question

Hi

In my experience Victron Inverters are very quiet in terms of RFI, I don't have experience specifically with the Phoenix 12/250, but I have experience with a Multiplus 12/1200 and a fellow radio amateur friend runs Multiplus II 48/5000's in his off grid setup.

If you stand right next to it and point a antenna to it then you will hear it, but from a couple of meters away it is almost completely quiet.

Some opinions say inverters especially bigger ones will always spew out RFI, that it's unavoidable and the only question is how much. Fortunately there are some options to try quiet it down some more like line filters and ferrite chokes on the input and output sides.

Hello, thank you for your detailed answers thats really helpful I'm looking into getting the 12V Phoenix 250W model as thats more than enough for my usage mainly to run a couple of radio transceivers not both at the same time my Surface Go via the Surface Dock connected to a very old 20 inch LG TV and my old Vostro 3530 laptop. After using cheap lightweight PS inverters most of this equipment has been totally unusable due to extremely severe 50Hz EMI/RFI. I am willing to tollerate low levels of RFI but it sounds like the Phoenix 250W will be fine for my usage requirements. I've already got several 30A powerpole cables which should work with the Phoenix 250W without any issues but my max load at any one time would be around 170W to 200W for short bursts but more like between 30 to 150W for longer periods. I know the transformer based design is heavier but they should produce a lot less RF.

Once again, thank you for your answers its made my mind much clearer.

Hi bigboy529,

If I do end up purchasing a Phoenix 250W, I would be very rarely be using it over the 120/150W mark. From experience of running my radios through a 13.8V bench PSU connected to cheapy inverters its really innificient. I've got my lower powered radio wired with a cig plug and my other higher powered radio is wired with a 30A powerpole connecter so no problems hooking up to my battery. I mainly would keep the Phoenix 250W in my Surface Go bag to power a 10TB 3.5 HDD which has a 12V 2A startup current rating on the go so the specs of the 250W seem ideal for my needs and I would have a bit of overhead if required to power a small TV etc if necessary. I'm not going to rush into ordering just yet so I will double check the absolute max I'm wanting to draw when out and about. I know the Phoenix range will be much heavier than my cheapy PS units but as long as the Phoenix is fairly RF quiet its a no brainer for me.

Hi Anas ! I do run a 24/800 Phoenix at home, and work on IT, so plenty of laptops, and 2 servers. These are located less than 2m from the inverter, and connected with 2.4Ghz WiFi. Never had any trouble.

I just installed a few days ago the ET112 + the RS485 to USB 5m long, whose wire runs along the Phoenix inverter. If it was making RF issues, in my opinion, I wouldn't get data to my Cerbo GX.

My opinion is you can trust the Victron Phoenix series. May be consider upgrading to a more powerful model, so you will be ready for the future if needed.

Michel.

@Anas Patel Note, there is not a 250W Phoenix. It is 200W (250VA) and if you take temperature derating you could be running closer to peak than you think.

Hi, thanks to all who answered my question I finally bought the 12V Phoenix 250W inverter along with the VE direct to bluetooth dongle. Everyones answers were really helpful I've found so far only after using this inverter for a few hours this afternoon it hardly puts out any RFI/EMI which is seriously impressive. Both my radio transceivers are happy with the PS output which is excellent with hardly any 50HZ hum on the output. I've also tried using this with a 30 year old HIFI system and scanning the mediumwave band showed very little RF naturally there was sum but not enough to drown out even weak stations.

I was surprised how big and heavy this beast is but I really wish I'd got one of these much sooner rather than going through a lot of trash thats out there on the market. I'm currently writing this on my Surface Go connected to the Phoenix 250W via the Surface Dock first gen and powering an old 21 inch TV which is displaying the SG's screen with no problems what so ever. All my bluetooth speakers are happy with the output as well as there is no hum, buz or any other artifacts on the output so I am seriously impressed if Victron staff read this you have done an outstanding job on this range of inverters. This fits in my rucksack so I'll deffinatly taking this out with me with my Surface Go even though its much heavier than all the other junk inverters I have all put together. In turms of wiring I'm using a 12 gage Anderson Powerpole cable terminated with 30A contacts connected to my LiFePO4 battery so absolutely no issues both inverter and battery are happy I'm currently drawing a shade under a steady 70W as I'm writing this.

Once again, thank you to all who answered and really helped me to make a top buying decision.