On Sat, Mar 05, 2011 at 07:33:56PM -0600, banders...@earthlink.net wrote:
>
>
> My Trace 12VDC 2.5KW inverter has an input for 120vac and an output for
> 120vac. When 120vac appears on the input the inverter instantly connects
> the input to the output and disconnects itself. Then it synchronizes
> itself to the input (takes about five seconds), then parallels itself to
> the input so it adds its power to that of the input's (and also starts
> charging the batteries). So everything is automatic and no magic smoke
> gets out.
Nice! But I guess that's what you get for buying a high-end unit like
that. My 2kW inverter doesn't have that feature... but on the other
hand, it cost less than $90 brand new (Whistler 2000, on sale at Harbor
Freight.)
Just for general info, I've owned Whistler inverters of all sorts over
the years, and for a dirt-cheap off-brand, I'm very impressed with them.
I've only ever had one blow out - at which point, I replaced the easily
accessible transistor and was powered up again within 20 minutes
(something you _won't_ be able to do on a number of the high-end units.)
The thing that I find really good about them is that they work *way*
beyond their rated capacity, especially the small ones. I had a 600W
unit on my previous boat, and it ran my little Shop-Vac vaccuum cleaner
just fine; I didn't realize how amazing this was until I tried using it
on several much larger inverters (up to twice that size), and none of
them could handle the startup load.
The only annoying thing about them is that you "pay" about 1A @ 12VDC in
standby current. I just shut mine off when I'm not using it.
Ben
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