Xantrex 1000W Inverter - Comments??

[Brian Graham]

I picked up the Xantrex 1000W on sale for $75 this week. Seems rather nice. Rated for 1000W continuous. Will deliver 1200W for 5 mins with a surge of 2KW. Less than .3A no-load draw. (8ah/day)

I scanned thru the manual last night. They point out electrical code doesn't allow permanant connections through the receptacles on the inverter. But then they talk about battery banks of 4 bats. Yeah, I'm installing 4 bats to run my circular saw.. This is a temporary unit to get things started which will eventually replaced with a 'real' one which will be connected to a stand-alone electrical panel for Solar. I will be using a pony-panel model which has an alternate input to wire in from a gen or perhaps even the mains. The breakers are connected mechanically to ensure no posibbility of both being engaged concurrently (to protect linemen working on the hydro lines from generators back-feeding).

The diagrams with the Xantrex include isolators and such, re: connecting to automotive. No need for that at home. As for fuses, that's going to be one HONKING fuse on the DC. They talked about a 150Amp
in the manual. 2Kw/12=166amp. A 150amp fuse is 1800 Watt AC instead of 2Kw. So would I be losing those potential 200W, or is the draw short enough not to blow the fuse? I would think I lose, unless they're designed as slow-blow. I presume it would have to handle the draw for a few seconds to get a motor started in the deep freeze..

The only other comment of note is where the manual says that wires attached to the unit should not exceed 5 ft. Certainly I can see that with DC but they're talking AC as well. That's likely related to the fact it
has receptacles for AC and not terminals for wiring. I have to expect that internal wiring size is sufficient for the 2KW temp draw and the 1200W draw over 5 mins.

Comments??

 

[Bill Kaszeta / Photovoltaic Resources]

Comments:

* Not UL Listed

I scanned thru the manual last night. They point out electrical code
doesn't allow permanant connections through the receptacles on
the inverter.

Check that the neutral is at ground potential. Many inverters of this
type (including earlier Xantrex units) will be destroyed if the neutral
is grounded
.....

The only other comment of note is where the manual says that
wires attached to the unit should not exceed 5 ft. Certainly I can
see that with DC but they're talking AC as well. That's likely
related to the fact it has receptacles for AC and not terminals
for wiring. I have to expect that internal wiring size is sufficient
for the 2KW temp draw and the 1200W draw over 5 mins.

Not to be wired on the AC side.

Comments??

Bill Kaszeta
Photovoltaic Resources Int'l
Tempe Arizona USA
[email protected]

 

[Brian Graham]

Check that the neutral is at ground potential. Many inverters of this
type (including earlier Xantrex units) will be destroyed if the neutral
is grounded <<

I seem to recall some statement to that effect in the manual. Which if I extrapolate correctly, then running a corded appliance is ok since it doesn't go to ground.

But say you want to run a home lighting circuit from it. If you pulled a circuit out of the main panel, put a plug on it and connected to the Xantrex, you'd still be ok since the neutral still isn't grounded.

BUT, if you connected it the circuit to a pony panel of its own and connected the Xantrex to it, the Xantrex would fry as in the panel, the neutral DOES tie to ground. That sucks!

This is a test unit, but clearly there are limitations to the test. A buddy of mine was talking about getting a Blue Sky mppt charge controller and a couple of deep-cycles to go with this Xantrex. Murphy's Law would say that the mppt would need the ground while the inverter can't have it. Or is he ok to start things going so long as there is no panel which ultimately grounds neutral??