Technical description and test of the RCT MegaPower 1KVA/1000W Inverter Trolley

[@justinmaistry9315]

Please show us how to connect a extra battery and a solar panel

[@ChilledFlavour4]

An amazing review, just to share my 6months experience with this Unit...my battery no longer lasts even 2 hours with a 100W - 150W load (wattmeter reading connected to UPS outlet), but back when it was new, i'd run well over 4Hrs without worries with the same load...i even ran around 200W for well over 2hrs no worries...i suspect the battery's life took a knock from load shedding discharges and not giving it enough time to fully charge (with the 10A charger limit, and assuming the typical battery charging efficiency of about 80%, it needs at least 12.5Hrs to fully charge). In fact, right now it just cut me off with 60W load agter about 40min. By the way, i kept mine in Mode 1 since like everyone else, doesn't know what Mode 2 really is or does. I intend to replace the Gel battery with LiFePo4 like one of the guys in the comment section did... One thing i wrote to RCT about and they never replied back, is the default voltage regulator overvoltage fall back setting...in my area, the Voltage plays around 238V a lot, though it's always bellow 240V, still within the regulations +/- 10% allowance, or even the more stringent +/-5% for those fed directly by the Utility. The UPS has a voltage regulator that whenever it goes above around 235V/236V, it drops it down to about 204-210V range, i thought it was a defect at 1st and returned the 1st unit, then i found that even the replacement unit behaves exactly the same. I'd have expected it to regulate it down to their specified output of around 220V rather than extremely low 204V (204V is even outside the Energy Regulator's +/-10% tolerance limits from 230V standard voltage)...the manual doesn't even cover this part either. And no response from RCT. Unfortunately, RCT's customer service is as terrible as their manual. Overall, i think it's a decent unit. That 220V output indication is just a dummy view, it's a programmed value just to indicate that Output is ON, and it's a 220V output rather than 120V output perhaps...but they could have indicated this on the manual at least.

[@Switch_05]

Sharing my 6 month review, I run nothing more than 1 desktop computer, 3 monitors, ISP ONT and home router. I will no push the battery if I have a 4 hour spell of load shedding and instead will shut down towards 30% to reduce the load. That has rarely been needed. 6 months in I am still seeing a healthy 30+% after 4 hours of typical desktop productivity usage. Recharge is typically to 100% before any further spells of load shedding. In summary without having ever significantly stressed the battery other than maybe once or twice I have still get incredibly good battery life for my moderate draw.

[@Switch_05]

ALso @ecologicaltime the video was great quality and thank you.

[@PhilippineBruce]

Hi how easy is it to replace the internal battery in this unit. Is there a certain battery size needed

[@grantvanniekerk8653]

Great video. Very informative. The setting number 2 on the function, I think is where solar panel takes priority(if installed) .

[@iwayini]

Thanks for making this video. It has answered a lot of questions especially with the crappy manual. Greetings from the UK.

[@jacvanderspuy5618]

I have had this unit for quite a while and the switch over is smooth. Test it by switching of the lead and not pulling it out of the socket. But thanks for explaining what the manual fails to do!

[@quintusdupreez1]

Agreed, I also have this unit and the switch over is smooth.

[@Sidshogun]

Mines been smooth as well. Panicked a bit when I watched this video as I got a console hooked up to it.

[@spandel100]

Pulling out the plug is a bad idea...it creates a short.

[@BothaNoel]

Please explain the solar pv panel connection and operation?

[@dirkprinsloo]

For future readers... I have bought the 1.5KVA (24V) version of this and the mode 3: Battery Priority Mode (discussed at 08:00 in the video) seems to be aimed when you have a solar panel connected. If I am making sense of the terrible English in the manual, I believe in this mode it does not charge the battery via the mains, but only charges through the solar panel. The mains then only supplied power to the load and never to the battery. I only recently connect the solar panel on mine and the unit is still set to Mode 1 (default) and I have noticed an increase in electricity usage. Will switch to Mode 3 now and see if there is a difference.

[@francoisvisagie3780]

I have the same model. Please advise the specs of the solar panel/ panels that you connected.

[@tshupetsomonedi]

Hi Dirk can you please tell me what are the specs for the solar panel you have connected are?

[@bilalebrahim6247]

Hi Dirk, which is the correct mode to use when using solar panels

[@robtreml3316]

What solar panels should be used with this Inverter?? Please help.

