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crusaders with inverter

Are you trying to ascertain "ignition protection" for operation within the engine operating space ? My 2500W inverter works great with my 454's and its accompanying 7 batteries BUT........it is mounted in the interior of the cabin. In that case, there are many. Several factors will weigh in regarding your actual needs based on electrical load. Ours runs the 110v AC outlets, microwave, TV and sound equipment.
 
Still thinking about your note....when we re-wired our boat, we really went "overboard" (sorry) and we have an installation on our 34' that could likely be found on a 45'. It has capacity and the 7kw genny gives us even more power. Can you share what you might be using the inverter for?
 
Knukle47, I gathered the same thing.
I dont believe that any manufacturer recommends that their inverter be placed in a gasoline engine bay.
 
Or, maybe he wants to run the inverter via the alternator? Pretty much a non-starter on a stock alternator unless there's a BIG battery bank and the runtime is short...
 
It didn't take long for me to learn how little power is stored in a battery. We have a 2K inverter in ours, running off up to four batteries, and I still struggle sometimes to make coffee in the morning.

Jeff
 
Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I need to check my proofreading skills; I hit the wrong key ><. I meant LESS than 2000 watts.

What I want to do is to put in a little inverter/charger. All I need to run for any length of time, is the flatscreen TV, which I am pretty sure is less than 80 watts and a DVD player. We just want to run the TV and DVD for 3 or 4 hours at night "quietly".
For coffee I just run the generator for a minute. we have 4 golfcart deep cells with a Kohler 7.5 genset.
The longest we will go without running the main engines is 36 hrs. I don't think battery power should be an issue.

All 4 batteries are mounted in the engine compartment, and are low and to the aft of the engines.

In order to keep the battery cable runs under about 10' I have to mount the inverter somewhere in the engine compartment. I need an inverter that is ignition protected.
Xantrex used to make one that was sealed? and Ignition protected. That would be cheapest/easiest solution, but I don't see that unit advertised anymore.

Or.... could I just run an correctly sized battery cable to the non engine compartment location where the battery charger is mounted (hi, dry and cool), and where it really should be mounted.

Oh, and did I mention, that I'm cheap.

Any Ideas?
Thanks, Rob
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My 2500W inverter/charger has proven to be a winner. The separate monitor system has shown some remarkable charge rates, all within programmable spec for the batteries, but use some very heavy cables maybe AWG 3/0 or 4/0. Cheap too ;) ACR's are a part of a well planned design and I would not count on recharging your batteries from AC genny output through the inverter. I don't know of any ignition protected units but that says nothing. Since diesels do not shre that requirement, I think your options are few. Xantrex is a nice system. It even has battery temperature monitoring. I can understand your wish of "silent" power. Even the most whispering generator can make noise when compared to the silence of the water. PS I'll bet I'm cheaper...
 
From my experience (5 years with a 2K inverter) the size of the battery cables is NOT an issue; the amount of charge available from the batteries is EVERYTHING! You learn very quickly (with an inverter) how little power can be stored in a battery!


Jeff
 
fastjeff said:
From my experience (5 years with a 2K inverter) the size of the battery cables is NOT an issue; the amount of charge available from the batteries is EVERYTHING! You learn very quickly (with an inverter) how little power can be stored in a battery!
Jeff
Click to expand...
Amen! And is exactly why we should use inverter power in a miserly fashion.
The amp hours that we remove, must be replaced..... and sooner than later if we want to ensure battery longevity.

BTW and FWIW..... and you guys probably know this......., but many of the smaller flat screen TV's that are LED, require 12-13 VDC power input at the unit itself.
This means that they can be powered from the boat's 12 vdc system directly, eliminating the need for inverted 120 ac power.
This eliminates one inverter process and one converter (step down to 12vdc) process.

.
 
I just did this over the winter, hardwired an LED TV in the cabin. It was a Coby, not my first choice by brand but I let the DC output specs make the decision for me.

It works great and was around $200 for a 19" at Best Buy.
 
Or you can buy a jenson 12v dc unit made for the marine environment. I think they tinned some copper and moisture sealed/coated the boards. I got the 19 for 300. I'm cheaper then all you but didn't know how to hardwire the ac units. I have no problem with tv and dvd on tiara hours at night. I am able to recharge during day and can last weeks on the hook.
 
