Using DC to AC Power Inverters with Compressor Based Motors

My question is about what happened when I plugged in a large vertical freezer to my Royal Power 1500 watt 24 Volt Power Inverter. I know the compressor is having some issues on the freezer so I suspected it would draw a lot of current during start-up. The digital display rapidly rose to 1400+ Watts, then dropped down to 200 or so, then back up, and finally the fault light came on and the unit shut off. My question is: did the unit shut off because it exceeded some limit from the load or from the battery source? I think the power inverter could handle a brief surge up to 3000 Watts AC application, but it seemed to shut down before that.

The first thing is the 3000 watt surge on the 1500 watt continuous power inverter only applies to electronically peaks that occur over several milliseconds. When ever your dealing with a compressor or motor the surges or peaks can last several complete seconds. With means if the peak is reaching a wattage higher then 1500 watt or the continuous of the power inverter you are using the fault will be trigger in order to not damage the unit. If you have a multi-meter available you can test the freezer by plugging it into a standard wall outlet and then monitoring surges. If you take a look at the listed start up wattage found in the manual of the freezer and its listing a wattage of 1200 or greater its very possible that when the compressor is kicking over the wattage will rise beyond 1500 watts for several moments. Always remember as a rule of thumb before purchasing a DC to AC 12 Volt or 24 Volt Power Inverter is to proper calculate the your exact loads you will apply to the power inverter. Also make sure to add at least 15%-20% to the wattage so that you do not run it overload shutdown issues. If you power inverter is constantly going in fault shutdown you never be able to leave the inverter as true back up worry free. DC to AC power inverters can be used as excellent home UPS’s system or off the grid power systems, but the setup of system is very important. Consult a professional to make sure the size of the power inverter will work with your application and that your battery bank with supply the power for the length of time you need.