[@petr7856]

And living in South Africa like you and all the fun associated with eskom!!

[@petr7856]

Wow, thanking you so much. I have been contemplating getting this one or the RCT 100va/800w Winner Pro Long Run Online tower ups which you also brilliantly describe in one of your videos and after seeing this video just realized that this ups is NOT a "Double conversion online UPS"!! After enquiry I also found out that the transition time from mains fail to battery and inverter take over is 20ms as opposed to the 4ms of the RCT1000va due to the unit not being a double conversion device. The videos you so graciously provided is literally the only info that actually describe (on the entire mother earth) what these units are! Thank you soooo much, much appreciated!

[@neetorstar450]

Thank you, that was quite detailed. Really appreciate the knowledge

[@estherventer4980]

For anyone considering this inverter: it inverter was great while it worked. Bought it 15 months ago - it burnt out this week. Very, very disappointed - one does not expect to spend R8500 for 15 months?

[@DigitalCapeTown]

Hi Ester, what did you do to fix it? thanks.

[@mdlamini11]

Hi, thank you for this very helpful. May you kindly make a video on how to connect the second battery using the battery extension feature from the back of this device. Thank you.

[@shaldonsrichund5708]

Great explaination! Always logical and easy to understand.

[@riyaadhhassein9559]

Thanks for this , really helped me understand

[@antonynaude3372]

Hi, great video, do you have a "better" alternative for our loadshedding? I need to have a seamless switchover, without having to spend 100K's. Something with R20k?

[@stablemoh82]

This video is very informative thank you so much it really helped me

[@mehalpawar2437]

Hi while charging the battery do I need circuit breaker to be "switched On"?

[@waidelemos]

Hello ecologicaltime and Philip, do you have any videos on using the solar option on the unit? I'd love to get more info on that as I'd like to implement it on my unit.

[@rynoduplessis7155]

I would also like to see a video on that option

[@michaelcorke8586]

Thank you, I just bought one today.

[@yasheelmaharaj5241]

@ecologicaltime love the detail of your video. Can you please make a video around the use of solar given the great interest in this? The manual says mode 3 is for solar. But i need a more educated view on this. Also it seems like an external battery works when the main battery breaker is down. Steange indeed. Can you please cover an external battery install as well?

[@bkahlerventer]

The DC switch are beefy as it needs to switch several hundred Amps... the sustained amps through the switch can be as high as 100A while the amperage during on or off can reach MUCH higher levels. If you ever saw a battery removal on the larger UPS's you will know the battery disconnect sounding like a rifle discharging.

[@chrisrolandsoundbath]

I have two of these. Just starting running refrigerators on each to see how they hold up. Without the fridge, running my desktop, laptop, a couple of lights, and a couple of devices, barely noticed a drop in battery even after 4 hours and with short recharge. Let's see what happens with the fridge. It also seems my battery indicator isn't working on one unit, it never moves. Solar is going up next. These are very quiet units.

[@Abigail-n8x]

It took how many years? Must we bought another battery after how long? Can we install it by ourselves or look for electrician? Lastely were is the place were i can go get more infor about it i have one?

[@grantvanniekerk8653]

Also just a question. Know it comes with deep cycle gel battery . Believe gel can only operate till 50%? Will the unit shut down to protect the battery at that 50% level?

[@pierrenaude5958]

I would also like to know

[@markdurston4658]

Well done on this thorough and honest review. Do you have an opinion as to the quality of the internal battery? I have seen elsewhere, where it says the battery is good for up to 200 cycles, which seems pretty low. Obviously its lifespan will depend on how low you run it before a full recharge each time, but still. Maybe an idea to fit a deep cycle battery instead?

[@youtubeaccount2574]

Great comprehensive review, mine was running on mode 2 since I got it and with hardly any load my battery capacity has less than halfed from about 4hours runtime to about an hour and half, might be because of mode 2 ?

[@methulinkiwane6965]

Hi ecologicaltime thank you for a great review of the product, i wanted to ask if its possible for me to get a replacement charge controller circuit board of the unit, i burnt it accidentally when then positive and negative terminals from the solar output got into contact

[@noobhacker101]

Expensive poop. I wonder how long the battery will last on our lekker stage 6?

