What brand inverter

DaveCrampton said:
Question,

I have a leisure battery (62Ah AGM) which powers LED lights, USB and the diesel heater. I see my local Aldi has a few small 300W inverters for £25. I don't normally use (EHU) AC unless in a campsite or at home (dehumidifier) but I'm wondering if it is worth the money to pop this in. My laptop for instance is 65W so I could use if for that.
What do you think? Worth the spend or don't waste my money. Obviously I could not run any large current draws like a kettle, or such.


Hmm, mixed reviews! I'd be sure to ensure all connections are secured/solder/recrimped prior to use.
Click to expand...

stay away.

its not Pure Sine wave, (which you need for Laptops etc)

and the reveiws dont look good.

.....

i have a couple of these, they work great for all the small stuff, laptops, fridges etc etc .

years old now and still going strong.





..


1684761681434.png


plugging it into the 12v socket is good for upto 60W/80W or 100W max for short durations,

above 100w id move over to clamps, like these.








1684761899126.png
 
Dellmassive said:
You can use my code to get a discount at Renogy ....

renogyuk.refr.cc

I can get you a discount at Renogy United Kingdom

Hey, if you're ever looking for Renogy United Kingdom products, let me know and I can get you a discount at Renogy United Kingdom. Here's a coupon if you need one now:
renogyuk.refr.cc


.
Click to expand...
Many thanks for this going to get the 2000w one it's on sale at £199.00 so good price I think. Just one question does it need an inline fuse on the positive cable, if so any recommendations? Also how do you fit it, do you cut the cable and crimp the fuse inline?
 
Austhorpe61 said:
Many thanks for this going to get the 2000w one it's on sale at £199.00 so good price I think. Just one question does it need an inline fuse on the positive cable, if so any recommendations? Also how do you fit it, do you cut the cable and crimp the fuse inline?
Click to expand...
What battery system do you have? A 2kw inverter is going to draw around 170amps and will generally need a substantial battery bank and cabling.

A fuse would be a good idea but the cabling you will need and the fittings will be heavy duty battery cable with bolt type terminals, you are not in 30amp hand crimp territory with these devices.
 
I don't know much about this electrickery stuff but even I thought that a 2000W inverter would sh4g that little battery in pretty short order (unless there was a typo in the original post). FWIW, I've got one of these:
It does the job on my current MacBook Air (2022) and my much older MacBook Pro but I do note that it's gone up by about £20 since I bought mine back in mid-2020
 
Last edited:
Hi

Sorry if I confused anyone, yes as Ayjay says a new member here. I've got a 100 Amp AGM leisure battery fitted for info and the 240v sockets are only set up for use with shore power. So I want a way to add the inverter to those sockets without a lot of wiring and switch between shore and inverter power depending if on a site or off grid
After checking some YouTube videos out I've found out that these inverters auto switch if you plug the shore supply (via the consumer unit into them) they know when a 240v supply is attached and then revert to inverter generated when unplugged.
So my plan is as follows
1) find the socket feed coming back into the (current) consumer unit and cut it. So I now have two ends of wire
2) fit a socket onto the wire coming out of the consumer unit and plug a kettle lead into that and then into the inverter input
3) take a feed out of the inverter (via plug) into a new 2 pole consumer unit and then the other part of the cut lead (point 1) that goes to the sockets now goes to the output of the consumer unit so the inverter is then going through an RCB before going on to the sockets
4) The positive between the Leisure battery and inverter will have a heavy duty fuse and kill switch

I would be grateful for any comments on whether or not I have got it right or not and if I have missed anything.

Also with the battery I've had a look at the Renogy website and under the "frequently bought items" with the invertors it has a 200amp battery with the 2000w and a 100amp with the 1000w. So I think I will go with the 1000w inverter. Thanks for the heads up on that point. What cable size do you suggest with the 1000w inverter? Also what fuse size?

