Harbor Freight 2000 watt Inverter - Will It Power an RV AC System?

Well I thought I would do an experiment to see if the Harbor Freight (aka Centech 69662 or now Jupiter 63429) 2000 watt inverter could live up to its rating and power the A/C system in my Class C RV. It is a 13,500 BTU system and the inverter (on its own packaging) can supposedly power a 15000 BTU AC system. Lets see if it can do it.....

[minnesconsinprepping]

It's not that it won't RUN it, ....it just won't START it. The juice required to start an AC compressor is far more than most inverters can handle. Running it like that, you'd have to have probably a 4000 watt running/ 8000 watt surge inverter, and loads of depth in your battery bank to handle the initial power draw. Probably minimum would be 3000 running/6000 even that probably wouldn't handle it.

Another way to solve this problem is to buy and install an Easy Start on your RV's AC unit. That will bring down the inital 41 Amp, (or higher, especially on older units) which is about 4000 plus watts, draw, down to under 20 Amps, which is around 2000 watts, which is what this inverter is rated for. This way you're never even coming close to your inverter's surge limit, thus causing much less wear and tear on it as well.

And besides all that, I highly doubt that this inverter, for the price, is actually built to handle the watts that it says it is. Those are always OPTIMAL conditions, and absolute MAX performance. Most inverters I would say, can handle about 80% of what they're actually rated for. There's always power loss in every connection, the inverter itself actually uses power, and here, you have a really long cable length, plus a step up to 30 amp connection, etc, etc.

It's not that it's a piece of crap, it's just more likely that your AC's initial surge demand is even more than the 4000 watt surge capability of the Inverter, and you don't have anywhere near the power supply depth needed to handle that much of a kick either.

I just bought this inverter, and I have no doubt that this thing will easily run my new 13000 watt AC unit with an easy start installed, especially since I'm going to have an electrician help me wire it directly into the RV's electrical system.

[djdavidj]

I've been running a 3000 watt harbor freight inverter for 5 years straight non stop. It's powering a permanently parked trailer and a laundry shed. Been working great.

[DarrylADavis-rbji]

Mine works fine. Will be doing a full trailer build this month and just bought the 5000 watt inverter, Jupiter. Just tested it with a shop grinder. Works great and will run my entire trailer on 6 batteries. You need 2 batteries to run that A/C.

[murdiesel]

I was looking at doing the same with the 100w harbor freight solar panels and the same inverter BUT also plugging my camper shore power into it and utilizing the outlets for only charging phones, ryobi batteries, and the little fridge. Beer, music, and conversation!

[troyyarbrough]

You can install a soft-start capacitor on your RV's ac unit. The inverter should be able to start the ac then.

[jerrytalley]

Not sure but a lot of people plug into these inverters. I think the plug in sockets are probably just rated for 15 amps? My plans are to hard wire a female 30 amp rv plug next to my inverter., -then plug my shore power 30 amp into the hard wired plug. You also need 400 amp hours of batteries too, AC takes serious amperage’s, especially at start. I’m also looking into the soft start.

[stever]

You will need a reserve of 3 times the running load to start an electric motor. I would also size an inverter to be rated at twice the running capacity of the highest draw component. So if you have an appliance that used 1500W, then get an inverter rated for 3000W continuous. This is for duty cycle, especially for a device like the A/C which will run for a long time.

[KimberlyKWilsonMaggieandannie]

Great job. Thanks for the heads up. I guess I will spend the $300 for a good one.

[ericlugo]

Good thanks for your video, each ac connection max output is 1500 wattage no matter how big of an inverter you buy. That is just the way it is. So a 1500 wattage ac will not work do to start up wattage. I'd you want to use a inverter to run the ac you must buy a inverter with a separate connection block with 3 terminals and wire it straight to the ac. But do not forget about the start up load. Longer the wire the less power out put and bigger load on the inverter.

[chriscraft]

I wanted it to work.. but sort of knew it wasnt. . great video.. i love videos like this.

[itspoffy]

I've been charging large RC batteries from my vehicle for awhile. I've noticed while idling, and pulling alot of current, the alternator can't deliver the power I need. If I put something on the pedal to make it run about 1500rpms, then there is plenty of power and the voltage on the battery doesn't drop. Idling and using an inverter is fine, but trying to pull alot of current isn't going to work well while idling.

I think those things are under rated which is one problem. The other is the initial start of the AC requires way more power. I've actually put a current meter on my house frig. It jumps to 18amps for half a second, then drops down to 0.5 amps while running. An AC system is the same type of setup. I think the initial start is whats killing it.

[Gratefulwon]

I would be willing to bet that if you monitor the dc voltage input, the voltage will sag significantly, and that is the reason for test failure. It takes a STOUT battery, STOUT cables, and great connections to prevent that voltage sag. I would be willing to bet you would have much better results connected properly to a big battery bank or lithium battery bank. A soft start circuit on the air conditioner will also help.

[charlestatakis]

The surge to start an AC compressor could be at least 2 times that listed as operating wattage. Also? I'd say you need at least six 12 volt batteries with a CCA of over 600 amps and a 4000/8000 watt inverter to start that compressor. The cable should be a 100 MCM. My experience talking. It's the sagging of the battery voltages that causes the alarm and shut.

[danielsilvas]

I have one it works perfect your cables from the battery to the inverter are too long so when current comes in it drops when it gets to the inverter dropped way too low you need shorter cables like 3 foot cables

[yblue-krjl]

It's not junk mine works great you have to have more watts say like 4000 watts to kick on the AC compressor once it's on the a.c then it runs on 2000watts

[derekobidowski]

its the high inrush current the compressor requires to start it to get the largest size inverter you need to determine the LRA (locked Rotor Amps) on the compressor. to match to the inverter. another is getting a hard start kit for the compressor sold in HVAC supply houses, Amazon or ebay as it should give the compressor a boost when starting i would try that and maybe or maybe not it will work with the inverter as the max amps the inverter can handle should be labled on it and look at the LRA on the compressor.

[happycup]

Pure sine wave is Key as well as reducing the start up amps for ACs. Also, I found a little 5000 btu window AC cools as well as some of these roof top power suckers.

[Weldhapi]

my jupiter 5000 watt runs my entire 30 amp camper with 3/0 cables also running with a solar generator to regulate battery charge input and tool batteries charge. and 5 deep cycle marine 29s from walmart. cheap and easy start for offgrid.

[MrFrodo]

Most do not know this but you NEED a Low frequncy inverter, it's not about the watts so much as the ability to withstand that initial 3to 5 times the draw for 1/2 asec which no high frequency inverter will do under like 8000 watt one..I run my house swamp cooler from a 1500 watt LOW frequency inverter ll day long on a timer..the initial amp draw is about 65-75 amps and then down to 25-35...most solar places do not even mention that..The easy way to tell is if it weights less then 15 pounds for inverter it' a high frequency one and will NOT WORk

[mgphotostudio]

You could try changing the capacitor of the air conditioner motor,
that will lower the motor start consumption. it works with my fridge and my 600w inverter. Greetings!