1000 Watt Inverter Recommendations / Picked one and installed

SameGuy

SameGuy

Observer
I'm on the hunt for a 1000 watt inverter. I will occasionally need to charge my laptop, drone batteries, E-Bike battery, 18 volt makita batteries for various tools. I have no need to run appliances that I can think of. I have a cheapo 400watt inverter but it can't charge the makita batteries and I haven't even tried to charge any of the other items with it, thinking it will be religated to teh scrap heap. Assuming this will be installed in my FWC Hawk, however I do have 4GA wire straight off the battery going into the cab of the truck to run the fridge (which is where it lived before the Hawk) so it could live in the cab too. Maybe I don't even need 1000 watts, but I feel like that should be enough. Thinking Pure sign wave, but again, not sure I need that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
dreadlocks

dreadlocks

Well-known member
This is what I'm installing in my trailer: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L9JG9V7/

The reasons are because its very efficient and consumes very little power idle, however an inverter of this size typically requires a dual battery or lithium setup if you actually use that kind of load.. a single battery setup will be at a very high discharge rate which would greatly reduce your capacity.. You might check out their 800W model, that'd probably be better suited and be more efficient on space/weight/energy.. any bigger than 1000W and you might as well go for a 24v battery setup and cut the amps in half IMO.
 
SameGuy

SameGuy

Observer
Thanks Dread, I was just looking at the 500watt version of this. I've got one of their solar controllers which works like a champ. I'll never be charging all this stuff at once so thinking 1000 watts may be overkill. Also thinking having it in the cab may be the best, especially for the Ebike battery which is 52 volt LIPO, to keep an eye on it while it charges.
 
dreadlocks

dreadlocks

Well-known member
go look at your makita charger power ratings, calculate wattage.. the power supplies often say all this printed on em.. go around and check all this, your ebike and everything.. Volts x Amps = Watts

I'm only going 1k is so I can run a lil microwave and coffee maker, they pull about 900W and 800W respectively at the plug.. Ive got lithium bank backing it so it can dump 100A of power with the same efficiency as 10A, with lead the higher the amps the higher the losses so you need even more capacity.
 
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SameGuy

SameGuy

Observer
Awesome, thank you both for your recommendations. Just went through the chargers I need to use. 240 watt for the Makita, 300 for the Ebike, 30 for the Macbook, not sure about the Drone charger yet as I don't have it but read people are charging them with 150watt inverters. Thinking a 500 watt inverter will do the trick, somewhat hate to get a small one and want a bigger one later, but I just checked my in cab wiring and it is 6ga, not 4 so smaller is probably going to be better. I've considered just getting 12 volt chargers for everything but they don't come cheap and one for the Ebike battery is non existent short of a custom built one which I don't feel like messing with.
 
dreadlocks

dreadlocks

Well-known member
a 500w inverter at 50% load will be more efficient generally than a 1000w inverter at 25% load, if you need more in the future what many people do is run both big inverters and little inverters and use the one they need at the time.. for example many of the big full timers with 3k inverters, and huge battery banks, etc.. will have a couple hundred watt inverter for powering chargers, and running the television because it consumes so much less its worth it.. efficiency for something like a charger or tv that is on for multiple hours has a big impact compared to running like a microwave for 5min to make some ramen.

500W with good surge/start capability sounds like it would be a good choice for you, and would be considered big for a single house battery setup.
 
RichieFromBoston

RichieFromBoston

Member
Ive run a gopower 700 PSW in my rear quarter for a year and half in all conditions and for real its on 8 months out the year and never misses a beat it replaced my magnum energy 1000 watt made in merica that failed.
 
rayra

rayra

Expedition Leader
I've had this low-budget Bestec 1000W for 2-1/2yrs, I've run a bunch of handheld power tools with it, drills, belt sanders, circular saw, weedeater, a few other things, run power strips for charging multiple electronic device wall-warts, radio rechargers. Blenders ;)
It was under $100 but not available right now. And the reviews were running about 1 in 5 had trouble.
https://www.amazon.com/BESTEK-1000W...007SLDDHQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Their smaller 300W unit is heavily bought and reviewed and overwhelmingly favorable, so I figured the 1k might be worth a shot and it has worked out for me. And yeah it's 'cheap crap' but it does what I need it to. If I was looking for a long-term camper inverter I wouldn't go this cheap.

The 300W version. I might buy / build it into the rear bottom of my Sub's center console, where the never used 2nd row cupholders are.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004MDXS0U/ref=dp_cerb_1
 
llamalander

llamalander

Well-known member
Makita makes a 12v. charger that takes 30-50% longer to charge than the AC version, but it may use less power than running a charger off an inverter (which needs to be pure sine).
Victron makes some good inverters, the newer Phoenix models are Bluetooth compatible to see what they are doing, the older ones are not, but <$90 is not bad for 350 watts-

Amazon.com: Victron Power Inverter 350W Phoenix 12/350 350VA: Car Electronics

Buy Victron Power Inverter 350W Phoenix 12/350 350VA: Power Inverters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
500w is about $180, not the cheapest, but reliable kit with a good warrantee.
 
J

JPaul

Observer
llamalander said:
Makita makes a 12v. charger that takes 30-50% longer to charge than the AC version, but it may use less power than running a charger off an inverter (which needs to be pure sine).
Victron makes some good inverters, the newer Phoenix models are Bluetooth compatible to see what they are doing, the older ones are not, but

Amazon.com: Victron Power Inverter 350W Phoenix 12/350 350VA: Car Electronics

Buy Victron Power Inverter 350W Phoenix 12/350 350VA: Power Inverters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
500w is about $180, not the cheapest, but reliable kit with a good warrantee.
Click to expand...
Why does the Makita AC charger need the inverter to be pure sine? The circuitry is probably rectifying it to DC anyway before it does anything with it, and it can do that just fine with a modified sine wave. I've looked into pure sine wave inverters before and couldn't find a real need for them unless I am running my ham radios off them (or near them) or want the ultimate in efficiency.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
SameGuy

SameGuy

Observer
Just installed the victron phoenix 12 / 500 today. Tested it out with all the chargers I plan on using and it worked as advertised. Have it on an Anderson plug as it will split duty between the cab of my truck and my FWC Hawk. IT is a little
larger than I anticipated, but it fits in the two spots it will have it in and isn't too big of a deal to move around.

509347
 
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pdxfrogdog

pdxfrogdog

Adventurer
That’s kind of a recurring theme with inverters, in my experience... they’re always bigger than I thought. You picked a nice one, though. I really like and have had great experiences with Victron gear.
 
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