For crimping I was looking at one of these, but if anyone knows where I could get some custom lengths made up (or buy online) then I guess that would probably be cheaper

This was one of the videos about the auto switching


Many thanks
 
Last edited:
I don't believe the Renogy "UPS" option does any switching of the ground, which makes having the situation of having both EHU + Inverter + Same Sockets difficult to deal with safely.

Low wattage inverters are inherently safe if you don't ground them as there is no current path if you touch one of the wires (only if you are daft enough to grasp both)

EHU however must be grounded and to the chassis as the return path for mains current can be the earth itself. Protection here is then provided by an RCD.

So the problem is if your wire your UPS and EHU to the same sockets without thought the most likely outcome is that you will end up with a grounded inverter that now does have a return path through the van chassis but no RCD to protect the occupants.

This is why almost every commercial install either has separate sockets (inherently safe as separate) or in larger vehicles uses a combined charger inverter supply that handles the situation with a true transfer switch that grounds when on EHU but does not when on Inverter.

Victron do a very good document on wiring safely, section 7.5 covers what you are trying to do and the potential risks of mixing an IT and TT mains installation. My advice if that doesn't make sense is keep it simple safe and separate.

https://www.victronenergy.com/uploa...imited_book/43562-Wiring_Unlimited-pdf-en.pdf

That document also has lots of guidance on cable and connector sizes.
 
Also for consideration if you have a 100Ah AGM you have about 50-60Ah of "usable" capacity so it full power you have max runtime of just over 30 minutes to the point you should start charging.

You don't mention if you have a DC-DC charger, if you don't and you have a basic split relay and stop start van then the battery will likely only be at 80% charge when you park up reducing the usable capacity to 30-40Ah

This is why many folks who want inverters beyond the "charge the laptop or run a TV" level switch over to lithium based systems where almost all the capacity is usable.
 
roadtripper said:
…This is why almost every commercial install either has separate sockets (inherently safe as separate) or in larger vehicles uses a combined charger inverter supply that handles the situation with a true transfer switch that grounds when on EHU but does not when on Inverter.
Click to expand...
That's interesting... I have a commercial instal and all 4 of my 240v sockets work from either EHU or the inverter (and I don't believe I have a combined charger inverter).
 
Bav said:
That's interesting... I have a commercial instal and all 4 of my 240v sockets work from either EHU or the inverter (and I don't believe I have a combined charger inverter).
Click to expand...
So long as they've handled the conflicting grounding requirements of IT and TT you're fine. It just adds complexity and equipment in a small van for a very modest increase in convenience.

This is why both Renogy and Ecopower describe the feature as "UPS" not a "Transfer Switch" - they expect a single device to be plugged in directly, not to be connected to structured wiring.
 
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Thanks for all the replies everyone. Having stewed over it I think I might be complicating things as roadtripper says for not much gain. Have had a re-look at what I thought I need on an inverter and it looks like all of them (albeit plugged into 240v) actually convert down to 5v 1amp. So going to look at 12v converters to see if I can find a solution that way before going for an inverter. I guess being new to it you need to get your head round operating on 12v where you can I think
 
5V 1A is just your basic commodity USB charger these days.

If you look on eBay/Amazon there is bound to be a cable with the connector the device needs and a USB plug the other end.

Only thing to be aware of with USB is the converters are active all the time so either use the 12v cigarette lighter plug in ones (and remove them when leaving the van for any length of time) or make sure installed ones are on a switch so you can do the same.

And yes if you can go 12v > 5v it's better than 12v > 240v > 5v (with a few notable exceptions)

If not the Pure Sine Wave 300w inverter Dellmassive posted above is a good option for "I just want to plug this mains charger in" occasional use and not too big to store.
 
