Customer Reviews

Tripp Lite APS1250 1250W 12V DC to AC Inverter with Automatic Line-to-Battery 30-Amp Charger

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I used to be a big APC fan, but over the years I have had all kinds of problems with them not behaving well after a battery change. They don't even like the batteries purchased from APC.

I wanted something to use with my computers that did not require specific batteries.Tripp Lite APS1250 1250W 12V DC to AC Inverter with Automatic Line-to-Battery 30-Amp Charger

This product worked out great because I just picked up a couple of Marine Deep Cycle Wet batteries (approx $60 ea) used some cables I had around (#2 Battery cables from auto parts store work great) Just get short ones with two eyes for the connections between batteries (wingnut on bolt connections on most deep cycles) and one longer one to cut in 1/2 and use for both connections to the APS.

The APS takes a 5.5mm allen wrench to tighten the connections, I had to cut the plastic around the outlets a little to get my power strip to plug in directly.

A large (8D) battery box will hold up to 3 size 24 batteries, so I am going to pick up one of those this week.

This unit does not have the B series of DIP switches.

This unit also initially charged the batteries at 50A and then dropped down as they took a surface charge.

The transfer to UPS is seamless when unplugging from the wall for testing.

No flicker or anything on any of the computers.

I am running two computers (+LCDS, Drives, etc) one with a 1000W DA1000 SilverStone DA1000 1000W ATX 12V 2.2 and EPS 12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retailthe other with a really old 350W supply.

I also have 5 SATA drives in the desktop.

The desktop really only drew 25A on a bootup on battery which = 300W, the constant draw on the batteries with both systems in active mode is 24A - The load also includes UVerse box, 8 port switch, two external drives, usb hub, phones, etc.

Am very pleased to retire my SU1000, my SU700R, and my SU420NET upses as well as the various BK500s in my office for this one, much more efficient unit.

When I do some AC testing for how the unit performs from a generator, I will add to my review.

I bought one of these to provide uninterrupted power to my computer, internet and a NAS. The device failed less than two months after the 1 year warranty had expired. It no longer charges my batteries and says it's over loaded, even when nothing is plugged in. I now have a 400 dollar boat anchor, not to mention another 400 worth of batteries, cables and the trip-lite remote switch that I bought to go with it.

This Tripp Lite 1200 watt inverter/30 watt converter combo is working perfectly. It provides power to the RV entertainment center up to 5 hours a day. It is connected to a12 volt, 220 amp hr battery. The maximum power drawn is 350 watts in this service so this unit is not working hard, but it certainly works well. The converter is in parallel with a 5 amp solar charger and there has been no problems with this connection.

I have installed this along with an AGM battery as a power back-up for my sump pump. It had no trouble starting my 1/3rd hp pump. A good feature is the "charge only" mode that allows you to shut the inverter down when not needed (the winter months in my case), thus preserving the battery. It also has a setting for the type of battery being used (wet cell or glass-mat). I bought this unit to replace one from the Inverter Store that failed in less than a year.

EDIT! Old Review: March 17, 2011; Edit 1: May 10, 2011

As of May 10, 2011, the unit still works properly.

I have had this unit for 6 months and despite probably being hooked up improperly still works as it should. After a massive day long powerfailure with a bunch of powerfailures before I got tired of the electrical setup where I was and just decided to get a UPS. Since I had it setup, there have been a bunch of micro power failures, voltage dips, and such. I bought a gigantic battery, but my load is currently 130W so this is probably overkill for what I use on average, but if I ever need to pull a larger load I will not have to worry about that. However with such a large battery and a small load you can keep whatever's plugged into it on for a long time hopefully, I hope the better part of 2 days.

<< DO NOT DO THIS >> The holes where you plug the cables into are small, so I just screwed the screw like things up into the battery loops, which might not be the safest thing to do. Not sure about that however. It does work and has worked with 300W loads just fine. If anyone has a link to a much better cable, that would be very appreciated so I could get a proper setup. A small adapter thing would work also so I can just latch my existing cable onto them. << DO NOT DO THIS >>

<< DO THIS >> Make sure AC is unplugged, the battery is not connected yet and the unit is switched off! I bought the Power Bright 2-AWG3 2 AWG Gauge 3-Foot Professional Series Inverter Cables along this UPS originally and I still use them. However, what I did last month (April) was that I cut off one end of each of the cables and exposed about 1 to 2 inches of the cable. I then pushed the exposed portion of the cable into the UPS power holes and used an L wrench to tighten the cable as much as possible to the point where it no longer moves at all. This way the cable is secure and shouldn't fall out and is fully contacted in the UPS. Once done do not bother to remove it at all. Also if you look inside of the unit with a flashlight, you can see the same thing being done on the far end. So to recap, make sure you push the exposed copper cable in as far as it goes (should touch the far end) then tighten as far as it can go. << DO THIS >>

The unit lacks the other dip switches so you may or may not be OK in your situation. So when the manual mentions the optional switches, sulk knowing you have no control and no way of knowing what the unit is doing, despite that, you could assume it uses the default settings.

When the battery is fully charged and not inverting, it's pretty quiet although it makes a slight electrical hum noise. When the inverter is on, the unit buzzes quite loudly. When it's charging the fan turns on full blast and is noisy. it also clicks alot, sometimes at random.

The "traffic light" interface is good. It works for the battery charge so you have an estimate of how much you got while the other indicators work well whether it's charging or inverting. The plug you see there is a standard RJ45 8P8C T568 (Ethernet cable) but do not plug it into your network otherwise you will fry the entire network. The plug is used for the "remote control" module, which varies depending on it's usefulness in your situation.

But overall, the unit has performed well never being turned off for 6 months with no maintenence so far.

However, here are some important tips:
*) CAREFUL WHEN HOOKING UP THE BATTERIES, THE SPARKS FLY FAR!
*) BE SURE THE CONNECTIONS ARE AS TIGHT AS YOU CAN MAKE IT, BECAUSE THE TERMINALS CAN GET HOT DUE TO LOOSE CONNECTIONS.
*) USE LOWER NUMBERED AWG CABLES, THEY ARE THICKER AND ARE MUCH BETTER. ALTHOUGH THEY ARE EXPENSIVE, THEY PROBABLY WON'T INSTANTLY FRY.

this is a great all-in-one solution for battery-based off-the-grid power. I spent a lot of time researching chargers and inverters and which ones I should combine before I found this, which does both easier and much cheaper for comparable performance.

also, the unit I have has made it through two trips to burning man, which means it's sat and baked in the heat and dust and wind for a week at a time and seems to have little ill effect.

my only suggestion would be for them to add a couple of fused terminals for direct DC power that could be shut off when the voltage is too low, but we can't have everything I guess.

I have been spoiled with APC UPSes because they are cheap sine-wave inverters. I hooked a scope up to this thing, and the garbage that comes out is not even relatively clean power. It has spikes in it and all of my downstream UPSes don't even recognize the output of this as real AC power. I really wanted to like this device, and all of my decent UPSes use 24 volts, but I wanted a 12 volt UPS. I will attempt to post the waveforms on the product page. I returned it.

One can get this level of dirty power in a $100 inverter. I am shocked. Maybe it is defective as the previous reviewer had the same experience. Some of us have distortion meters and scopes. Very disappointing. returning.