power inverter for an FEC

[Butcher BBQ]

How do you have the charger and the inverter connected to the battery? Are you using a transfer switch? i was told that if the inverter and charger were hooked to the battery at the same time the inverter would draw power from the charger while AC was connected, and the charger would have to be capable of supplying enough current to supply the load on the inverter. Most chargers aren't capable of doing that. What charger are you using?

A customer of mine in the meat shop, she is an instructor at the largest electrical training centers in the US told me about doing this. If what you say is true I don't know. The point being is the battery is fully charged at all times and when we loose power the inverter doesn't know because of the constant power from the battery and it keeps on ticking. It does work I have lost power twice this year and it works like a champ.

I wll take some pics of the set up and get them posted.

 

[Ron_L]

If it works, who's to argue :-D I'd like to see the pics when you have a chance.

 

[Ron_L]

So i called a couple companies touting this SST stuff to get the true skinny. What ive been told is that over time without SST, it will kill the inverter. Im sure if you brought this up to AIMS, you would get silence on the other end of the phone.

Could be. I looked into SST since the inverters that I am looking at to replace the AIMS have that.

What frosts my pumpkin with AIMS is that they refuse to even look at the inverter. Their policy is to not repair inverters after the warranty expires, so customers who buy their products are SOL. BTW, if it was in warranty they would "offer me a discount on a trade in for a new one". Something just doesn't sound right about that. I'm trying to escalate but hitting roadblocks, so I am going to replace it with a product from a company who cares about their customers.

 

[Smoke'n Ice]

Xantrex units and others that are a combination (both a charger & inverter) have an auto transfer built in and the load does not see the switch. If you use a dual input ac power system (Shore & generator) then a break-before-make transfer switch must be used. Some units on the market have this feature as well. The higher cost units pay for themselves in features such as dual input, dual output, soft start, peak current, effeciency, 3 stage charge, balanced loads, etc.

Unless you are an electrical engineer, I would not recommend cobbling up a system, spend the money and buy one designed to do the job you want. I spent a lot of money each year until I just bit the bullet and bought a high end system and now don't even think about the incoming AC and what others are doing.

 

[SmokinOkie]

Here's the unit I have from tripplite. It's an inverter/charger.

LOVE it. It autochargers, autocutover and works instantly. I've watched my FE's when I cut the power to the unit and the FE's don't even blink.

I run two FE's off of Two deep cell. I get to the contest, hook this up and it charges the batteries automatically.

Had it about 5 years, price has gone up, but I'd buy another one.

Here's a web page with the various sizes of Inverter/Chargers.
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/product-series.cfm?txtSeriesID=818

Russ
http://www.tripplite.com/shared/product-images/med/APS1250-FRONT-M.jpg

 

[monty3777]

This is all really helpful. Thanks. I haven't heard back from Cookshack - when I do I'll let you know what they say.

 

[Haltech]

Here's the unit I have from tripplite. It's an inverter/charger.

LOVE it. It autochargers, autocutover and works instantly. I've watched my FE's when I cut the power to the unit and the FE's don't even blink.

I run two FE's off of Two deep cell. I get to the contest, hook this up and it charges the batteries automatically.

Had it about 5 years, price has gone up, but I'd buy another one.

Here's a web page with the various sizes of Inverter/Chargers.
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/product-series.cfm?txtSeriesID=818

Russ
http://www.tripplite.com/shared/product-images/med/APS1250-FRONT-M.jpg

Hey Russ, whats your battery time with both FE's hooked up on this with battery power? Any pictures of it hooked up? thanks

Kevin

 

[Rich Parker]

This is all really helpful. Thanks. I haven't heard back from Cookshack - when I do I'll let you know what they say.

Use your stickburner and don't worry about the power source. Better yet build a drum! :evil: