Morningstar Suresine

Saggys

For those that have one, can the Suresine power a 750 watt toaster? I know it is only rated at 600 watt surge, but a toaster is a resistive load.

mcgivor

The Sure sine is rated at 300W, the 750W toaster will immediately overload it, probably blowing the fuses, the surge rating is a momentary rating not continuous, to allow for initial inrush of a motor for example. 

Saggys

I thought they had a 20 minute 600 watt surge rating? Looks like a bigger inverter or a smaller toaster. Really like the Suresines small self consumption of power, hard to beat on a small system.

mcgivor

Peak power rating 600W for 10 minutes at 25°C, after which derating applies, quite impressive for a small inverter without a fan, but still too small.

Estragon

I doubt it will run, but I don't think it will hurt to try. A couple of times someone has plugged a too-big load in while running the small inverter at the cabin. The MS squawks and disconnects, but isn't damaged. There may be an ultimate limit to the size of overload it can deal with, but I haven't found it yet.

IIRC, the fuse will blow on a DC polarity reversed connection, not overload.

Saggys

Not too many options for a low power toaster or single slice toaster.

ILFE

Saggys said:

For those that have one, can the Suresine power a 750 watt toaster? 

Nope. Nada. Won't happen.

Saggys

> @ILFE said:
> Saggys said:
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> For those that have one, can the Suresine power a 750 watt toaster? 
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> Nope. Nada. Won't happen.

Thanks for the info.
Plus Minus Zero makes a single slice toaster with mixed reviews. It is made in Japan and rated 100 volts 500 watts. Should be 600 watts at 120 volts.

ILFE

Saggys said:

Not too many options for a low power toaster or single slice toaster.

Toast your bread over an open campfire, in a cast iron skillet. It will turn out better than by electricity anyway.

mike95490

ILFE said:

Toast your bread over an open campfire, in a cast iron skillet. It will turn out better than by electricity anyway.

That ends up being fry bread or carbonized bread, it's never really toast.  I'm tried them all, campfire rack, gas stove top 4 slice toaster, teflon fry pan, cast iron pan, ever the gadget for the catalytic propane heater.  Closest thing is the gas broiler. SWMBO wants real toast.

2manytoyz

Why not get a bigger inverter for $100 more?  I bought a Xantrex Prowatt SW2000 (1800W continuous) inverter for $325.  It'll easily run your toaster, plus many other things.  Just be sure to use the recommended 4/0 cable, and enough batteries to keep up with the demand.

Saggys

This is for our bunkhouse and only needs to run 3 LED lights, TV, DVD and phone chargers.(and hopefully a toaster) The system consists of 2-80 watt panels and 2 golf cart batteries with a msw 800 watt Statpower and a 30 amp PWM charge controller.
I want to upgrade the inverter and charge controller to the Morningstar suresine and sunsaver mppt. I have a 2000 watt exceltech I could use but it consumes 20 watts at idle.

Estragon

Why not turn the big inverter on to make toast (and off when the toast is done), and use the small one for eveything else?

ILFE

Saggys said:

This is for our bunkhouse and only needs to run 3 LED lights, TV, DVD and phone chargers.(and hopefully a toaster) The system consists of 2-80 watt panels and 2 golf cart batteries with a msw 800 watt Statpower and a 30 amp PWM charge controller.
I want to upgrade the inverter and charge controller to the Morningstar suresine and sunsaver mppt. I have a 2000 watt exceltech I could use but it consumes 20 watts at idle.

Just an off tangent suggestion here. But, off the top of my head, assuming you have say, 240 AH of batteries, you should consider more panel. I would suggest another 160 watts. Your charge rate is pretty low.

2manytoyz

Saggys said:

-snip- I have a 2000 watt exceltech I could use but it consumes 20 watts at idle.

When my setup was smaller, I was very conscious of idle current.  Here's how the various inverters I have measure up: http://2manytoyz.com/noload.html

I think the suggestion to use the Suresine most of the time, and your other inverter for toast (and other brief but heavy loads) was a good one.  Go ahead an hardwire both to your battery bank.  Only power up the beast when needed, off otherwise.  A remote on/off switch might help the situation if the inverter isn't near where the toaster is used.  Not sure if your big inverter has that capability, but it's easy enough to open it up, and add a couple of wires to the existing (low voltage) front panel switch, and connect them to a remote cable/switch.

Saggys

Weekend use only, has been working fine, plenty of time to charge during the week. You are correct 10 amp max into 215 ah is greater than C20. Running two inverters would work, but I would probably use the grill first, less hassle. I think I will go without toast in the bunkhouse.
Thanks for your replies.

Saggys

Nice write up and test on various inverters, thanks for the link.