Magnum Hybrid MSH4024M advice

Scott & Heather · July 19, 2019, 03:45:31 AM

Thanks for all of your help over the past days with my generator remote start and extended run build. It's just about done and now I'm shifting my attention to pulling the trigger on an inverter very soon.

I have had my eye on the Magnum MSH4024 for a long time and I'm really going to go for it unless someone convinces me there's a cheaper and just as good invert that does all the same things as the magnum.

I have found that I do end up parking in areas sometimes that only have a normal 20 amp outlet for me to plug into and I constantly have to be vigilant about turning off something to run something else (a/c microwave, toaster etc). This unit seems to be able to pull from battery bank temporarily to cover brief loads beyond the 20 amp receptacle and do it seamlessly. Anyone have experience with this inverter than can recommend or discourage me from buying it?

chessie4905 · July 19, 2019, 04:11:48 AM

I would read all the Magna sine forums I could find to see about experiences and how they are holding up. Sometimes issues that caused a failure for someone there can be useful down the road. There are many inverter forums that will be helpful too. If that is available on Amazon, read all reviews there too. Besides here, I'd do that before purchasing.
I wonder if there is any benefit or downside of stacking two smaller units, as I've seen in the past where some have done that.

sledhead · July 19, 2019, 05:11:14 AM

I had that unit on the M C I and it was amazing . wish the Featherlite had the same unit but no . the only thing I did not like was the price

you will be happy with it . how big is your battery bank ?

dave

Scott & Heather · July 19, 2019, 06:02:17 AM

Btw, I took a short video from inside my bus of my generators running at full bore so you can hear how quiet they are:
https://youtu.be/KokOWNynwZg

Ok back
On topic

Scott & Heather · July 19, 2019, 06:04:36 AM

I only
Have four group 31 deep cycle batteries right now. I'm not wanting to run on battery much, as we mostly plug into the pole but occasionally we find ourselves a night or two at at 20amp outlet and this might be nice.

Reviews are all raving. I have researched it for years now and research is all good. But the bus community here has an incredible amount of collective knowledge so I wanted
To check here first

chessie4905 · July 19, 2019, 07:04:40 AM

Interesting general discussion here:

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f54/magnum-energy-inverter-400264.html

buswarrior · July 19, 2019, 07:11:10 AM

That Magnum does the same stuff as the old Trace 4024.

The ability to throttle a lower amperage input is priceless.

Plug in to 15 amps, tell the unit, and just carry on with life.

It automatically goes back to battery charging, once you finish whatever other little thing you are doing. And doesn't draw more than you set it to.

No swapping, no thinking, no yelling, no more chips out of the marriage, cuz you know the women absolutely HATE this obtuse bus foolishness...

I never did get that memo that said build your bus stuff as stupid to use as you can imagine...

Go for it, every penny spent on one is worth it!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

neoneddy · July 19, 2019, 08:40:53 AM

I haven't used the Magnasine inverter, but I use two of the Victron Multiplus units in parallel for 6KVA of inverting power, I've run 2 roof top AC units and the 2500 watt water heater at the same time, no issues. They have the same hybrid functionality that the magnasine's do, plus a plethora of additional functionality with other Victron components.

It's so nice with a nice battery bank to run everything on a nearly full electric coach on 15 or 20 amps no problem.

https://amzn.to/2XVMZti Here is the two I have, I snagged another on ebay for $1200 or so by making an offer, I think I paid $1199 for the other in Amazon, I don't see those deals much anymore.

thomasinnv · July 19, 2019, 09:12:25 AM

I have the MSH3012M which is just a smaller version of the same thing. Much like yourself, I too find myself in situations quite often with only a 20 or 30 amp outlet and not having to constantly monitor power usage is priceless. I can plug into a 30 amp outlet, flip on 2 ac units, and not worry about firing up the coffee pot. Over the course of the last year I have also switched many other components over to the magnum series. I have a BMK, AGS, ARCP, and my latest upgrade was the magnum solar charge controller. Everything is connected together and uses the same remote panel, and all devices communicate system information to each other. Best upgrade I have done by far. One limitation that the MSH series has is that they cannot be stacked.

Scott & Heather · July 19, 2019, 10:14:43 AM

Ok you guys have me convinced. Chessie, I read that forum. It was from 2006 so I wonder if the magnum hybrid was even being manufactured back then. That guy definitely had a loose neutral issue. I had that twice in my new coach and it destroyed my led lighting and Lutron dimmers twice!!! $600 later and I'm
Going 12v with my lighting. But yeah I do believe we are pulling the trigger on the magnum. What do you guys recommend for a battery bank size? Don't boondock much.

neoneddy · July 19, 2019, 10:26:52 AM

Battery bank size, you doing 12 or 24V?... I guess it doesn't matter much, just watt hours is all that counts.

I'd say your worst case scenario would be on a 20 amp pole needing to run 2 ACs to keep cool, so figure your watt deficiency. for that? I'd say smallest you could go would be 4 6V GC2 batteries, if 12V, 6 would be better, but 8 would give you over 10,000 watt hours / 5000 watts usable. So you could run a 1000 watt deficit for 5 hours straight. The nice thing about hybrid as you know, is you can recharge while not needing that much power. I know mY ACs even in 90+ degree heat / direct sunlight will cycle off for a bit, so you might easily get through a whole day on that 5000 watt hours.

Thing to consider and I've found to be true, an undersized battery bank will get thrashed and toasted quickly, an over sized bank will actually give you more capacity and run time than you expect due to peukert effect. Like you said though you don't boondock much, I'd say start with something small, see where that gets ya, add more until you're not dropping below 50% DOD.

If you go lithium, you can get away with fewer batteries of course and figure 80% usable capacity.

Dave5Cs · July 19, 2019, 10:45:48 AM

Scott
Agree with Dave above. Our Magnum 4024 Hybrid is wonderful. We hook up to 20 or 30 amps sometimes and can still use both AC's as well as everything else because the Magnum picks up the rest. You can't stack the hybrid but don't really need to. Plenty of power and it only puts out what you need or it will pass through power but still be able to fully charge the batterys. Can adjust everything from the remote at the dash. The Bus when up in MI two years ago got hit by lightning and cut through a wire on the roof to the AC and the Magnum shut down by itself and protected the other circuits. Yes it costs a lot of sumoluns but well worth it.

buswarrior · July 19, 2019, 10:55:46 AM

If you have been using 4 golf cart batteries successfully so far...

And your generators are there to call on whenever you need 'em...

I'd go with that and unless you change your lifestyle, with access to silent power...

Ca$h for batteries when the generators are sitting there...

Everything will be alright?

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

chessie4905 · July 19, 2019, 12:07:00 PM

I thought the interesting thing in that article was the loose neutral. How many inverter problems have been caused by a poor connection, and many times blamed on "lightning". I think the connections should be checked annually or more often under heavy use. An IR gun is a should have tool to have during checking. For hot wiring or especially connections.

Geoff · July 19, 2019, 12:51:01 PM

pMake sure you get the "pass-through" inverter.