Thanks for that. Is there a safety reason for unplugging or just battery drainage concerns. Would just be leaving the MiFi and Blink hub plugged in when we leave the vehicle for security
I think I may well get one of those small ones as you say just for the occasional need I've not yet thought of
Looking at one of these
 
At 12v mostly battery drain concerns, particularly if you are going to leave the van for more than a few days at a time, they have no low voltage cut out so there is a risk of dropping the battery under 40-50% for a chunk of time and causing damage.

In your case the draw from the MiFi etc will be significantly more so you'll want to measure how much that is and work out how long you can safely leave the van before the battery gets too low.

If both draw 1 amp at 5 volts as you mentioned then together they will draw 10 watts (1 x 5 x 2)

So the current draw at 12v will be about 0.8 amps (10 / 12) and you have 50-60 amp hours usable capacity in your battery so you have about 72 hours (3 days) before the battery will need recharging (and the load needs to turn off to prevent damage)

Personally I tend to stick to the "brands" like Anker/Tecknet/Ugreen as I find them generally better quality and they have a brand name to protect Vs the "new company name every 3 months on Amazon vendors" :thumbsup:
 
roadtripper said:
At 12v mostly battery drain concerns, particularly if you are going to leave the van for more than a few days at a time, they have no low voltage cut out so there is a risk of dropping the battery under 40-50% for a chunk of time and causing damage.

In your case the draw from the MiFi etc will be significantly more so you'll want to measure how much that is and work out how long you can safely leave the van before the battery gets too low.

If both draw 1 amp at 5 volts as you mentioned then together they will draw 10 watts (1 x 5 x 2)

So the current draw at 12v will be about 0.8 amps (10 / 12) and you have 50-60 amp hours usable capacity in your battery so you have about 72 hours (3 days) before the battery will need recharging (and the load needs to turn off to prevent damage)

Personally I tend to stick to the "brands" like Anker/Tecknet/Ugreen as I find them generally better quality and they have a brand name to protect Vs the "new company name every 3 months on Amazon vendors" :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. I'll go for one of the brands in that case. I guess the only missing link is a battery monitor now. The one built in only shows voltage and I know Lithium holds high and then just drops off a cliff. So really need a percentage monitor. Any suggestions on those. From research it seems to be one of the Amazon specials versus something like a Victron shunt. Ideally like one with a display rather than having to use an App with the shunt.

By the way thank you everyone for all your replies and patience while I twist and turn and change my mind :)
 
roadtripper said:
5V 1A is just your basic commodity USB charger these days.

If you look on eBay/Amazon there is bound to be a cable with the connector the device needs and a USB plug the other end.

Only thing to be aware of with USB is the converters are active all the time so either use the 12v cigarette lighter plug in ones (and remove them when leaving the van for any length of time) or make sure installed ones are on a switch so you can do the same.

And yes if you can go 12v > 5v it's better than 12v > 240v > 5v (with a few notable exceptions)

If not the Pure Sine Wave 300w inverter Dellmassive posted above is a good option for "I just want to plug this mains charger in" occasional use and not too big to store.
Click to expand...
I've managed to source a cigarette lighter one with the right plugin for my laptop, so another item ticked off
 
Generally a good monitor needs to show you a graph of charge over time - there are stand alone displays that do that but as they have most of a tablets electronics in they're kind of the same price.

Lots of folks like the basic BM2 and it's cheap enough to be worth trying first. For leisure installs a lot of folks put the Victron Smart Shunt in to monitor the whole system.

I'd try the BM2, if you don't get on with it for the leisure battery it's still useful to move it to keep an eye on the starter battery.
 
roadtripper said:
Generally a good monitor needs to show you a graph of charge over time - there are stand alone displays that do that but as they have most of a tablets electronics in they're kind of the same price.

Lots of folks like the basic BM2 and it's cheap enough to be worth trying first. For leisure installs a lot of folks put the Victron Smart Shunt in to monitor the whole system.

I'd try the BM2, if you don't get on with it for the leisure battery it's still useful to move it to keep an eye on the starter battery.
Click to expand...
Sorted

BM2.jpg
 
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