Where can I get a pure sine wave inverter with a cutoff

[RenewablesRock]

There seems to be several YouTube videos of people running small A/C's on solar setsups. When I see people running large inverters directly to their batteries, what is stopping that inverter from destroying the battery by running it below 10.5 or 10.7 volts? If you're using a 2000 or 3000 watt inverter, you would burn up a charge controller by connecting it to the load side. The charge controller could easily stop it from using too much power. I don't see any configurations for these nice inverters to safely shut off once the battery level drops below a certain point. Some of these inverters can use upwards up to 200 amps at 12V.

This is the inverter I am interested in buying right now:

https://www.renogy.com/renogy-2000w-12v-off-grid-pure-sine-wave-battery-inverter-w-cables/

I have seen lots of cheaper inverters on Amazon only to see several 1 star reviews explaining how they burned up and how the companies don't stand behind their products. Many people have good luck with them, but it seems like every company had some bad ones. It's the nature of the beast.

While this Renogy above looks good, I don't see any way for it to stop from self-destructing my battery bank if left unattended. Correct me if I'm wrong (that's why I'm here.)

The above is $429 which is close enough in my price range. I've seen 1,000 watt inverters power a small A/C on YouTube for 1/4th the price. So I could imagine a 2,000 watt by a reputable company would do better. I just wish it had an Auto Off switch. Or does it?

I've seen $89 inverters that can run a small A/C, but I want to run large screen TV's to watch in bed while we watch the news before, during and after a hurricane. I would rather have a pure sine wave inverter instead of a modified sine wave. Or will a modified sine wave be good enough to run our 55" TV without damage?

These are the inverters I am using right now (see attached photo). Last year, they seemed to run my TV for a short while without incident. I don't want to do any long term damage. Or am I paranoid and are these plenty fine to run a TV forever without incident? If so, I will just run an extension cord to the other bedroom and run the TV off of these for now on. This 55" Samsung is used for nearly 6-10+ hours per day. I need to put the Kill A Watt on it and see how much energy it's sucking down to be more accurate.

[mtucker]

A lot of inverters have a low-voltage warning and/or cutoff. I looked at the 2000W Renogy you are looking at. It says there is a low voltage alarm, but I didn't see anything about a cut off. Also, they didn't specify the voltage that causes the warning. Other inverters (like this 1800W Xantrex, 11.0V alarm, 10.5V shutdown) have both and specify the voltage. http://www.xantrex.com/power-product...rowatt-sw.aspx

[Mike90250]

Anything with a motor (air con, fridge, furnace motor, pumps, fans) needs to run on pure sinewave. Mod sine causes heating in motors, and consumes more power than pure sine would (mod sine inverters can be more efficient with resistive loads, but inductive loads (motors) cause increased consumption)

Many TV's have a power brick switching supply and are likely to run OK on a mod sine inverter

[RenewablesRock]

Thanks for the link to the Xantrex.

Also, by the time I spend a fortune on batteries, it looks like I am better off just buying this A/C unit:

http://www.hotspotenergy.com/solar-air-conditioner/

I had no idea such a thing existed. I could run this every day for daytime cooling and not worry about the hassle of owning 10+ batteries to keep a small portable A/C running. I bet if I bought two of these A/C units and put one at each end of the house, the central A/C would hardly ever run and then I could run 100% A/C from the sun during the day.

Why are more people not making A/C units that run 100% on solar panels? That's cool that this A/C unit has a DC powered motor and you string three solar panels in series to make it run. I have a whole bunch of solar panels, so using 3 to power an A/C unit is nothing. Then when the power outages come during the day, I won't even feel it.

[Guest]

I know that a company's products are quite complete, you may be able to go there and see if you have what you need:

Mod note: please do not attach advertising links on your post.

[bcroe]

Also, by the time I spend a fortune on batteries, it looks like I am better off just buying this A/C unit:

I had no idea such a thing existed. I could run this every day for daytime cooling and not worry about the hassle of owning 10+ batteries to keep a small portable A/C running. I bet if I bought two of these A/C units and put one at each end of the house, the central A/C would hardly ever run and then I could run 100% A/C from the sun during the day.

Why are more people not making A/C units that run 100% on solar panels? That's cool that this A/C unit has a DC powered motor and you string three solar panels in series to make it run. I have a whole bunch of solar panels, so using 3 to power an A/C unit is nothing. Then when the power outages come during the day, I won't even feel it.

Those are quite similar to the AC only units I am running here, but mine have a SEER of 30. 3 panels may not
be enough if sun is marginal, and of course no night operation without the grid. They can save a lot of heating
energy in winter, but typically the sun is even less available. A grid tie solves those problems. Bruce Roe

[RenewablesRock]

Those are quite similar to the AC only units I am running here, but mine have a SEER of 30. 3 panels may not
be enough if sun is marginal, and of course no night operation without the grid. They can save a lot of heating
energy in winter, but typically the sun is even less available. A grid tie solves those problems. Bruce Roe

In South Florida, the sun is rarely marginal. How can I spend no more than $1,000 to have solar power A/C running 2/47? Why is this such a mission to accomplish? This should be be a big deal to do.

