2000w Inverter Charger price choke

ripperj

Explorer
I have yet to do the electric in my Alaskan truck camper build. I had decided that I would spend what was necessary to do a quality build, 2 AGM GC2, solar, shore power etc.
I never thought a 2000w intverter charger would cost $3200!(Sensata Dimension 12NP20)
I found cheaper Tripplites for $800, but half of them are DOA.
Any suggestions? For a reliable charger/inverter?, I probably could get away with 1000w, but want 80 amps of charge at 12v.

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LeishaShannon

Adventurer
Hard to beat the 2000VA Victron Multiplus inverter charger which has a 80A charger for $1905aud ($1369usd) with a 5 year warranty. There are a bunch of neat features for truck campers like being able to limit the incoming AC (to match a generator for example) , then boost it up using the inverter so you can still run large items.
 

workerdrone

Part time fulltimer
If you're budgeting, maybe you could separate the charging and inverting - I just received my 2000w pure sine inverter from the amazone for a tick under $300, and testing went well running a vitamix blender and a 1500w hairdryer yesterday off of 2 golf cart batteries. Final bank in our truck camper will be 4 golf cart batteries, have 300w solar on roof, separate charge controller. I shut off the stock battery charger manually even we connect to shore power, unless the batteries really need some help.

Remains to be seen how long the inverter lasts, but you never know - maybe it'll outlast our smaller Xantrex Prowatts :)

Why such a huge inverter - see two test items above :) My vitamix and the wife's hairdryer - not daily or heavy use, but an ultimatum was handed down haha
 

ripperj

Explorer
That does look promising, still more than I wanted to spend, but I am willing to pay for quality, I am still researching whether I should go with separate devices for inverter and charger.
Thanks for the heads up

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DiploStrat

Expedition Leader
I have been very happy with a 2800w Magnum Energy unit. Made in USA, user replaceable boards, great support. The best news is that I have never needed that support even after turning on the microwave and the induction stove top at the same time. :Wow1: Like the Victron, the Magnum allows you to throttle back the input so that you can adjust it to run on 15A or smaller circuits, if necessary.

Never heard anything bad about Victron products.

Don't get a bigger inverter than you need. 1500 to 2000w will run just about any microwave. The only reason I have larger is to start (not run) the air conditioner.

N.B. I was wondering about charger+inverter as opposed to inverter/charger. Specifically, I wanted a 110/220v charger. The folks at Magnum told me that the vast majority of the internals were the same; that is the unit works either as a charger or an inverter - there aren't that many redundant parts.

 

Joe917

Explorer
We have been running a 2700Watt Magnum for 9 months no issues. We rarely use the charger(125 amps) but use the inverter every day.
 

ripperj

Explorer
I may have to go with separate devices just due to the size, the 2000w Multiplus is 20" long, it's certainly cheaper to go with a separate charger, but it's hard to compare apples to apples quality wise.

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ripperj

Explorer
It looks like the major benefit of the charger/inverter combo is the auto transfer between shore power and battery for AC loads, that a pretty neat function, but i can live without it. Looks like a Samlex 80 amp charger is around $485 and a 1000w pure sine inverter is 2-300




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DiploStrat

Expedition Leader
You need to start by assessing your load. There are inverters and there are inverters. For small loads, the so called "high frequency" models will work, but for large, nasty loads, you need a transformer based inverter, like the Magnums mentioned and the Xantrex "Freedom" models.

Consider this: http://www.xantrex.com/documents/tech-doctor/universal/tech-universal_10_1.pdf or this:
http://www.homepower.com/articles/solar-electricity/equipment-products/how-inverters-work

A search will find similar articles.
 

Kiomon

Adventurer
+1 for Magnum, and definitely look Into the "hybrid" models that can take battery power and combine it with incoming AC power to power larger loads. It's not much more money but very handy if you travel somewhere with limited shore power amperage.
 

ripperj

Explorer
I took another look at my real needs and budget. I ended up buying a Magnum 1212(1200w modified sine wave/70 amp 4 stage charger) I also bought the ME RC50 remote (the one with the digital display)
I don't have it wired up yet, probably tomorrow.
The remote will show lots of cool info, but my inverter is bottom tier Magnum and not all features available on it.
Specific question. The literature implies that battery amps can be monitored, how is this possible without a shunt if the DC load leads come right off the battery? DC amps must just be either while charging or inverting right? The only other option is some magic between DC volts and amp hrs??
I was hoping not to spring for a separate shunt/monitor, but it seems unavoidable?

Anyone have this inverter/remote combo?
Thanks in advance
Keith


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adam88

Explorer
I am going with Magnum too.

My advice, CHECK EBAY!. There's lots of inverters up for sale there, many of them new, and at discounted prices. All the reviews/feedback always seems good. You can score some great deals.

Here's an example of an MS2012 inverter charger that sold for under $900 US just 2 days ago. It was brand new, but damaged during shipping. Sold from a reputable seller. Ebay has a great return policy. You can't lose for $900!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magnum-MS2012-2000W-Inverter-12V-W-50A-Pfc-Charger-/161969716863
 

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