Off Grid Inverters

Good day everyone! I am inquiring as to anyone’s input/experience with AIMS 48V inverters. If you have any knowledge please let me know what your thoughts. Thank you

I can't speak to AIMS, specifically, but the form of this inverter is, or was common to a wide range of budget inverter brands. When I set up an off grid system in the Dominican Republic back in 2013, every vendor's inverter was some different brand but all had this same configuration and there were numerous young entrepreneurial "inverter repair" guys running around fixing them. The most common point of failure seemed to be the auto-switching between grid power and off-grid functions (i.e. when off-grid the inverter delivers power, when grid power is supplied it switches to charging mode and passes grid power to the load). Since I did not have grid power whatsoever, I made little testing of this function. But when I eventually hooked up a generator and tried to use the switching, my inverter too, failed after a few uses in that mode. The second-most common failure was in the charging function. The device might switch but not charge batteries - I had only one experience with this kind of failure and recall it was more costly to repair. If there is a bright side to this inverter form, it may be that repair parts are abundant and somewhat standardized - at least in some places and at some times. At some point, the nearby metro area began to have 24-hour reliable electrical service and there was a sudden dearth of inverters and a crisis in the local inverter-repair business (though those that survived had plenty of USED inverters for sale). Batteries also quickly became harder to source.

My first, particularly cheap, inverter eventually failed, and a replacement was needed right away (while the broken one was in a repair shop). I mounted a second cheap inverter beside the original, and set up a knife switch so I could select which inverter would deliver power to the distribution panel (as OP could do by moving a plug-connection). When the original returned from the shop, I was smug about having an installed backup for a while. But the replacement failed, and eventually the original failed again (I was NOT abusing this equipment - it was mounted indoors in a dry location and not overloaded or receiving lightning strikes). I bit the bullet and bought an "Outback" inverter for triple the cost. It has been there almost ten years and never complained - though if it shuts off due to low battery voltage, there is no reset switch - only contact terminals for you to connect one if you like; I found that to be an odd economization for such an expensive piece of equipment.

Thanks Cade, am familiar with Outback but cost has kept me from purchasing. This one went in for warranty repair but same here, no abuse of the unit. Aims found nothing wrong ugh. Mine is ok for 240v but doesn’t like 120v L1 only. Found out that L1 has sensors and I should use L2 instead. Just feeling a bit of a victim of false advertisement of a split phase inverter. Thanks again,

Horrible

I didn't buy the system but lived with it for two years which was enough to add it to my list of things never to try...

My biggest takeaways from a passive solar house off grid were:

Design the food storage facilities before you design the house, and face windows slightly eastward with roof overhangs that will allow full shade in summer

Don't put in floor heating in concrete slab because you will never be able to fix it -- or won't want to

Design the glycol water heating panels so they won't overheat in winter when you least expect it and can't fix it

Put the toilets outdoors

Don't use a pilot gas oven

Don't use 120 v -- go 12 volt and only have a small inverter for electronic devices and learn to do without the rest

Scrounge 12 volt from scrap yard camper vans and motor homes
Take all the wiring you can and set it up yourself
Or at least try and minimize outside help

Go cheap because you are going to change things as you go

Build your place in phases so you can add on as you go

Don't buy cheap plastic tarps if you can help it

So .. notice how I save ten grand?

PS your PM won't work unless you change your name to something credible ..
I know, I had a kid in one class once named Kenny Rodgers but hey..
You won't be able to get any mail

I hate publicly trashing a system but IMO the cheap ones belong in hell and the best ones are just way too expensive -- better to go cheap and save a village

Love them! I have two after 7ish years one of the boards went out on the first 48v 2000w pure sinewave inverter. So I bought a second and parts to fix the first. They are both still in service now about 5-6 years later. They are great inverters and often carry more than 2,000w even though they shouldn't! All told I've been running Aims inverters for going on 14 years if memory serves...

Good to hear you've had better luck

Roger Dodger wrote:Good day everyone! I am inquiring as to anyone’s input/experience with AIMS 48V inverters. If you have any knowledge please let me know what your thoughts. Thank you

The Aims is a decent off grid inverter but they are rebadged chinese inverters at their core.  As mentioned lots of similar type of units out there. The one pictured would be a transformer based unit and as mentioned the solenoids that do the transfers between grid or generator and charging batteries are the weak points. My Magnum MS is 18 years old and still going strong as a daily user but I rarely see an aims more than 5-7 years old.  I see them more as a portable/ RV/minimalist/starter kind of unit as they simply don't have the certifications or durability I look for in systems I design. If it works for you that is fine. If you are trying to use it in a 120 volt setup in north america you simply have to balance your loads between line one and line 2 so that you put similar strain on each leg. You would have to run it into a 240 volt panel though to seperate out the legs. Really you would get more response if this topic was in the energy section not the homesteading. Something for Admin there.
Cheers,  David