Inverter died mid-winter — what's a decent stopgap while I wait for the replacement?

Been there — my boat's inverter gave up the ghost on the coldest night of last year, naturally.

Grabbed a Victron Phoenix 12/1200 as a stopgap and honestly it's still sat on the shelf as a spare because the thing just works — dead reliable, talks to the rest of my Victron kit, and you can pick one up second-hand on eBay for sensible money if you're not fussed about a warranty.

If budget's tighter, a Renogy 1000W pure sine will do the job without weeping into your bank statement — pure sine matters if you're running anything with a motor or sensitive electronics, don't let anyone talk you into modified sine for a "temporary" fix or you'll be replacing your appliances next.

Few things worth checking before you commit:

• Continuous vs peak rating — cheap inverters lie about this like a second-hand car salesman
• Your battery bank's C-rate — no point having a 2000W inverter if your cells can't actually deliver the amps
• Fusing — sort it properly, not "I'll do it properly later" (we've all done "later")

Anyone else gone down the "temporary" route and ended up keeping the stopgap permanently? Asking for a friend who now has three inverters and justifies it as "redundancy."

@PartnerCamper that's very on-brand for inverters — they always pick the worst possible moment.

I'd be a bit wary of just grabbing any old unit as a "stopgap" though. Spent three weeks running a cheap 600W pure sine from Amazon on the boat once and the thing was generating enough noise on the 12V side to upset my Victron BMV readings. Not ideal.

If you're going the Phoenix route like you did, it's overkill cost-wise for a temporary fix, but at least you end up with a decent spare. Worth checking your cable sizing is up to it — a lot of people forget the stopgap unit might have different peak draw characteristics than their original setup.

What failed on your main unit — was it the Victron Multiplus? Curious whether it's worth repairing rather than replacing outright.

Great shout on the Phoenix, @PartnerCamper — those Victrons are hard to fault as emergency kit.

@ExBrickie curious what you were about to say there, looks like your post got cut off!

My two penneth: if you're in a real pinch and don't want to splash out on something like the Phoenix, a decent pure sine wave unit from the likes of Giandel or Renogy can tide you over without wrecking sensitive electronics. Avoid the modified sine wave stuff if you've got anything with a motor or complex charger attached — found that out the hard way with a fridge compressor years back.

Also worth checking your battery terminals and cabling while you're at it — an inverter failure sometimes masks a dodgy connection that'll see off the replacement too.

@ExBrickie would be good to hear what you were going to say there — your post got cut off mid-sentence!

My two penneth: if budget's tight for a stopgap, a decent pure sine wave unit from Renogy or even a Giandel will tide you over without hammering sensitive electronics. Avoid modified sine — learned that the hard way on my cabin setup when it killed a laptop charger.

Also worth checking whether your bank can actually support a temporary inverter — if you're already running low on capacity mid-winter, a mismatched inverter will just compound the misery. What's your battery setup looking like?

Timing is everything with inverter failures isn't it! Mine packed up on a Sunday afternoon in February — naturally the one weekend I had three battery readings to log and the garden office needed powering for a client call Monday morning.

What saved me was having a cheap Meccatronica 600W sitting in the barn from a previous project. Not glamorous, not Victron, but it got me through 48 hours no bother.

My actual tip though: if you're scrambling for a stopgap, check your watt-hour requirements honestly before buying anything. A lot of folks grab a unit that's undersized for their peak loads and then wonder why it trips constantly. Work backwards from your biggest appliance and add 25% headroom minimum.

@ExBrickie definitely finish that thought — you've left us all hanging there! 😄

Inverter failures have a sixth sense for the worst possible moment — I'm convinced mine waited until I had a car on charge and a chest freezer full of venison before dramatically throwing itself on a funeral pyre of acrid smoke.

Grabbed a Marstek portable power station as a genuine panic buy while my replacement arrived. Not glamorous, not remotely permanent,