need 24 volt applinaces [RE-wrenches]

[John Raynes]

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My reference to "value-priced" inverters was to those name brand inverters 
that our distributors carry and will support if there are issues.  We can't 
compete on the Harbor Freight/Walmart level, and I always tell my customers 
that what you lose for the low price is any and all overload 
protection.  If they never have an oversized or mis-behaving load or short 
circuit, they may last years, if not, poof!

Even if one only considers the major inverter lines, the number of product 
offerings and the price differences between the 12V and 24V models in the 
small sizes is fairly significant.  I really like the Morningstar SureSine, 
and at a price under $300, it's getting easier to convince people to go 
with a small sine wave inverter for a few CFLs, small TV, laptop, boom box, 
etc.  I have a SureSine set up on our shed/freezer system.  It has a 
remote, low voltage soft-start control input that I wired to a standard 
wall switch.  So when not in use, the switch idles the inverter and it 
draws no measurable current.  That set-up won't work in every situation but 
it's a nice feature.

I'm getting increasingly reluctant to ever recommend a mod-sine these 
days.  I don't want the implied responsibility if a customer's load burns 
up.  If a customer insists on a DR-type unit, I would tell them to budget 
for a small sine wave in addition, to handle the small loads that the 
mod-sine won't.

John Raynes
RE Solar
Torrey, UT



At 10:38 AM 3/24/2008 -0600, you wrote:

>I'm also a fan of microinverters. You used to be able to get quite a bit
>of 'stuff' in 24VDC because it is what over-the-road trucks use, but now
>most truckers use microinverters.
>
>Just be careful in your selection -- many 'portable' inverters will fry
>if you connect them via the outlets in the front panel to a home or
>cabin-type breaker box that has ground bonded to neutral. The tricky
>part for the installer is that the inverter may last a few weeks, a few
>months, etc. until suddenly, ZAP -- it's permanently ruined, usually
>when the client turned on something large, like a microwave.
>
>You can usually read at least 9vac+ of leakage on the ground wire in
>these portable inverters when wired to a breaker box, sometimes enough
>to give you quite a poke on the bare wire, a very nasty surprise.
>
>Solutions: 1) get a inverter that has hard wired terminals for AC output
>in addition to front panel outlets. Highly recommended. 2) Isolate the
>neutral and ground in the breaker box (get rid of the bonding). I've
>done this for a client who burnt thru 3 portable inverters (vector,
>whistler, cobra) before he called me in despair. I warned him that this
>quick fix wasn't particularly safe from a shock hazard perspective, but
>he said "Just make the #$&^#&$^ thing work!" so I did.
>
>DAN FINK
>http://www.otherpower.com/
>


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