Xantrex PowerHub 1800, Model# PH1800_UL
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powerhub 1800
Nice looking unit but with flaws in design. Worked great for 14 months plugged into the grid for constant charging. One day I came home to an overload error. Nothing was on to draw energy. The E03 error is not repairable. One questionable overload and the inverter is a throwaway, Research the internet. This seems to be a common problem. My other Xantrex inverters are over 15 years old, still functioning and have been overloaded and reset theselves several times.
September 25, 2012
Ready Power
I have a Ford Excursion we use for vacations, moving, and hurricane evacuations. I needed a reliable 120V AC source to power anything someone on the move can need.
I already owned five 15W solar panels and a 7amp charge controller but was getting less than ideal results. Combining the 75 watts of solar panel to this unit made a world of difference. For one, I now had a 1800 Watt inverter to do the DC to AC work. Also, it had easy to use and understand connections for hooking up the charge controller, future wind power, and an external AC plug for times that external AC is available. Therefore regardless of what DC or AC power is going into the unit and batteries the system switches seemlessly between all of them to provide the power you need via the four 120V AC outlets. For me I only have the solar panels right now.
What makes the biggest difference is choosing the right 12 V batteries as the reserve power, I have two 220 Ah (Amp Hour) batteries in the battery box. Additionally if you are using solar panels getting the right orientation also makes a big difference. The first configuration I used barely yielded 20 watts. Having placed all the panels flat on the roof increasted the yield to a frequent 50 watts.
Overall great unit with the right solar configuration, and high rated amp hour batteries. Automotive batteries are not good for this application. It requires dedicated deep cycle high amp batteries. Think golf cart!
September 7, 2009
Unsuitable for the northern regions
I purchased this product mainly to power an overhead door in an unpowered barn, and backed it up with 2 new deep cycle batteries and a 70 watt solar panel. It doesn't work well at all during the winter months in New Hampshire. What the manufacturer fails to mention is that the unit will draw down at better than an amp per hour when just sitting at idle readiness. Even when not powering a single working item, simply leaving the Powerhub on would draw the fully charged batteries totally flat within two sunny winter days. A total waste of money and effort, and all but useless in the north
March 16, 2009