[bcroe]

In South Florida, the sun is rarely marginal. How can I spend no more than $1,000 to have solar power A/C running 2/47? Why is this such a mission to accomplish? This should be be a big deal to do.

When you figure that out, tell us. Bruce Roe

[RenewablesRock]

When you figure that out, tell us. Bruce Roe

I'm fighting tooth and nail to do it. So far I think it's going to cost about $1200 to have solar powered air conditioning for 9,000 BTU. The batteries are the deal killer. I need at least 600 amp hours at 48 volts for this A/C system that I'm trying to buy. I can't find any cheap in door batteries. I've seen like $400 for each 150 Ah battery where if I get them directly from China I can get them for around $150/ea.

[littleharbor]

I'm fighting tooth and nail to do it. So far I think it's going to cost about $1200 to have solar powered air conditioning for 9,000 BTU. The batteries are the deal killer. I need at least 600 amp hours at 48 volts for this A/C system that I'm trying to buy. I can't find any cheap in door batteries. I've seen like $400 for each 150 Ah battery where if I get them directly from China I can get them for around $150/ea.

Again that's 16, 150 ah. 12 volt batteries.

[SunEagle]

In South Florida, the sun is rarely marginal. How can I spend no more than $1,000 to have solar power A/C running 2/47? Why is this such a mission to accomplish? This should be be a big deal to do.

Basic answer is that sales people tend to provide false information when it comes to solar. Realistic costs for an off grid solar/battery system are much higher even purchasing bargain basement equipment.

Some of the worst loads you can try to run are the A/C or Heating units. Second worse are big watt users like Micro waves.

Welcome to reality.

[RenewablesRock]

Basic answer is that sales people tend to provide false information when it comes to solar. Realistic costs for an off grid solar/battery system are much higher even purchasing bargain basement equipment.

Some of the worst loads you can try to run are the A/C or Heating units. Second worse are big watt users like Micro waves.

Welcome to reality.

Yeah, it's a buzz kill. But if a hurricane comes and there's no gas and the power is out, I want to be ready and have some ventilation of some kind. I hate generators.

[SunEagle]

Yeah, it's a buzz kill. But if a hurricane comes and there's no gas and the power is out, I want to be ready and have some ventilation of some kind. I hate generators.

I also live in Florida up in Brooksville. So far I have had to use my 5500w generator less than 4 times since I purchased it back in 2004 mostly for outages from hurricanes. I have a Class A RV with a 75 gallon gas tank and it's own 5500w gen. Along with those two generators I also have a couple of smaller ones (3250w & 1800w) with the 3250w running on bottled gas so I have some flexibility to get some amount of power should gasoline run out.

And if you have read any of my past posts I built 2 small solar/battery systems (400w & 80w) the can provide some back up for specific loads but in reality the cost for those were way too much compare to what a nice 2000w inverter type unit would be.

While I may have gone overboard on the number of gen sets I firmly believe in options with flexibility to keep some of the lights on and fans running.

[RenewablesRock]

I also live in Florida up in Brooksville. So far I have had to use my 5500w generator less than 4 times since I purchased it back in 2004 mostly for outages from hurricanes. I have a Class A RV with a 75 gallon gas tank and it's own 5500w gen. Along with those two generators I also have a couple of smaller ones (3250w & 1800w) with the 3250w running on bottled gas so I have some flexibility to get some amount of power should gasoline run out.

And if you have read any of my past posts I built 2 small solar/battery systems (400w & 80w) the can provide some back up for specific loads but in reality the cost for those were way too much compare to what a nice 2000w inverter type unit would be.

While I may have gone overboard on the number of gen sets I firmly believe in options with flexibility to keep some of the lights on and fans running.

But the thing is, you pay all that money for those and they sit and do nothing until you actually have an emergency. If I am going to invest all kinds of money in backup power, I want to use it 24/7. Like right now I am using lighting and ventilation provided by my batteries and inverters. I use them every day. I just want to get this off-grid A/C worked out. It looks like it's a bit of work to get it functioning. And since it's coming from China, then I have to worry about when it breaks and who's going to fix it. Or if it even works right when I set it up.

[J.P.M.]

But the thing is, you pay all that money for those and they sit and do nothing until you actually have an emergency. If I am going to invest all kinds of money in backup power, I want to use it 24/7. Like right now I am using lighting and ventilation provided by my batteries and inverters. I use them every day. I just want to get this off-grid A/C worked out. It looks like it's a bit of work to get it functioning. And since it's coming from China, then I have to worry about when it breaks and who's going to fix it. Or if it even works right when I set it up.

Pay your money, take your choice. Another testament to the blessings of the grid. Fact is, for just about all the time and except for emergency/way off the norm times, it's next to impossible to beat grid supplied power for safety, value, reliability and ease of use. Hell, if it wasn't for the net metering made possible by the very existence of the grid, PV applications might still be limited to powering calculators and satellites or charging batteries for the energizer bunny.

It is not too much of an overstatement to say grid distributed electricity is one of the bedrocks of civilization as we know it, as anyone who has ever lived without it can easily attest. For one thing, in all likelihood, you wouldn't be reading this as the net wouldn't exist, at least probably not as we know it.