Outback Inverters

[grantracy]

I am considering swapping out my Trace Inverters for later technology Outback inverters...anybody have any experience with them? Good/bad?

[jack14r]

I have had mine in the Liberty for 4 years and they have been perfect,you can adjust all the battery charging rates as well at the amount of time in each mode.I will invert at night sometimes with 1 cruise air on,the bay that the inverters are in must be vented well as the units do make a good deal of heat while inverting as well as when they are charging the batteries.It is very easy to adjust the charging rates which is useful on a hot day when all AC units are drawing max current and the batteries really don't need max charge.

[grantracy]

I was told that the only peculiar aspect is they can't be adjusted to account for less than 50 amps when using a 30 amp incoming ...I think I'm saying it right

[JIM KELLER]

Granville, Are you sure you want to replace the whole Barn if it just needs a new Door ? The units you have are dependable and repairable. Dave Gusdorf in N.M is working on one of mine at this time. Easy fix. No moving parts except a fan to keep them cool.

[grantracy]

Both of mine are apparently shot due to water damage , repairs are 1500 on the low side 3000 on the high side each. New inverters would be 2- 4 k more depending. I am told Trace( xantrax) is no longer supporting or mfg replacement parts so it is a matter of time before Trace owners will be forced to switch...don't want to do it ,but...

[Gil_J]

When looking at your options I would not overlook the pure sine wave inverter/chargers from Magnum Energy.

[jack14r]

The minimum charge rate for the inverters is 5 amps of 120 volts AC,mine are each on their on leg of current,so I can turn both chargers off or either one off if the incoming is not adequate.

[Steve Bennett]

The Outback inverters are good inverters. They do have the ability to be adjusted for low incoming amperage. They are typically set up as a master/slave which would require different wiring in the coach. I would also tell you they are the least user friendly inverter to operate. They have a non-intuitive/password protected interface, and many of our customers have a lot of difficulty operating them. They typically are operated from a single remote control, that operates each inverter by changing the specific inverter in the menu. I would also recommend that you look at the Magnum's, they are inexpensive, very user friendly, and we have had good luck with them. The Outback is probably a higher quality unit, but the challenges in operating them, may offset that. We have delt with the Outback's in Foretravels, American Coaches, and Liberty's. I get many calls from our customers with programing issues. If you go that route, I would make sure that whoever does the installation has extensive experience with them.

[grantracy]

So after all this decided to install refurbished trace inverters, the more I heard about newer ones the less impressed I am.

[BenC]

The biggest consideration to retrofitting Outback or Magnum inverters into a Vantare or a Parliament coach is that the existing 4000W Trace Units have two AC inputs. They synchronize with each AC source (either shore cord or generator), and actually operate in parallel with that source. There is NO "automatic transfer switch" in these coaches because the inverters ARE the transfer switch for each AC leg respectively.
The installation of Outback Inverters into a Marathon Coach would be a little easier, but there are still issues that keep that retrofit from being a "Plug-and-Play" situation.
There ARE still Trace SW4024MC2 inverters out there, or the other alternative, with which I will be experimenting in the coming months, the Victron Energy Quattros. These units have the same basic design idea as the SW-series Trace/Xantrex, but with up-to-date network capabilities, less user-interaction (aside from setting the Shore Cord size like the SW's), and Series AND/OR Parrallel-Stacking capability. I will write a formal evaluation of the use/operation as well as retrofit-ability as a replacement for the Trace SW-series as soon as I have completed my testing and evaluations.