Sterling 1600 pure sine inverter issues STERLING POWER PRO SIB121600 (1 Viewer)

Techno

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Anyone got one and encountering the screaming banshee of an under voltage alarm?

Mine confronted with a 1350watt kettle (well below continuous rating) immediately goes into under voltage alert and indicates 10.1 to 10.4 volts on the front display. The voltage at the terminals with an independant meter reads 11.9. The kettle continues until boiled but I have to suffer the alarm caused by an incorrect reading.
Sterling concede the front reading is not accurate but I pointed out that this is not good if this reading is responsible for the noise when it is advertised as relatively silent operation.

These are not cheap and I thought I'd made a good investment but just now it is sh!te
 
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Techno

Techno

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Whats the voltage at your inverter DC terminals under load?

I said that above 11.9
The inverter reads over 1.5 volts too low

Also my previous 1800 watt Sterling never pulled them below 11.9 either and that was with 375ah I now have 500ah
Inverter is connected with 70mm
Broken Link Removed
 
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Forestboy

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Glad I read this I've been considering buying the same one for ages. Torn between a Sterling or a cheaply off fleabay think I'll eventually go the cheaply route as it'll mostly only run small items and very occasionally wife's hair dryer for 5 minutes max.
 
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Techno

Techno

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Glad I read this I've been considering buying the same one for ages. Torn between a Sterling or a cheaply off fleabay think I'll eventually go the cheaply route as it'll mostly only run small items and very occasionally wife's hair dryer for 5 minutes max.

I only stuck with Sterling because I already have the remote switch installed. Now I wish I'd bought a cheapo and wired a remote in parallel with the inbuilt switch :Doh:

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Techno

Techno

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Tech dept want me to repackage it and send it to them for examination. This is hugely inconvenient and I don't have the time nor do I want to be without it. So I'll have to suffer until a more appropriate time :cry: I just wondered if it is just mine.
 

hilldweller

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I'd worry about small (delicate) item on a whacking big non-sine cheapie inverter. I've just a 300 sine wave. Not afraid to plug in various chargers in that.
 
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Techno

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I'd worry about small (delicate) item on a whacking big non-sine cheapie inverter. I've just a 300 sine wave. Not afraid to plug in various chargers in that.

I'm sure he meant a cheapie pure sine :thumb:

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hilldweller

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Yep I did mean pure sine but at a fraction of the price and loads of good reviews.
Pay your money and take the chance I suppose.

Well, just plug your cheapest small items first.

Plan B. Good quality 300 and cheap brute force one for hair dryer.

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JockandRita

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We've just changed the 300w mod sine wave inverter for a 1500w one, (courtesy of Suggy), which runs Rita's 1200w hair drier, and the 900w vacuum cleaner. It comes with a built in 5w USB charging port.
Apart from testing it out, we've not really had a chance to use it in anger yet.

Cheers,

Jock.

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Jul 29, 2007
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Been using an 1800watt modified sine from sterling for about 8 years now, never found anything it wouldn't run, phone chargers, hairdryers, telly's, computors ect.

Ian
 

funflair

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Hi Andy

Seems a bit basic to me, if you measure the voltage to set off an alarm at least calibrate the bloody voltmeter properly, not fit for purpose.

Ours is a Merlin but more than twice the price.

Martin
 
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I have just in the past ten minutes photographed the battery voltage at the inverter terminals as 13.42 so float charge from Solars .
I then turned it on and got the wife to switch on the 1350 watt kettle and the voltage gradually came down and settled at 11.91
The voltage on the inverter display was showing 10.1 at this time and immediately sounds the under voltage alarm. This is a 1.8volt difference which is at least 10% in error
Will at sterling admitted the meter is not accurate but it's not good enough if it causes all this noise because it is so far out .
I'll add pictures when I have better connection

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Techno

Techno

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LOAD OFF voltage at inverter terminals
CA_06281410322085-M.jpg

LOAD ON voltage at inverter terminals
CA_06281410314842-M.jpg

LOAD ON inverter indication
CA_06281410312020-M.jpg
 
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Maplins excellent Multimeter. When I bought mine they were doing BOGOF on them, so I got one for home and one for the van.

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Techno

Techno

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Worst case, a man of your talent could fit a switch in line with that noise.

Brian you are right but this time I have been very careful to alter nothing as my 1800 watt sterling packed in and I know my warranty is worth nothing because I increased the cable size.
Strangely Sterling recommend much larger cable on their new models that come without whilst the 1800 watt unit is supplied with 4AWG or 21mm which is about half the size it should be!
 

jhorsf

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You have a choice really money back or try another one but if you do try another I would insist they bench test it first to make sure it works properly you don't want to be changing it more than once:thumb:

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Brian you are right but this time I have been very careful to alter nothing as my 1800 watt sterling packed in and I know my warranty is worth nothing because I increased the cable size.
Strangely Sterling recommend much larger cable on their new models that come without whilst the 1800 watt unit is supplied with 4AWG or 21mm which is about half the size it should be!

Just out of interest, it that "half the size it should be" for continuous operation or for the typical use in a campervan? Nobody is going to draw 1.6 kW for long from batteries so I would guess that a degree of "under-speccing" would be okay. (In the same way that house wiring could never cope with 13 amps drawn from every socket).

I would think that cable spec should be rated against how long it takes your partner to dry her hair. :roflmto:

Tim
 
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Techno

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It is half the size it needs to be for the 250amp recommended fuse. 21mm is good for 135amps

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haganap

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Hi Andy, Glad I picked up this post.

I have exactly the same model and problem with my microwave.

I had the 1800w the same as yours and sold it to David to fund a new pure sine inverter. Having mqany sterling products I assumed that it would be good to go with them. Anyhow, all i wanted was my microwave to produce warm milk for my brekkie and Nikki's god dam hair straighteners to work.

Well the Hair straightners work fine but the buzzing on overload when using the microwave is doing my head in. I have looked at all the lit on the MW and is well below what is required to be run off the inverter. Worse still the inverter does actually do what it should and heat the milk, but as you say the "noise" when doing milk in the morning is doing my head in.... I'm sure the inverter is not faulty but getting quite cross with this problem so keep me updated for any improvement.
 
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Techno

Techno

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You have a choice really money back or try another one but if you do try another I would insist they bench test it first to make sure it works properly you don't want to be changing it more than once:thumb:

The correct response I would expect given the information I provided would be for a replacement to be sent to me with return post paid label for the duffer.
I have limited time and I'm mainly away from home just now so I can't do with the hassle
 
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Techno

Techno

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Hi Andy, Glad I picked up this post.

I have exactly the same model and problem with my microwave.

I had the 1800w the same as yours and sold it to David to fund a new pure sine inverter. Having mqany sterling products I assumed that it would be good to go with them. Anyhow, all i wanted was my microwave to produce warm milk for my brekkie and Nikki's god dam hair straighteners to work.

Well the Hair straightners work fine but the buzzing on overload when using the microwave is doing my head in. I have looked at all the lit on the MW and is well below what is required to be run off the inverter. Worse still the inverter does actually do what it should and heat the milk, but as you say the "noise" when doing milk in the morning is doing my head in.... I'm sure the inverter is not faulty but getting quite cross with this problem so keep me updated for any improvement.

Well the whole point of my post was to find out if it was more than mine and if it is a design flaw. It seems now mine is not unique. I will email Sterling and point them to this Topic!

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