3000Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter 3000W 12V DC to 110V 120V AC ETL Listed UL458 STD Lithium Battery Compatible with Terminal Block 40Amps and 30FT Wired Remote to Run A/C for RVs Campers,Off Grid Solar

My ReviewI just got the time to run some tests on it.What I used:- A 300 watt incandescent bulb- A ceramic lamp holder with switch for the bulb- 2 20A cigar lighter male plugs from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HGO2OIS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details- 1 30A cigar lighter female socket from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074CT5CSN?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details- 1 Digital volt display Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0787QFQ5N?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details- 6 gauge wire with alligator clampThis is what I learned:1. This inverter will easily do 300 watts, even through the cigar lighter plug that it has. Under the hood I connected the alligator clip and 6 gauge wire from the battery negative to the outside contacts on the plug, and pressed spring loaded end on the positive, with the 300 watt bulb for the load. (measures 307 watts), engine running. It will light the bulb forever without tripping.2. My car has 2 cigar lighter sockets, one on the front of the center console and one on the rear of the center console, each with its own separate 20A fuse. I shortened the wires about 25% from the 2 20A cigar lighter male plugs I bought and wired both to the 30A female. With one plugged in I can get 113 watts before the inverter kicks off. With two connected I can get over twice that before the voltage drops too low and it kicks out. You might think that with 40A you should be able to max the inverter. Not so. The circuit can carry 20A, but it will have a pretty severe voltage drop on the wire, which is probably by design so the fuse doesn't blow so easily. Even with the car started and 14.15v at the battery, with two cigar lighters in parallel, the voltage will dip below the inverter shut-off well before you make 300w because the wires, even in parallel, are not of sufficient size to prevent their excess voltage drop from triggering the inverter's low-voltage cut-off. For 300W you are probably going to have to run a wire. (You MIGHT be able to get by with your electric seat wire.) I learned that for an inverter, you need a digital volt display to know what the voltage is at the inverter under load because the low-voltage cutoff is the only thing that will prevent you from obtaining the inverter's full capacity.3. I tested the accuracy of the digital volt display from Amazon against my Fluke multi-meter. (Which means either could be wrong.) The digital volt display read 14v while the Fluke multi-meter. read 14.15v, so it is likely pretty close. The digital volt display has leads on it that are longer than the cord on the inverter, so I stuck the voltmeter to the top of the inverter with double-sided foam tape and wrapped the leads along the wire in electrical tape, drilled a small hole on and angle in the inverter's male plug for the leads, and soldering them on.4. It is a $50 inverter, so you cannot expect to have the electronics and multi-tap transformer to adjust for load. However, it doesn't sag much. No-load is 120v while at 260 watts only sags to 118v, but this was also measured when the inverter input voltage barely above the inverter's low-voltage cut-off while running on the two cigar lighter plugs, so with a good connection it might sag less. The Samlex is top-end and worth every penny for something you depend on, but it is larger and 4 times the price. I needed something for occasional use, and if it failed to perform, it wouldn't be a big deal. For the low-cost inverters, you won't find another in this size that has a better sine wave, better voltage control, better efficiency, and lower idle current than this one. Some say the red colored version of this one came with a bag, but I see mention of a bag in the description. I've seen them both apart and can see no difference. The only difference I've been able to determine is the color.Inverter sizing:The real expert on inverters is Samlex. Their recommendation is to aim for 50% of the inverter's capacity for normal load. I have a tendency to think like Tim Allen on ‘Tool Time’ and I hate messengers of reality. However, rather than using the Tim Allen "Binford 6100" method of selecting an inverter for a vehicle, you will be doing yourself a favor by listening to reality. You need to ask yourself what will be my normal loads, and where am I going to put this thing. Unless you have a pickup truck or larger, you will find there isn't much wasted space in today's vehicles. In my Saturn SUV there is a compartment under the cup holder where I can store inverter along with my dual-cigar-lighter harness, and I take it out to use it. I could mount it under a seat If I place it to be out of the way when it is full forward and full aft. For anything larger I could not. The next factor is the size of wire you need to route and hide to feed it. You could go with a larger inverter and breaker it for lower, but then you have increased size, you pay more, and have higher idle current. The batteries OEMs use in vehicles are Advanced Glass Matt (AGM). They are great for cold cranking amps and poor deep cycling. Either you will soon need to have the engine running with an alternator with enough reserve to stay ahead of the inverter's current draw at engine idle or a seperate deep-cycle battery(s) that can be isolated during use, and charges from the alternator when not in use. (2 power diodes in the alternator output circuit, each one-way to their respective battery, so both batteries can be charged, but neither can feed the other.) Do you want to be able to take it with you if you rent a car or get a new vehicle? So there are a lot of reasons to buy no less and no more than you need. For me, 300w is more than even 2 cigar lighter sockets paired can handle, it is small so it can be inconspicuously stored, I can take it with me, and it has enough power to run a hot spot and 17" engineering laptop without running near or over the the inverter's capacity or outrunning cigar lighters.Wire sizing:The recommended max. voltage drop when wiring for inverters is .25v. Using a chart for vehicle wiring, this means if we size for 30A to get our 300 watts (inverters are not 100% efficient), if you run one wire 10 feet long, and the the 30A cigar lighter socket is close to where you can connect the negative with a short piece of wire to the chassis/ground, a single 8 gauge copper wire to the 30A female cigar lighter socket with a 30A or 40A breaker would be more than enough. If you need to run a wire both ways, you will need to use 6 gauge wire. 8 gauge or 6 gauge is already pretty good size wire.

Many are misinformed about wattage, other are blaming the inverter over-charge their batteries. PEOPLE this is NOT a CHARGER. It's an inverter that takes 12 volts DC and OUTPUTS 120 volts AC. Those complaining its not a true 1200 watts, the unit is PEAK 1200 watts, NOT running watts. If you need 1200 watts you need to buy the 2000 watt inveter to get 1200 watts of running power... This is the issue where the end user is NOT well informed of their needs verses their wants. Need to understand OHM'S LAW. 1200 watts @ 120vac equal 10A, again 1200 watts is PEAK watts, the true running watts are much less...

Works great, this is my second only because I screwed up and fried the first one. Put in some safeguards to protect this one. Installed it in my 20' enclosed trailer/toy hauler that I built out. I have 600 watts of solar so far and 942 ah of lithium battery storage. This combination of 942 ah of storage and 3000W inverter runs my AC, TV and lights all at once. Haven't run a long enough test yet to see how long it will last. I did try a 3000W Renogy but it wouldn't stay on, every time I flipped the switch to power the trailer it would shut off. The GFCI settings were set too sensitive and couldn't handle the load. So don't buy Renogy, get a Giandel you'll be much happier.

Don't believe Giandel's 18 month service claim. I installed their 3000w Inverter (that claims 6000w of startup surge) in my 5th wheel camper it wouldn't run my 900w microwave. When I contacted them for assistance they did nothing.After two weeks of communications with Gaindel, they agreed that my unit had issues and provided a full refund. While slow in coming I appreciate their final decision.

Held up for over 2 years no problems. I hooked 20v to it one time and popped the fan, easy replacement.