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Post by Mr Stabby on Sept 4, 2018 18:01:36 GMT
I have a Sterling inverter and it works well, but is only rated at 350w continuous output and so I'm looking at upgrading it. An 1800w Sterling inverter is around £310, similar output Chinese inverters can be had on ebay for around £50.
I did have one of those Lidl 350w inverters but it packed up after less than a year, but on the other hand my truck had a 3000w Chinese inverter of unknown brand, and that worked perfectly for the five years I owned it (and it didn't look particularly new then).
What are the collective thoughts on inverters, and which is the best to buy? It has been suggested to me that certain makes attract boaters like flies to shit, and the top brand names command premium prices largely because of snob appeal. Is this true? What are folks' experience with budget brands?
Etc etc etc.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2018 18:19:29 GMT
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Post by Andyberg on Sept 4, 2018 18:21:36 GMT
I fitted two of these inverters to pals boats 18 months ago...both still going strong👍
Ebay item...172781400926👍
Sold my pal with the Northwich Trader a 2000w cheapo Chinese inverter in 2005, before they flooded the market, still working perfect until 18 months ago when his day tank filled it with diesel when it sprung a leak!
Got a Sterling 1500w inverter charger here, inverter knackered off another boat on marina ...3 years old! 🙄
Ya pays ya money....slimey indians, sneaky cheapo chinese etc etc yadda yadda...I know where my money would go!
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Post by naughtyfox on Sept 4, 2018 18:53:52 GMT
Here's our inverter, t'will give Andyberk somefing to gawp at:   I've no idea what the green connector-thing is for. Headphones to listen to the hum? |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2018 18:59:55 GMT
I fitted two of these inverters to pals boats 18 months ago...both still going strong👍 Ebay item...172781400926👍 Sold my pal with the Northwich Trader a 2000w cheapo Chinese inverter in 2005, before they flooded the market, still working perfect until 18 months ago when his day tank filled it with diesel when it sprung a leak! Got a Sterling 1500w inverter charger here, inverter knackered off another boat on marina ...3 years old! 🙄 Ya pays ya money....slimey indians, sneaky cheapo chinese etc etc yadda yadda...I know where my money would go! I guess if Mr Stabby hasn't needed a PSW to now they may be good enough. I wouldn't have a MSW as they can fry cordless drill batteries (got the t shirt on that one) electric toothbrush, cordless vacuum cleaners, rechargeable torches and not forgetting rechargeable sex aids. High risk if you are attached to any of the above. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2018 19:16:39 GMT
I bought a second hand Pro sine 1800 on ebay for £250. Ex ambulance. Its a good item. Does not get much work now as usually on the mooring but when we were off grid it did good service and came with a nice little remote LCD panel. I'm one of those people who thinks second hand good quality stuff is better than new shite. For non essential things like inverters.
It depends what you are doing with it.
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Post by Telemachus on Sept 4, 2018 19:59:11 GMT
I have a Sterling inverter and it works well, but is only rated at 350w continuous output and so I'm looking at upgrading it. An 1800w Sterling inverter is around £310, similar output Chinese inverters can be had on ebay for around £50. I did have one of those Lidl 350w inv erters but it packed up after less than a year, but on the other hand my truck had a 3000w Chinese inverter of unknown brand, and that worked perfectly for the five years I owned it (and it didn't look particularly new then). What are the collective thoughts on inverters, and which is the best to buy? It has been suggested to me that certain makes attract boaters like flies to shit, and the top brand names command premium prices largely because of snob appeal. Is this true? What are folks' experience with budget brands? Etc etc etc. Mastervolt are the best, Victron second best, Sterling a distant third. Cheapo Chinese a further distant fourth. So why? They all work. Leaving aside the point that these days, it seems inconceivable that anyone would buy an MSW Inverter when PSW ones are now so cheap, there are a number of factors: Inverters switched on but not doing anything much use power. In the above order. So our Mastervolt Combi uses 0.75A even without power saving mode, and the rest use progressively more, perhaps up to 3 or 4 amps. So we leave our MV one on 24/7, but if you have one that uses 4A, you probably only want to switch it on when you actually want to, and you probably wouldn’t want to just to plug in a phone charger etc. Then there is the quality of the P in PSW. Worth having a look at the harmonic distortion figure, higher figures mean less Pure and more likely to have a problem with electronic equipment including modern washing machines, spitting out the waveform in disgust. Then there is the risk of fire. Hard to quantify because any piece of electronics connected to batteries by fat cable can develop a fault and go on fire. So it is down to probabilities. You could have a cheapo Chinese inverter that is fine for years. Or a MV that goes on fire in a week. Both are possible, but in terms of probability it is much more likely that a cheapo Chinese inverter badly built and with low grade components will catch fire, than a MV one. This seems a fairly important consideration to me since no-one is particularly keen on coming back to their boat and finding a charred wreck. Bear in mind that even if you switch the inverter off, it is still connected to batteries by fat cable and there are some components in circuit permantly, even if the device is ostensibly switched off. Obviously are some other techy points like having Masterbus or the Victron equivalent (V-bus I think?), so that your different bits of kit can talk to each other, but that is only relevant if you have an integrated system. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2018 20:10:18 GMT
Gibbo said Statpower were the best but I think he worked for them.