I've got the T-2000s and have had it for 7 months now. It's been great up until the last month, where performance has fallen off a cliff. It used to handle my imac, multiple monitors, wacom tablet, external HDs, multiple routers, and a gaming PC with big samsung tv for over 5 hrs. Now, it can only power the iMac alone for about an hour. I'm looking to have the batteries replaced, but if I could - I'd like to invest in better battery tech. Of course, RCT never responds to emails, the manual is practically useless and I'm not an electrician... so knowing what to buy is incredibly hard to figure out. In the comments below there is talk of lithium drop-in replacement batteries... but it's unclear whether these worked or not. Anyone have some good practical advice?

[@Sidshogun]

I’m in the same boat. Looking for lithium comments as well.

[@rossitherhodie5659]

Simple question. Please advise if I can replace the Gel 100amp hour battery it come with with a 100amphour lithium battery? If I can, what will the impact be and pros and cons?? I cannot find this answer anywhere.

[@pauldobson2768]

I asked the question about replacing with lithium battery and RTC said it’s not possible because of the charging rate.

[@andrepretorius2685]

like to see solar test

[@pietpetoors]

What about solar? In what mode must it be if you connect solar and must you keep mains on?

[@gordonwilson1611]

Thanks for the information. I have the T2000S model. I have a question please, does the battery charge after every power out irrespective of usage? I keep the load low approximately 400W so battery depletion is not high, is there a setting to change the recharge level in regards to depletion i.e. battery depleted 40%. Thanks.

[@traceyvanwyk3710]

May be a silly question and have tried to find answer in the videos but how do I know how much life is left in the battery before needing to charge... i know they say not to go belowe 20% but how do i see this? The battery icon? That changes with load so Im never sure. Only just purchased this unit so trying to figure it all out. Thanks in advance for any helpful replies

[@sinenjongospamla2085]

You can install a victron smart shunt to the battery. This way you can monitor the battery's state of charge using the victron app.

[@guillermosanchez7008]

Hello there, where can I get an extra battery for that inverter? Thank you.

[@bicivanaswegen2077]

I put mine on while it was still supplying 220v top my appliances with 220v and it made a noise and smoke came out of the Inverter. What went wrong ??

[@LourieJacobs79]

If an external battery is connected to the Battery extension terminals on the back of the system, does the system charge the external battery as well?

[@PhilippineBruce]

Hi there did you find an answer am also interested to know if it does charge external battery.

[@pauldobson2768]

Yes it does.

[@patch2408]

Can you replace the Gel battery on this device with a Lithium? The battery on my device stopped working after about 5-6 months.

[@pierrenaude5958]

@ecologocaltime How much power does this unit consume while on standby? If it's only on and not charging.

[@francoisvisagie3780]

Please advise the specs for the solar panel for the 1.5kva 24 V unit

[@TyronLundy]

I also need the specs for the solar panel so I can get one

[@pauldobson2768]

If I set to option 01 it shows that it’s only powering from the battery even when AC is on. It only shows mains powering load & charging battery when in 02 ? According to RCT replacing with a lithium battery is a no no!

[@toddsomodevilla5831]

This is happening to me as well - Mode 01 does not charge the battery or supply pass through power from the mains. Only Mode 02 works properly when powering from mains. Any guidance or advice?

[@HypnosisMuzik]

man how i wish we could measure the fan sound level there to compare to mine, ei my fan on the Solaris is unbearable :-( . Great Video thank you

[@ChilledFlavour4]

I measured mine, maybe it could help for comparison, with a handheld SPL meter set to dBA scale: About 45dBA at about 3cm from screen (just in the front of it but away from the fan wind on the side basically), then 40dBA at 30cm from that fan mesh on the side of the UPS, and 36dBA at 1m from the same spot. This UPS fan is uncomfortably loud to have it in the house unless it's within a room that's always closed (that's what i did & the room gets relatively hot but still within normal operating temps for both the unit and its battery) or in a garage so it won't bother you, if it wasn't for warranty voiding, i'd replace that noisy fan with a silent PC fan...that would probably even provide better cooling.

[@HypnosisMuzik]

@@ChilledFlavour4 woow thank you so much Xaka. The country has left us to learn this now even with no electricity knowledge. I appreciate your assistance and guideline so much.

