These cheapo inverters are nothing new; we've had to sell against them
for over a decade.
Its all about longevity, and how bad life might be with a several week
outage.
Weight is a great, simple place to start. The quality inverters are
transformer based, and weigh much more.
Which one is going to last longer do they think?
Rather than totally bash the cheapos, I ask what they're going to do
with it: live full time off grid, or just play around with it in their
car. I'll sell a cheapo here and there because they make sense for low
priority, temporary power. I have one in my truck.
But if they're living full time on it, the cheapos will become a door
stop (literally) after a few years.
Finally, guarantees don't cover being out of power for weeks.
Last nail on the coffin: they usually are only available in 12 volt.
R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760
On 8/9/2013 11:58 AM, Hilton Dier III wrote:
What your customers will find is that these auto parts store inverters
only reach their nominal ratings with resistive loads. When trying to
start a motor they exhibit a fraction of their rated power - too much
reactive load. Same goes for anything with a transformer or power supply.
Also, if you take the cover off of one you will be unpleasantly
unsurprised at the construction and workmanship. I've seen one with a
"heat sink" for the transistors that was a paper thin piece of
aluminum angle. You have to think that at $300 for 2500 Watts
(supposedly) they used the very cheapest discrete components they
could source.
Talk them down off the ledge.
Hilton
--
Hilton Dier III
Renewable Energy Design
Partner, Solar Gain LLC
453 East Hill Rd.
Middlesex, VT 05602
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