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Post by peterboat on Sept 4, 2018 21:41:29 GMT
I had two Vetus inverters catch fire on me and was crap with my washing machine! The one that replaced it was from MR controls made in China to their spec, it was a very good inverter, and only replaced this year by a nice blue one which was very cheap and secondhand but only days old. Do be careful though because sometimes they say 3000 you think watts when in very small print it says something else that cocks things up! ask me how I know that
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Post by JohnV on Sept 4, 2018 21:56:23 GMT
still running and abusing the Sunshine Solar 2Kw as mentioned last time ..... was considering an upgrade (same make) but haven't got a round tuit
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Post by naughtyfox on Sept 5, 2018 8:29:57 GMT
I have a Sterling inverter and it works well, but is only rated at 350w continuous output and so I'm looking at upgrading it. An 1800w Sterling inverter is around £310, similar output Chinese inverters can be had on ebay for around £50. I did have one of those Lidl 350w inv erters but it packed up after less than a year, but on the other hand my truck had a 3000w Chinese inverter of unknown brand, and that worked perfectly for the five years I owned it (and it didn't look particularly new then). What are the collective thoughts on inverters, and which is the best to buy? It has been suggested to me that certain makes attract boaters like flies to shit, and the top brand names command premium prices largely because of snob appeal. Is this true? What are folks' experience with budget brands? Etc etc etc. Bear in mind that even if you switch the inverter off, it is still connected to batteries by fat cable and there are some components in circuit permantly, even if the device is ostensibly switched off. It was only last March when we noticed that our inverter still works (ie. it can still carry on charging a phone when the charging switch is set to ON) when the Main Switch to the batteries if set to OFF, and all of the internal electrics are supposed to be off! I've made a note to have a switch put somewhere along the cables to it, because it does not seem wise to have a 'live' unit on board. Do other people here have the same issue? The only thing we want to be activated, and has a permanent connection to the starter battery, is the bilge pump. Although that battery ain't gonna last long if water were to enter the engine room. |
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Post by kris on Sept 5, 2018 8:38:23 GMT
I bought a power master 1600w pure sine wave, it was second hand from eBay. It's still working 7years later. I'm sure it's made in Asia like all the rest of our consumer electronics, I had a mastervolt before which didn't last lthat long. So I would question nicks rating of the brands, he would be biased towards mastervolt though as he has bought one.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2018 9:02:30 GMT
Bear in mind that even if you switch the inverter off, it is still connected to batteries by fat cable and there are some components in circuit permantly, even if the device is ostensibly switched off. It was only last March when we noticed that our inverter still works (ie. it can still carry on charging a phone when the charging switch is set to ON) when the Main Switch to the batteries if set to OFF, and all of the internal electrics are supposed to be off! I've made a note to have a switch put somewhere along the cables to it, because it does not seem wise to have a 'live' unit on board. Do other people here have the same issue? The only thing we want to be activated, and has a permanent connection to the starter battery, is the bilge pump. Although that battery ain't gonna last long if water were to enter the engine room. An inverter should be connected (and fused) directly to the batteries and not through your battery selector switch. A neat solution is one of these:-  It sorts over current protection and can be used as an isolator simply by pressing the test button. |
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Post by quaysider on Sept 5, 2018 9:09:38 GMT
Over the years (camping as in tents not mincing)I've gotten through quite a few of the cheapo ones of ebay - circa 50 quid for a 1500 msw one... they work for a while but eventually go pop - that said, they were VERY handy for taking on site doing the fairground stuff to charge batteries for power tools etc before they had the leccy up and running... often dragging a leisure battery around with me. On the boat, I fitted a relatively cheap (499quid) 3kw psw/combi charger one from photonic universe www.photonicuniverse.com/en/catalog/full/162-3000W-12V-low-frequency-pure-sine-wave-off-grid-inverter-peak-power-9000W.html - it's handled everything we've thrown at it with ease.. including tumble drying when cruising. The down side however like Nick has already said, is that it draws a fair old bit - just being "on" - it purports to take circa 2a on standby but when "on" it drains 5-6 ... ergo, we only turn it on when we need 230v power - OR when cruising so as to keep toothbrushes charged. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2018 9:54:05 GMT
still running and abusing the Sunshine Solar 2Kw as mentioned last time ..... was considering an upgrade (same make) but haven't got a round tuit Same here, all the scare mongering over on anal world about it setting on fire, run a washing machine, fridge, hair dryer, straighteners and toaster all with no flames of fury erupting from it. |
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