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I need to upgrade my mod sign wave to a pure and Mike suggested a morningstar 300. Product looks good but 300 watts is just a bit low and they dont make a larger unit. Any other good brands and what are they? Does anyone use this morningstar model? Last question is how long can you run a inverter over the base rated load? (a 300w and run it at maybe 400-500w)
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The morningstar suresine is rated 300 w continuously, and 600W for 10 minutes. It's in a massive cast aluminum housing, and if you bolted it to a nice heat sink, I think the time limit of 10 minutes till overheat @ 600W could be extended. maybe 400W for 2 hours. But it's in a class by itself, with that huge overload.
What exactly are you trying to run ?Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister -
There are many good inverter brands out there, however what size inverter are you looking for and for what application? We have a 400w Xantrex pure Sine Wave Inverter. You don't want to go too large on the inverter sizing unless you want to add to your system in the future.[URL="http://www.pvpower.com/"]PVPower.com[/URL]Comment
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Hi Mike,
What I want to run is my 55" tv, cable box and a box fan for the room. I work during the day and will soon have 3 batteries to charge off of 2 80 Sharp panels. Charging shouldn't be a problem. With that load I am pushing the 300W rating. If I decide to charge my laptop and run a room light it might go over that 300w.Comment
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Well, you could look at the labels on the back of the devices, and add up the watts. You also want to look at inverter efficiency, why get a 70% efficient,when you could get 90% if it meets the wattage. I would feel comfortable pushing the Morningstar suresine to it's full 300W, but not a cheap import. There was a lot of clever design in the suresine that cheaper inverters wont bother with. But, the loads have to match the power available.
As for batteries, and charging, you need to KNOW how many hours you will be running the 300W load. Then add 20% losses, and convert to amp hours, size the battery so each session only pulls 30% power out of the batteries, and then size the PV to replenish the batteries in 5 charging hours, with 30% losses.
So if you consume 600Wh each night, you need to harvest 900Wh in a 5 hour day.Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-ListerComment
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