Inverter choice

G

GSL

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 Mar 2008
Messages
513
Location
Me Cheltenham, boat Sant Carles de la Rapida
Visit site
I would like to fit an inverter on my 50' Mobo, I have 460 Amp Hr of domestic battery capacity, I would like to fit it in a circuit to provide power for 2 LED Televisions and a Blueray Disc player.

I suspect 1000W will be oversize, however I would rather work something less than it is capable of.

The problem I have is that checking Ebay brings up dozens of options.

Can anybody on here give advice from personal experience of what is good and what is rubbish. Whilst I recognise that you only get what you pay for, I am hopeful I don't really need something too special, ie Victron, Mastervolt etc.

Thanks in anticipation

Graham
 
well imho you mentioned the two best options yourselves,

no experience with mastervolt, but I know they are OK,

In my business, we install Victron units in Broadcast OB and ENG vehicles, and they are good. (daily and intensive usage)
and support from holland is excellent
we alway's use the Victron Multiplus: battery charger / invertor,
they are available in different sizes.
they have simpler units available, but if you go the Victron route, would recommand the Multiplus.

are you going to do the installation yourselves ?
if so, pm me if you can't get a good deal on a Victron locally.
we buy direct from the factory
 
I'd make sure to get a true sine wave inverter to protect the connected devices.

If you add up the nominal consumption (watts) and add some for peaks & loss you should be fine.

I'm running two of non major brands for pc's, phones and LED TV with DVD player and have no problems.
 
Spi D

What brands are you running please?

BartW

I had Victron on my last boat, a 12V/3000W/120amp Charger Inverter, I agree they are brilliant, however I really just want a small Inverter this time for the Entertainment, we run the Genset 4 hours in 24 when on anchor and I think I don't need to spend the money I did last time.

Graham
 
Have to get back to you 'bout that. Wasn't expensive.

It has two, sockets (EU and UK), a small fan and built-in fuse. Used onboard and also for an Australian 10.000 km roundtrip by 4x4, without any issues at all.
 
I have one unused brand new Victron MultiPlus C 12/1600/70-16.
Ordered it to my father boat, never installed because he changed whole new boat.
Throw me pvt msg if you are interested. I think I should get around 1k€ from it, including postage where ever u are.
 
ergono said:
I have one unused brand new Victron MultiPlus C 12/1600/70-16.
Ordered it to my father boat, never installed because he changed whole new boat.
Throw me pvt msg if you are interested. I think I should get around 1k€ from it, including postage where ever u are.
Click to expand...


Specific details of it here! http://www.energyenv.co.uk/VictronInverterChargers.asp

That looks like a substantial bit of kit.


Henry :)
 
Spi D said:
It just branded "Power Inverter ET-500" - rated 500w and peak 1000w.

I'd suggest you go eBay. Several nice offers like this one with output reading:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1500W-300...00714027229?pt=UK_Gadgets&hash=item2ebb7d00dd
Click to expand...

On a re-check it is marked "Etomer Tm":

ET-500PS.jpg


The built in fuse is by means of two circuit brakers.
 
Last edited:
I fitted a reconditioned Sterling inverter, bought off EBay from Sterling himself for about £200, it's a 2 kw pure sine wave, 3 years on and no problems.
 
We also supply and install inverters. Stick with Mastervolt Victron or Dometic.

Bite the bullet and buy pure sine wave not modified.

Make sure your domestic battery bank is capable of dealing with it though.

A very easy rule of thumb is divide your requirement for AC by 10

So say that your two TV's are 250 watt each and your BluRay is 200 watts you inverter will supply 700watts AC Allowing for conversion AC - DC and inefficiency in the inversion process

So you would have a discharge from your batteries in the region of 65 - 70 Ah

Allowing for a discharge of no more than 50% of the batteries capacity, your 460Ah could be seriously depleted after a Friday nights viewing!

Some thing else to ponder

Eddie
 
GSL said:
I would like to fit an inverter on my 50' Mobo, I have 460 Amp Hr of domestic battery capacity, I would like to fit it in a circuit to provide power for 2 LED Televisions and a Blueray Disc player.

I suspect 1000W will be oversize, however I would rather work something less than it is capable of.

The problem I have is that checking Ebay brings up dozens of options.

Can anybody on here give advice from personal experience of what is good and what is rubbish. Whilst I recognise that you only get what you pay for, I am hopeful I don't really need something too special, ie Victron, Mastervolt etc.

Thanks in anticipation

Graham
Click to expand...

I cant help but think you are going about this the wrong way round.

Many LCD TVs and at least some Blueray players are 12volt.


You are in effect taking 12volt DC turning it into 240v ac and then back to 12volt dc .

Many tellys and blueray players (panasonic for 1) come with a 12volt dc lead as standard and a 240volt transformer.

buy the 12volt powered units, throw away the transformer and plug them into the boats 12volt supply , job done !



And for the worry warts

you can fit a regulator in the boats 14.4v supply if you must, they cost £11 . http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l2736&_nkw=12v+blue+ray+player
 
GSL said:
Whilst I recognise that you only get what you pay for, I am hopeful I don't really need something too special, ie Victron, Mastervolt etc.

Thanks in anticipation

Graham
Click to expand...

So you either go cheap and hope or play safe and pay.

Nothing new 'bout that, and mayby easy decision if you have the money.

DAKA has something there too.
 
I have an invertor on my boat which does exactly that ie powers only the TV and DVD player. It is a Mastervolt 24/800 Mass Sine unit that delivers 650W continuous at 24V. So far in the 2 seasons that I've owned the boat, it has performed faultlessly although the remote switch has burnt out recently.
 
Might have been unlucky but....

I had a Waeco? pure sine wave inverter from Dometic. Didn't last two seasons. Took it back to Dometic and they said that it had suffered corrosion in the marine environment. Bought a replacement from Barden which looks more bullet proof with the assurance from them that it can cope.

I have posted my expensive experience on this.
 
DAKA said:
I cant help but think you are going about this the wrong way round.

Many LCD TVs and at least some Blueray players are 12volt.


You are in effect taking 12volt DC turning it into 240v ac and then back to 12volt dc .

Many tellys and blueray players (panasonic for 1) come with a 12volt dc lead as standard and a 240volt transformer.

buy the 12volt powered units, throw away the transformer and plug them into the boats 12volt supply , job done !


And for the worry warts

you can fit a regulator in the boats 14.4v supply if you must, they cost £11 . http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l2736&_nkw=12v+blue+ray+player
Click to expand...

I have already fitted LED televisions, I wanted the lightest and flatest Teelvison sets I could get, they are 100 - 220 volt.

Graham
 
GSL said:
I have already fitted LED televisions, I wanted the lightest and flatest Teelvison sets I could get, they are 100 - 220 volt.

Graham
Click to expand...

true, but DAKA still has a point. Just think that most if not all el. appliancies used are deep inside 5 or 12V so the 220 is straight away transformed down to something reasonable for the operation of the machine.

I'm not suggesting you start gutting out the devices to trace the pure 12V input, but in many cases, it pays to buy devices with extrernal power supply (and checking that's indeed 12V!) Same with laptops/notebooks/netbooks fe.

cheers

V.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top