Magnum Modified Sine Wave Inverters

Rybren · May 2015

It looks as though my Samlex PST-1500-24 is starting to leak its magic smoke. I fired it up on the weekend for the first time since late October. It ran fine for a few hours and then started to emit a high frequency whine that would increase in pitch as the load increased. Samlex hasn't returned my emails yet, but I'm in month 25 of a 24 month warranty period so I suspect that I'll be out of luck (the unit has only been installed for 20 months, and of that, only operational for 10 months. So needless to say, I'm rather disappointed)

I had been thinking of getting a battery charger, so now that I'll likely have to replace the inverter, I'm thinking of going with an Inverter/Charger. Being the budget minded fellow that I am, I couldn't help but notice the Magnum MSW Inverter/Chargers, In particular, the mm1524ae caught my eye at ~$750. It is an older design and I can't seem to find anything about the quality of the unit and specifically, the waveform.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Or, can someone recommend a 24v unit that won't break the bank? My power needs are modest - 1500W is more than enough.

Thanks, Jerry

Blackcherry04 · May 2015

I have a mm1212 that I basically use for the charger to equalize with. I think I paid around $500 for it plus the remote. If I had a complaint it is that the charger does not ramp up, it comes on forcefully and can overload a small generator. Buying MSW these days doesn't make much sense, if you can get by with it and the price is right.

westbranch · May 2015

Sad to hear that Jerry, my Cotek ST1500/24 TSW is doing fine powering a fridge + at the lake place and not even a squeek when we hooked up the fridge...fingers crossed... since I believe they come out of the same factory...

Go TSW the increase in $$ is well worth it

SolarPowered · May 2015

For the price for pure sine waves I would prefer cotek, Samlex, or AIMS for being economical.

If you absolutely need the charger, Magnum, AIMS, Samlex, or Cotek MSW for the same price of the PSW mentioned above is the way to go.

I've heard good things about GOPOWER MSW with charger, never seen one in action.......

I've learned my lesson with cheap pure sine waves, stay away from Wagan, and Sunforce

If you are powering fridges with compressors, and fans, pure sine wave is the only way to go, drains the batteries slower also, because of higher conversion rate efficiency with PSW

Rybren · May 2015

TSW is my preferred choice and is what I'll likely end up with. I guess I was wondering if the the Magnum MSW have a better waveform than most. I did see a post from a few years back where 'Coot alluded to this possibility, but I haven't been able to find any detail anywhere.

I've noticed that the TSW inverters document the THD in their spec sheets, but the MSW don't. Magnum just shows the AC output as 120V +/- 5% and 60Hz +/- 0.1Hz

I'm hoping that Samlex will come through for me. I did like the inverter, but if they drop me like a hot potato, then I can't see myself going with another one of their products.

My inverter has seen almost no use. With my wife's cancer diagnosis and treatment last year, we barely spent any time at the camp (I think we spent a total of 5 nights there) and the inverter was off when we weren't there. This year will be about the same. I really didn't need this

Rybren · May 2015

Just a quick update. The folks at Samlex will take the Inverter in under warranty, even though it is technically outside the warranty period. Kuddos to them!

I picked up a small (400W/800W surge) Meanwell TSW inverter to use in the interim and to have around as an emergency backup.

I'm still hoping to find someone who has a Magnum MSW unit to see how good the waveform is.

Magnum Modified Sine Wave Inverters

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