Lets talk about inverters again.

AZB

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
12,290
519
113
There is a lot of information regarding inverters on this website, so I will simply update the info for the interested ones.

I will get straight to the point. Trace is the king of inverters but their brand is labeled ?xantrex now. This is made by trace and costs money for the quality you receive. Their main office is on Bartolome Colon Avenue in Santiago.
Now the king of Dominican made Inverters is actually?.well, they are almost all the same from inside. They are all using the ready-made trip-lite red circuit board and simply attach the required home made transformer and locally available parts to complete the design. The main motherboard is made by trip-lite. These inverters come in all sorts of metal casings, some even look space age yet all have the same design inside. The only thing varies is the quality of transformer and the wiring job and components. I have seen some circuits with horrible wiring jobs, a total wire mesh without using any standard color coding. They have blobs of solder and insufficient wire thickness. There are other people who make it quite good, thus, their inverter seems more professional. I always make them open up the metal case to see the work inside. Almost all Dominican made inverters have the same trip-lite motherboard which seems to be working very well in the current inverters.
The people who sell the Dominican inverters come in 2 schemes. You can buy the Dominican made inverter with various brand names printed on the case with installation and guarantee for 1 year or simply buy the inverter alone without guarantee for cheaper price. I have seen some really cheap prices available in the market now. The inverter can be installed by a tech that can be recommended by the store. The installation is reasonably cheap.

The store to buy Dominican made inverter without guarantee is located on General Lopez with corner independencia in downtown Santiago. The store?s name is ?Electronica Global?. Incidentally they also sell all sorts of electronic parts for TV and various other electronic devices, including inverters. So if you are the tech type who likes to fix things, this is the place for you.
Electronica Global
Tel: 809 724 6125

Now you have another type of inverter locally made in Santo Domingo which seems to be indestructible. You would have to spill a large coke on it to burn it. This brand is built upon a motherboard which is specifically designed for Dominican Republic; meaning: short circuits, over load, low input voltage etc etc. This guy is really a genius who started the business back in his home many years ago in Puerto Plata and now he is a giant in santo domingo with over 30 people employed in his factory. His motherboard is perfect for this country, I own 2 of his inverters and both have served me for over 6 yrs without any damage from defect. The one time I burnt my inverter was because a lizard got inside and short circuited the hot wire to the ground. I got it fixed for 300 pesos in one hour.

The inverter will charge even if the input street voltage is 90 volts a/c. If you accidentally connect a toaster or iron to it, it will simply shut down as oppose to burn out as other brands of inverters do. He literally short circuited the output wires and the inverter simply shut down. A simple press of the reset button brought it back to life.

I do not know the name of the company but he is located in santo domingo.
Eddy is his name and he speaks perfect English.
Phone: 809 304 5003 cell
809 686 4241 office

Call him for prices and options.

Now batteries:

I have always bought Trojan but I remember I once bought Excide. According to my experience, basically all decent brand name batteries last the same length of time. Trojan is going for $ (RD)3500 plus / battery and Everest battery is only 2399 pesos at Pricesmart. Guess what brand I will buy this time? You have guessed it right, ?everest?. I think they are the same as ?excide?.

Do use EDTA to restore your old batteries to work longer. My 2 remaining batteries which were treated with edta and changed acid are working fine at the moment but I will not attach them to 2 new batteries. I will simply buy 4 new batteries and connect them to my inverter. I have gotten out 3-4 yrs out of my old batteries and I am satisfied. The old batteries will not charge deep cycle anymore so I needed to make some adjustments to charger of the inverter to shut off the charger to lower voltage. My treated batteries work fine, but I would like to have 4 batteries and prefer not to play with the adjuster inside my inverter. I will simply buy 4 everest batteries and go on with my life. After 1 year I will start treating them with EDTA solution to get full life out of them.
AZB
 

GringoCArlos

Retired Ussername
Jan 9, 2002
1,416
40
0
AZB, the Santo Domingo genius' name is Eddie Nuñez. Cel 809-304-5003.

His company is called "Itepp Electronica" and they are just below the corner of 27 de Febrero and Calle 30 de Marzo , above the Parque de Independencia. They are on the east side of the street, with a large yellow canopy. I have used his inverter problem-free for over 4 years now, and they respond very quickly, do the work when they say they will do it, and at the price they quote. Very atypical for the DR , and very customer oriented.
 

AZB

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
12,290
519
113
Mistake above:
Everest batteries = Everready. Sorry it was a mistake.
I went to pricesmart to buy the "Everready" battery but they were out of stock. There was another brand called "tronic". Since it was made in salvadore I became a little apprehensive. I then decided to head over to ochoa and settled for 2 Interstate batteries for 2740 pesos each. I hope they will do the magic for me.
AZB
 

AZB

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
12,290
519
113
please tell us about gel batteries. I would have to buy some batteries for my office soon. I want the pro / cons of the gel batteries.
thanks in advance.
AZB
 

AZB

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
12,290
519
113
dammit, how big are they?
I mean they weigh 142 lbs. Yikexxx
 

GringoCArlos

Retired Ussername
Jan 9, 2002
1,416
40
0
One of these gel batteries weighs more than the tech who just installed my new Trojan 105 batteries. I doubt that the shelving I have would support the weight of 4 of these monsters.
 

Criss Colon

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
21,843
191
0
38
yahoomail.com
"DIGITAL TV" Has A Full Page "AD" In "Diario Libre" Everyday!

It is in the "Plaza Libre" secrtion. It has pictures of the batteries. I have been
there. Not easy to find,so take your "cell" and call if you get lost! I have bought "stuff" there and like them!
cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
341
83
dr1.com
Make sure you are buying new gell batteries. I know a couple of people that have brought gell batteries (PowerSafe) from "Digital TV" and they turned out to be total rubbish. Basically old refurbished batteries. I'm sure Gregg from Coastal brought a few of the industrial ones and he ended up returning them and they refunded his money.

The best golf cart/car size gell battery here used to be made by AC Delco and sold by Santo Domingo motors. Not cheap, but they backed them and if you ever had a problem, they would replace them, no questions asked.

Gell cells are expensive, so you are better off buying a very well known brand or buying from a known trusted source.