[@ChilledFlavour4]

@@HypnosisMuzik You're welcome boti 🙏🏿...SA will be the new China soon, everyone will be well experienced with Electronics & Electeicity basics

[@Kevmoney3]

so if i were to connect a 39" tv, a router, Google nest mini, set top box (xiaomi mi box s), a desk fan and a sound system (Sony shake x70d). how long do you think its gonna last during load shedding?

[@jayplays9976]

By my estimates the total power draw for everything you listed should be roughly in the 300 watt range. This unit has a 1400watt hour battery. Thus, you'll get roughly 4 hours and 40 minutes more or less.

[@mdlamini11]

It should last you about 6hours provided your fan output is not higher than 50watts

[@ChilledFlavour4]

Brand new, yes, but a few months down the line with the current load schedding schedules, 300W is too much, it won't last you an hour on a practical note even though theorerically it should last you plenty hours. Mine's on 6 months and pushing around 300W with a PC + 55" TV + Modem + LED light doesn't even do 30min since the charging time is not even enough to fully charge the battery, and the battery capacity seemingly too a knock from this abnormal discharge cycles.

[@AshleyRajam]

Does anyone know or has used Lithium LiFePO4 batteries with this inverter or it's big brother the T2000s?

[@Zuluzebra310]

Would also like to know

[@cedricfrank1370]

I don't think the charge controller is set up to charge lithium. I could be wrong but that's my understanding. Solar charge controller and line charge controller can only work with lead acid. Flooded or gel type

[@AshleyRajam]

@@cedricfrank1370 Thank you

[@Zuluzebra310]

So I added a hubble s100 and fits perfectly in the box. So far it runs as normal. Will report back if any issues.

[@Zuluzebra310]

@@AshleyRajam see below

[@philomark6574]

Can you keep the RCT inverter plug into the mains like 24/7

[@brunoazevedo6380]

thanks

[@michael_de_oliveira]

Hi guys what does it mean when my battery is at 100% charge but my battery light is flashing green? Do I need to switch off the inverter and battery?

[@senzombuzwa6977]

I got mine yesterday, it keeps switching between the utility and battery even though there is no power outage

[@vintontm]

Hi, I tried to plug my iron, and it made the beeping sound and switched off. It will beep a lot showing E. Does that mean there is an error being caused?

[@ecologicaltime]

Overload

[@ronnyparker7148]

you think???

[@Enzo8mmSA]

Don't buy anything with sealed/gel/lead acid batteries. Only go for lithium. I've gone through 6 batteries in 3 years! 600 cycles are just not enough especially at 50% discharge. I wish I could replace them with drop in lithium batteries.

[@ecologicaltime]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/joaYhGNmabCLjK8

[@Sasha-md7to]

Is it safe for us to put the inverter on its side?

[@jabulanisello3712]

Appropriate time for fully charging the battery?

[@ChilledFlavour4]

Approximately 12.5Hrs...assuming charging via AC supply which is limited to 10A, and these batteries' charging efficiency is about 80%, meaning not all that 10A supplied charge get stored in the battery, some of it is lost as heat (about 20%), 100Ah/(80% of 10A) = 12.5Hrs...this assumes RCT did indeed set the chardging current to 10A (to verify that, one has to open it and measure it)

[@kevindrennaidoo6969]

Good day, I think that you might not of got to read the comment s in the previous videos or it could be that you are busy, I'm am trying to connect an IDS alarm panel so that it will automatically trigger an led light when there I movement during ac failure I just need your assistance with the programming pls

[@nkuligwala6260]

Hi Guys do you know why mine switches on and off if i HAVE a low load ie just Fibre, but if i put in the tv and Speaker it won't switch off But then won't last long

[@DanieldaCosta2000]

I have the same problem , the inverter switches off the output (when load shedding) when the draw is low ! Very frustrating

[@Carl420dank]

How long should it charge initially?

[@nkuligwala6260]

@@ecologicaltime I think Until it starts flashing means its full

[@ecologicaltime]

@@nkuligwala6260 thank you

[@monicajames-everett]

No matter how I try I can't get the hz to change from 50hz to 1 as suggested in your instructions. What am I doing wrong?

[@monicajames-everett]

Just realized once set reverts to 50hz.After a while green battery light stops blinking

[@ecologicaltime]

Hi the Hz is the frequency. The settings of 1 and 2 and 3 etc are the menu items. That is what i was saying should he be on 1 for normal operation

[@bicolvlog2.0.19]

the same board óf snat and snadi inverter 1kw