powerstar inverters

[tonigau]

I am thinking of getting one of those powerstar 12V input 3kW / 24V input 4kW sinewave inverters.
Has anyone got any experience with these ie: regarding reliability & low load efficiency or any other issues.

They operate similar to UPS where can accept mains/genny input for charging & load supply & will changeover to inverter operation with mains fail.

They are reasonably priced for the power level 550 ~750 au$

Thanks

 

[tonigau]

The sales blurb says "pure sinewave inverter"

However in the manual it says "Output wave form: Pure sine wave or quasi sine wave"
Asking specific question gets no answer from distributor.

It would seem the sinewave output may be just when input is connected to mains or generator source (bypass mode) & quasi wave output when running on inverter ?? Which is not a sinewave inverter

This is no good to me (if my suspicions are correct) as I want to power microwave & small lathe/mill CSCR motors.


snippet from manual front page...

 

[RCinFLA]

Small operation in China. Sounds like pot-luck.

It appears to be something similar to an Outback inverter. Hope the Chinese understand the subtleties of high freq PWM'g of a low freq transformer with regards to core bias build up.

 

[bryan1]

Hi tonigau.
A few years ago I bought a 24 volt 3kw sinewave inverter from Kipoint directly from Taiwan. I use it in my shed and it happily powers both of my lathes and my bridgeport milling machine. I used Delta VFD's they and convert single phase input to 3 phase output with full speed control etc. About the only things the inverter won't run is my 3 hp aircon and my caddy welder as the startup surge is over the max of the inverter. I've recommended those inverters to many people and not one person has had any problems with them.

Regards Bryan

 

[tonigau]

Thanks guys,

its just a bit confusing when there are different versions of the "same" specification OEM web, supplier web, manual etc.... & some stating quasi sine output.

I will have a good look at the Kipoint inverters , compare specs of their different models.

Toni

 

[brarmstr]

I hope you didn't buy one of these units the biggest problem with these power hungry units it the idle power consumption i have the 3/9kw unit 12 volt idle power 9 amps or 108watts idle 48 volt unit 228 watts idle and if the unit stuffs up good luck in getting the parts , the unit doesn't work to good in areas above 35 Celsius, the unit needs extra cooling fans , the main board blew up on mine , the most power been used at the time was 200watts now waiting for the main board replacement and still waiting Stay clear of these units, one thing good is i live in the country we only have 1 fm radio station all the rest are relayed am weak station and these units do not cause radio interference were all the other i have tested wiped the am band out one inverter intererfered with radios 150 meters away people were not happy lol

 

[tonigau]

Thanks for the info Barmstr,

I ended up recovering a decomissioned 2.5kW 48V input Industrial UPS, it has duplicated output (runs 1 half for better efficiency), after fixing the corrosion caused by the cooling fans (dust+moisture) & a few new IGBT's it runs very well off the big battery, nice low harmonic, low distortion sine output.
I added thermal control for the fans & they rarely come on.

 

[Chrustie]

Hi - new here I am. I've had a 3000W 24V W7 for four years of trouble free service, powering everything from a tiny induction motor to a great washing machine while the fridge and microwave are going. A water leak killed it a few months ago and I bought another while trying to get this one repaired. No luck so far. But the new one runs like a dream on my 512a/h 24V battery bank fed by 1800W of panels, and the old one has never let me down until a storm with flooding drowned it. There are many versions on the market. My new one is a Tomahawk brand which has three power points on the back and an LCD screen of varying readability. Advice - always keep this unit BONE DRY! cheers Chrustie