On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:24:42 -0500, cavelamb
wrote:

This mess would only require 1 or 2 amps of AC to run everything.

DPDT, with center off?


That should work. You just need to make sure that nothing with a
higher power requirement is turned on when you switch. The switch
that I used is rated at over 50 amps but I still turn off almost
everything to minimize arcing.

That might be more sensible than fooling with the plug.

I think so. It also gives you the option of installing a higher power
inverter in the future and powering other things without installing
extra plugs and wiring.

Wayne.B wrote:
On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:24:42 -0500, cavelamb
wrote:

This mess would only require 1 or 2 amps of AC to run everything.

DPDT, with center off?


That should work. You just need to make sure that nothing with a
higher power requirement is turned on when you switch. The switch
that I used is rated at over 50 amps but I still turn off almost
everything to minimize arcing.

That might be more sensible than fooling with the plug.

I think so. It also gives you the option of installing a higher power
inverter in the future and powering other things without installing
extra plugs and wiring.

I follow your thinking there, Wayne, but I think is would be a good
idea to keep this part of the AC circuit separate.
This is the "delicate" stuff.

The rest of the AC equipment is the dumb stuff like the water heater,
fans, and air conditioner. That all I have aboard the AC system right now.
That stuff is pretty much immune to minor variations in the AC supply.

But the expensive and delicate digital stuff I'd keep off by itself.

I wonder how a small battery backup and the inverter would get along together?

Richard

cavelamb wrote:

The rest of the AC equipment is the dumb stuff like the water heater,
fans, and air conditioner. That all I have aboard the AC system right now.
That stuff is pretty much immune to minor variations in the AC supply.

But the expensive and delicate digital stuff I'd keep off by itself.

I wonder how a small battery backup and the inverter would get along together?

Richard

On Barbara I have a 24V computer wired into the house system but the
monitor (Acer 22" LCD) is AC and runs from the genset or inverter.
When I switch from one to the other it just goes off then on again and
doesn't seem to care.

Michael Porter
Michael Porter Marine Design
mporter at mp-marine dot com
www.mp-marine.com