There are two reasons I want an inverter. Mostly I want to be able to spend a night on the hook and keep the fridge going, as well as the outlets for phone charging etc, without running the generator. Secondly, the instrument 12V battery is only charged by a 120V charger. This means I have to run the generator underway. There is no B2B 32V to 12V that I could find. Eventually the SB side (engine and battery bank) will go 24 and probably LiFePO4 for even more power (and larger inverter) without generator but for now I needed something. After replacing the Port 32V battery bank, which is also the house bank I had a good supply of 32VDC so I installed a 32VDC to 24VDC converter, and with it a 24V 1500W pure sine inverter. The limiting factor is the converter at 40A continuous, which is 960W. It’s enough for now.
How to tie it into the ship’s system was the next question. Right there on the other side of the bulkhead in the engine room were the Port shore power fuses. 220V, and two 110V/50A which we never use. There are almost no marinas left with 110/50 service. It’s either 220V/50A or 110V/30A After some research I determined that there is no path from the 110V/50A side to the 220 side, so I decided to tie into this wiring with the inverter.
And viola…… No need to open up anything upstairs:
And properly labeled…..
Needed to add an ammeter for load management. The two on the panel are 50A each, and the 8 max I can put on the inverter barely register. So I got a 10A meter, and put it in the engine room by the tie in. Cute little thing, in series no less. Amazon, $10 or so. It will do for now.
And then it was testing time…….. Everything configured and turned on a bunch of lights. They worked! 2A shown on the gauge. Add the 12V battery charger…… 6A, but dropping quickly. Guess I don’t want to do this when it is empty, but it can maintain. Then the fridge. Not so fast pilgrim…… BEEEEEEEEEEEP. The start up load was too much. I was afraid of that. Hmmmmm…… next plan.
To be continued.
Lady Kay..... a series of boats. 