Correct Invertor for my system

[porpoise]

Good morning I am new to the site so bear with my inexperience. I have a small holiday chalet which has been wired up professionally by a local electrician with double sockets in three small rooms. My shed has a solar panel (not sure of size but will check on a future visit) this is supplying two 12v leisure batteries outside but close to where the wires feed the power supply inside. The inverter I currently use is a 600w purchased from Maplins around 2 years ago. The only Thing I use within the chalet is very low energy light bulbs in two bedrooms, a small Roberts ration and charging an iPhone or iPad now and then. In the sitting room a chandelier with 6 low energy dimmable candle bulbs. The issue that has recently developed is the radio will be on but cuts out momentarily, 2-3 seconds, then comes back on. This may only happen for a short while then everything is fine for hours or longer. Also I may be charging a mobile I get the beep telling me it's not charging but within seconds it's charging again. I rarely use the chandelier but often if I put it on it flickers continuously. When I first had the system this never happened. I have been advised that it is best to use a pure sine wave inverter. I have no idea about electrics so not sure if the fault lies with the cheap Maplins inverter or should I upgrade to something more trustworthy. Looking on Amazon it is a minefield. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Mike90250]

Dimmable lights will almost certainly need a Pure Sine wave inverter. And if your dimmer is ruined, a new dimmer. Pure Mod Sine wave is really only useful for incandescent bulbs and toasters. Electronics all work on PSW. Some electronics can work on mod-sine , except for the ones that don't

[Tecnodave]

@Mike90250,

did you say " pure sine wave is really only useful for incadensent light bulbs and toasters". and really thought "modified sine wave is only useful for incadensent light bulbs and toasters" Ok I will buy that, old age has way of creeping in there......mind working faster than fingers type, I'm guilty of doing that!

@porpoise,

you need a pure sine wave inverter, I'm going to guess that you are in the u.k. so I don't know what is available there but Morningstar' makes a very good sine wave inverter that you may want to check out, it's called the Sure-Sine, rated 300 watts at 12 volts, and real quality, they just work great, idle at a very low draw of 6 or 8 watts, can't remember which.....anyway very good unit with a very good reputation

[porpoise]

Yes I am in the UK. I did not realise this was a US forum but hey solar in the UK cant be different from solar in the US other than brand names I guess. I much appreciate the advice. The system in the UK is 230AC and our chalet is fully wired the inverter suplies the AC power. We only use the sockets for charging the iphone and ipads alon with a lampstand perhaps and low energy light bulbs. We do not use anything with high drain. The original system worked for around three years then the alarm kept going off on the inverter. I replaced the two leisure batteries and invertor two years ago. It has been fine until recently now the radio momentarily cuts out and the dimmer lights flicker but the wall lights are fine. Could it be a faulty inverter. Thanks once again

[Tecnodave]

Porpoise,

Skip the Morningstar Sure-Sine as I beleive it is only available in 120 volt, afaik....never been to u.k. but my partner is from Liverpool, it took a while to figure out king's English vs American English, your wording gave you away...

I do electrical on a daily basis and forget only America uses 120/240 volt split phase, the rest of the world is 230 volts except Japan 100 volts?

[Mike90250]

My bad, I thought mod and typed pure.
> Pure Mod Sine wave is really only useful for incandescent bulbs and toasters.

The Morningstar Suresine 300, can be ordered with 220V output for Euro usage.

https://www.morningstarcorp.com/products/suresine/ Model Numbers:

SI-300-115V-UL (60 Hz)
SI-300-220V (50 Hz)