Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 09, 2025 ...

Title says it all - I'm in the market, seeking opinions from the collective.

Our current (ha, ha) inverter is the original Taytronics I-1500 modified sine wave unit.  It is still functioning, but at our recent first attempt at boon-docking (Q), we had a few issues.  We used it mainly to power our Samsung residential fridge.  During the night, it seemed to pull our house batteries down rather quickly.  It required 2-3 hours each morning, and 2-3 hours each evening running the generator to keep the batteries topped off.  We have 2 fresh 8D AGM house batts, and a good 4-stage converter/charger.

Also, the inverter would occasionally kick off line during the night, for no apparent reason.  The battery voltage would still be good, and the "Overload" light would be off.  Pushing the reset button would put it back on line for the rest of the night.

ANYWAY, for these reasons, and just because I'm trying to update all the coach systems (as funds permit), I'm in the market for a new inverter.  Here are my general shopping parameters:

1.  As much as possible, I'd like a "direct replacement" for the original unit, which means it can use the existing battery input cables, can be "hard-wired" into the output circuit, and will physically fit in the existing space (there is lots of room).

2.  Must be Pure Sine Wave inverter only.  I already have a good separate charger/converter.

3.  Would be big enough to handle residential fridge plus convection oven/microwave, but not too big (to reduce parasitic draw).  I'm thinking around 2000 watt should do it.

The unit linked below looks like it meets requirements, but I know nothing about the company.  Anybody have any recommendations?
(I did search the Forum for info, but most entries were either dated (old) or pertained to combination inverter-chargers.)

Amazon.com: Go Power! GP-SW2000-12 2000-Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter: Automotive

You should understand and watch for some pitfalls with some (coughChinesecough) inverters.

1. Many of them do not come with any provisions for connecting them to a circuit breaker (or fuse) panel. They have AC plug-in sockets only. Avoid these.

2. If you do buy one without a way to wire it into your system, you will probably get an inverter where the total wattage of the unit is divided by the number of AC plugins which limits usable power. For instance, a PSW inverter with 3 plugs installed on it would only provide 500 watts to each plugin. This would not work for a microwave although it might be good enough for a residential fridge.

3. Some of them have plastic cases which do not dissipate heat very well.

4. The larger the inverter, the greater the "idle" current. What you want is a unit with under 1-amp of idle current.

5. Most of the time the inverter marketing information doesn't mention any of these.

So you have to read the questions and answers. As recently as two years ago no one suspected they were limiting the outlets. Now at least a few people do and usually someone asks in the Q&A part (on Amazon).

I *think* this one would do the job: Amazon.com : 2000W Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter 4000W Peak 12VDC to 110VAC...

It has a way to connect to a circuit breaker panel (in which case you probably should not use the outlets on the device itself). You can see the wiring connectors to the circuit breaker panel if you mouse over the photo. It will provide full power to the panel. It draws 0.8 amps on idle. It appears to have a metal case. It has a remote.

If I were looking right now, I'd probably give this one a try. Price is not too bad. $319.

Craig

The no-name issue is only an issue if you compare it to Magnum (and maybe Trip-Lite and Morningstar). Many of the "names" are made in China (including Xantrex according to HandyBob). HandyBob also thinks that all (or most) of the "name" brands that are made in China (Samlex, Power Bright, etc) are crap but there are also good reviews on many of them.

The Samlex that Kenhat linked to is also on Amazon at about the same price. The single review was only 2 stars but the comments the reviewer made seem to indicate that the unit performs much better than the low rating. A comment to the rating claims that the PST series Samlex inverters are built to a higher standard. Here's a link to the Samlex unit on Amazon: Amazon.com: Samlex 1500W Pure Sine Wave Inverter PST-1500-12: Electronics. But Samlex is on HandyBob's "list". Nevertheless, for just under $500 it looks pretty suitable to me and the 0.8-amp idle current looks good, too.

I have one of the no-name Chinese inverters - one that divides the available power between the number of receptacles, actually (bought before I knew they did that) - and it's worked well for us. The idle current is only 0.5-amps and the sine wave (on an oscilloscope) looks ok. But I bought this unit as a temporary inverter until I had a better plan. I think the Samlex 1500 is superior but it didn't exist 3 years ago when I bought my inverter. I have not tried to wire it into any of the RV's "house" circuits - our RV was built back when inverters were pretty rare - and, like Dakota Slim, I just start the generator up if we need the microwave. We just plug things into the inverter if we need to... or put a power strip on for multiple use. Mostly we have used it to just charge laptops, tablets and cell phones.

In general I prefer to use lower powered inverters for specific uses rather than one big inverter. Since big inverters also have big idle currents, this can reduce power use. It's also easier to simply turn on the inverter for the front TV/BluRay as needed and then just turn it off when I'm done. Samlex, for instance, offers a 120-watt PST pure sine inverter for $97 (DonRowe.com: Samlex PST-120-12, 12 Volt, 120 Watt Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter) that will run my front LED HDTV and BluRay player. This has zero idle-current because when we're done watching a movie we turn all of it - including the inverter - off. I have another small PSW inveter for the Tailgater Dish satellite unit and rear LED HTDV. Both simply plug into a cigarette lighter plug which is handy in both locations. (I checked power draw using a Kill-a-Watt unit before doing any of this, by the way.)

Trip-Lite has been around for a long time but you have to be careful when you search for them because their specs don't always mention whether the inverter is modified sine-wave or give the idle current (or efficiency). In fact, if the specs on any inverter do not specifically state "Pure Sine Wave" then it's almost certainly a MSW unit. And very few of them will give you the idle current; at least not without some searching.

Trip-Lite has what appears to be an excellent PSW hard-wired inverter/charger: Amazon.com: TRIPP LITE APS2012SW 2000 Watt 12 Volt Inverter / Charger Pure... for just under $1,000 at Amazon. This is also a charger, however. And it looks big. And I could not find any mention of idle current. I think these are intended for use at server rooms to provide UPS.

Magnum's are the no-brainer installation for inverters. But they do not offer a 1500-watt in PSW and they all include a charger. It's a pretty good charger, though. Also, idle current can be high... ranging from 0.5 amps (which is good) to about 1.5-amps (not so good) depending upon the mode. I'm seriously considering moving to one of their load-sharing hybrid inverter/chargers in two years. Partly because my Onan is 22 years old and I'm not at all sure how long it will continue to operate and a hybrid inverter along with one of the 2,000 watt Yamaha generators would let us run at least one A/C (with our solar system). But not yet because I do not know what I'll be doing in two years. But Magnum is up front with its specs and you can be sure that what you get will do what you bought it to do.

None of this is easy since marketing seems to demand that it's better to confuse potential buyers than to be honest with them. Like LED flashlights which invent all sorts of new methods to rate their light output in a way that cannot be accurately compared to any other unit.

YMMV
Craig