FYI, Freedom Inverter/Chargers used in gasoline engine compartments all the time. I'm sure there are others as well, but they must be marine rated. Jeff, I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say the size of the battery cables are "NOT" an issue?? I'm sure I'm just interpreting it wrong.
 
I added very heavy gage wire to my inverter set up. It made no difference in operation, however, for the amount of charge available in the batteries is what determines how long your inverter will run, not wire size.

Here's the deal: My inverter has two rows of LEDs (green, yellow then red). One row indicates the state of battery charge, the other row indicates inverter output. Though I regularly see the state of battery charge go down, down, down to red LED (which then starts blinking red, which means shut down), I have yet to see the inverter output even go to yellow! It's a 2K watt inverter, but it's never seen more than a 1 K watt DEMAND or the batteries would have nose dived. There's very little energy storage in a lead acid battery, as we inverter users have quickly determined.

Hope that clarifies the issue.

Jeff
 
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Jeff, I've used an inverter for years as well, and have installed quite a few also. I agree to an extent with your statement that cable size doesn't determine how long your inverter will run, the battery bank's capacity determines that. However, cable size is critical in SAFELY delivering current loads. I've seen the results of insufficient cable guage; melted cables and battery posts. Your batteries would have no problem doing that with insufficient cable size given enough demand. As I'm sure you're aware of from using inverters, they can draw huge amounts of current, hense the term "battery killers". IMO, it really boils down to a properly designed battery bank for your given needs. But cable size must be at the top of the list based on the max current draw rating of the inverter whether you ever plan on utilizing full load or not. It's a matter of safety. My most recent high powered installation was very specific in calling for doubling up on 0/4 cable for the supply and not exceeding 5 feet from the power source. The customer thought it was overkill because he would never use max load. At which point I advised him that I hook it up right or not at all. Don't wan't it to come back and bite me.
 
I did not infer that it was okay to hook up an inverter with #12 wire! The minimum "battery cable" wire gage is all one needs unless the inverter is located WAY away from the batteries (which would be a foolish way to go)

Jeff
 
I will be researching the recharge rate and heavy draws etc. They advertise for lights and electronics, but they use these for 5 hp electric outboards. I know I wouldn't want this battery to die after a few years. Thanks to the germans. The price should come down in time.
 
Hey Guys,

Question 1. Knuckle, what is an ACR?

It sounds like you have almost the setup I am looking for. Why 7 batteries? It would be nice to watch TV for a couple hours without putting in additional batteries, I don't know where I would put them.

Ricardo, the direct 12v. for the flat screen would eliminate the up and down, but I don't want to pull the captains TV apart; that could get serious. "It was working fine, why did you mess with it!!!"
It would be all downhill from there.

So, what about a 2000w + or - inverter, with BIG cables, mount the Inverter/Charger in place of the existing 40 amp 2 bank battery charger (which has worked faithfully without a hitch since 1980.) That should eliminate the battery charger, put the inverter in a spot with ventilation, in a compartment out of the engine compartment, close to the AC outlet, no $3000.00 battery and then, I should be able to watch a movie.

Thanks,

Rob
 
Sounds good but, as I said above, if your batteries and inverter are a few feet apart, there's no need for cable heavier than standard battery cable.

Jeff
 
Automatic Charging Relay. My 34C Silverton was a wiring NIGHTMARE. We (brother and I) did a massive re wire and put in new panels for separate ac and dc circuits as well as the inverter and a new ( used on ebay) generator. The 7 batteries are just for inverter capacity. We use 12 v typically for only engine starts, bilge pumps, blowers, radio and navigation system. Not really that many amps used. However, for TV, microwave, some light OR intermittant use 110V plug in stuff ( blender ) we have a nice reserve. When we really eat battery I always watch the monitor and the bulk charge rates and float charge etc.etc. really shows what nice technology it is. ONCE in a while the cooling fan in the inverter kicks in...that's when I know shes pushing out over 65 amps however recovery is rather quick. Since we do EVERYTHING on the boat ourselves, it really is one of our proudest accomplishments (aside from, rotted balsa core, engines, pumps, transmission, paint, exhausts, enclosure, windlass, paint, well...you know)
 
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I can only imagine what the fine will be for the first unlucky owner who installs one of those lithium batteries and then has a 'sinking event'....EPA and then State level...where will it end?
 
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