Hi, Y'all...

Well...

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...

(Me, here Battery killing inverter? Most of what I read these days
suggests a
static load of well under an amp, some are milliamps. Running any
electrical device will kill a battery eventually if it's not got the
power replaced (which we expect to do in spades, or, as you've noted,
our own power company should be able to cope with extended periods of
no-replacement) - how's this different?

Do the math. Let's say we have a BIG inverter, 4KW continuous. This is
great for TEMPORARY loads that need 4KW for a few minutes, like your
coffee
maker. But, as I jokingly put it, may boaters think they have their own
"power station" when they buy one of these beasts. Case in point:

1500W heater - 12.5A@120VAC - about 120A at 13V.....x 24 hrs = 2880AH

To provide for a simple electric heater and only drawing the battery banks
down to 70%, not zero which destroys them....2880/.30 (30% of battery
capacity) = 9,600AH battery bank. How big did you say those cells
were?...(c; Hence my comment, "The funniest thing is to see a boater with
a new 4KW inverter carrying his electric heater down the dock with that
smug grin on his face."

I've seen them incredulous that their 5KW inverter can't run the boat's
air
conditioner for the weekend anchored out. Math is not one of their
majors...(c;

Yes - but apparently you're assuming there's lots of continous load. Like
Lionheart, there will be only very incidental use of AC; everything else
will be 12V. So, I presume it's a non-issue here. That is, inverters are
not inherently "battery killers" - only continuous large loads are "battery
killers" (?). We'll not have any such.

As we next to never expect to be at shorepower except during haulouts
(and even then, should have no particular need, with our solar and
wind), we'll want to make our various outlets be both - inverter and
shorepower.

Hmm...5A from a big solar panel or 15A from a wind generator =
5X12hrs=60AH
per day if the sun shines or 360AH wind power in a full gale 24/7.

Not much of a real powerhouse, is it, huge batteries or small batteries...

Plan on using the big alternator on the engine every day in this
configuration.

Hm. Help me with the math. As a lapsed math, physics and chem major, I
don't remember my stuff all that well. However, I'll have right in the
neighborhood of 500W solar, and a KISS wind generator in the Caribbean.
Various vendors suggest I take the wattage and divide by 3, or 4 if really
lousy weather, for a reasonable typical AH input, daily. My math has that
at 170-125AH/day, plus some other unknown - but apparently pretty
substantial - AH from a KISS.

Our anticipated daily budget is about 125AH; we'll have (for simplicity in
this calculation) ~1250AH capacity. It's our presumption that we'll have
4-5 days capacity, in the most unimaginable (in the Caribbean) circumstance
of continuous no wind or sun.

Have I missed something here?

The "drop cords" aren't laying around. You can use electrical cable if
you
like, wired into the boat. The inverter electrical system on Lionheart is
wired into the boat and plugged into the inverter.

All of the current house locations are already wired. I'll only be adding a
few.


As to powering the boat from shore and inverter, you install a transfer
switch between the sources, ensuring the inverter is never connected in
parallel with the power company from the dock. It's, essentially, a
double
pole switch, mounted in a box with a lockout so you can't run both,
simultaneously. Any home generator transfer switch will work on your
inverter system.

Given. It's the "plug this 3-prong into your Sam's Club inverter" part I
don't like.

On another's comment in this thread, I've seen enough negative comments
(including some agreement from my expected vendor) about Xantrex to want to
avoid them.

I recognize that solar and wind are relatively few in the total cruiser
universe, so my sample potential here is limited. However, plunging ahead,
I solicit positive experience stories about inverters (and, for that matter,
systems) used with large solar and wind inputs.

Thanks.

L8R

Skip (about to head back to the boat for another couple weeks, this time,
this part, of the refit)


--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2

"There is nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply
messing about in boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's
the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."