
rhyary said:
HI,
I am looking for feedback on pure sine wave inverters in the range of 3000 to 5000 continues power.

I am looking at product from Xantrax and AIMS. Any feedback on these two company is greatly appriciated.

The purpose is to install it at the back of the track and connect it to the house power in case of emergency, or to use it in the field.
Click to expand...
Buy a pure sine wave inverter. You will be glad you did. Motors run cooler, lights don't flicker, electronics are safe.

I have a 1000 Watt square wave that won't run my electric impact wrench. The wrench draws max 700 watts on start up and 500 under load.

My 1000 Watt pure sine wave runs it no problem.

Have you calculated how many DC amps will be required to get 5000 watts AC????
Assume you have 100% efficiency, (you won't) you are looking at 417 Amps DC at 12 volts. That is A LOT of current.

I also have a Prosine 1800 for home use and run it on 24 VDC. It cuts down on the dc wire size and amp draw. They also now make 48 VDC inverters.

Be very careful with high current DC. If you get a short, have a set of bolt cutters or a hatchet nearby, otherwise be prepared for a three mile island melt down.

Check out 'theinverterstore.com. They are in Reno and make good products
 
rhyary said:
I think that the comments about "overkill" should be dished out gently. Overkill is only appropriate when the final goal is known.
Click to expand...

If we are talking about vehicle application, unless you are an ambulance or something, its overkill. What you are using it for goes beyond typical vehicle application.
 
NLXTACY said:
Huh? MOD SINE for a vehicle install converts 12VDC to 110VAC, a DC-DC converter drops the 12VDC current to say 5.5VDC or whatever you need for a laptop or whatever else you need.
Click to expand...
I am well aware of what an inverter does. Have you ever looked at the output of a non sine wave inverter on an O-scope? There is not much "Sine" Wave there.

If your junk runs OK on a non pure, go for it. I prefer to run a sine wave inverter. No worries.
 
FJ40_owner said:
I am well aware of what an inverter does. Have you ever looked at the output of a non sine wave inverter on an O-scope? There is not much "Sine" Wave there.

If your junk runs OK on a non pure, go for it. I prefer to run a sine wave inverter. No worries.
Click to expand...

I would never run a non-SINE inverter. There are only two options (vehicle-wise) as far as I'm concerned, PURE and MOD.
 
rhyary said:
I just finished three and a half days without power due to the ice storm in the north east.
I don't want a generator I will use once in 10 years.
Click to expand...

FJ40_owner said:
Have you calculated how many DC amps will be required to get 5000 watts AC????
Assume you have 100% efficiency, (you won't) you are looking at 417 Amps DC at 12 volts. That is A LOT of current.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about that too. You'd need two giant alternators. Are you going to run your truck in the driveway for 3 days? I'm not saying you shouldn't...
 
I am hesitantly getting in the middle of this but I have installed alot of pure sine wave inverters and therefore believe in their merits. I have experience with Xantrex as well as Magnum and they are both very high quality inverters.

I will agree that I don't think this is the best application for a giant inverter. It is almost an electrical imposibility to run a giant inverter for an extended period of time with a vehicles electrical system.

I am having a difficulty coming up with the brand name, but there are better options for producing this level of power from a vehicle. I will post up when I can remember it.I'm not 100% certain that the power is pure sine wave but it think it must be as it is generated by a (much) higher voltage alternator.

I'm not an electrical engineer, but in my mind, anything other than a pure sine wave inverter is just alternating DC or semi square wave AC:hhmm:

Lastly, I may know someone with a big pure sine wave inverter that he would probably let go very reasonably:D https://forum.ih8mud.com/mud-bay-miscellaneous-sale/235190-3000-watt-pure-sine-wave-inverter.html
 
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