On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 18:47:47 GMT, Me wrote:

In article ,
Wayne.B wrote:

The inverter has a hard wired AC input
coming from your distribution panel, and a hard wired AC output going
back to the panel.

Please clarify the above, as wiring both the input and output of an
inverter to a distribution panel IS really a bad idea, and doesn't
conform to ABS or NEC codes........

============================================

The distribution panel (or behind it) is usually the only place where
you can find a centralized point where you can interrupt the power.

The inverter has to be wired in such a way that it can never see an
independant source of AC power at its output terminals. As long as
both the AC input to the inverter/charger and the inverter output pass
through seperate circuit breakers, there should be no issue with
wiring codes.

How would you do it?

Wayne.B wrote in
:

Practical Sailor just reviewed inverter/chargers and recommended the
new Xantrex MS2000.


Question - Is there an ad for Xantrex (or any of its associated companies)
in Practical Sailor?

Take a look.

The PRIMARY purpose of ANY boating magazine is to SELL PRODUCTS. That's
why they all look like spam, including those "reviews".

Every see Practical Sailor say, "This product sucks!"?

"Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach sez use my name at earthlink dot
fishcatcher (net) - with apologies for the spamtrap wrote in
:

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

How big are these solar panels? A Kyocera KC120 panel at 120 watts is:
Max power: 120 Watts
Max voltage: 16.9 Volts
Max current: 7.10 Amps
Dimensions (LxWxD): 56.1" x 25.7" x 2.2"
Weight: 26.3 lbs

4 of those kinda hinders going on deck, I suppose. Or, do you mean 500
watt-hours per day?? 500 watts x 8 hours = 4 KWh/day...pretty nice!

, 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.

Solar is useless on cloudy days, but that's when the wind is usually
blowing so you got it covered.

Speaking of wind power, have you see http://www.otherpower.com/
These homebrewers are really producing KWh!


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?

No, not at all. The big inverters are great for QUICK and TEMPORARY loads,
even heavy loads if the battery banks can produce the heavy load currents
without sagging a lot.

Too bad boats don't use 48 volts instead of "car power". The whole thing
becomes much more efficient as the voltage rises.

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

Absolutely! No heater or AC can be run off of an inverter in any
practical manner.


You would be amazed at how many sailors buying 4KW inverters cannot
comprehend this concept.....

Of course, these sailors have money (lawyers, doctors, businesspersons).
Ever watch a lawyer load new batteries into a flashlight?...(c;

Last I knew, PS doesn;t do ads.

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
Wayne.B wrote in
:

Practical Sailor just reviewed inverter/chargers and recommended the
new Xantrex MS2000.


Question - Is there an ad for Xantrex (or any of its associated companies)
in Practical Sailor?

Take a look.

The PRIMARY purpose of ANY boating magazine is to SELL PRODUCTS. That's
why they all look like spam, including those "reviews".

Every see Practical Sailor say, "This product sucks!"?

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

Absolutely! No heater or AC can be run off of an inverter in any
practical manner.


You would be amazed at how many sailors buying 4KW inverters cannot
comprehend this concept.....

No I wouldn't

Of course, these sailors have money (lawyers, doctors, businesspersons).
Ever watch a lawyer load new batteries into a flashlight?...(c;

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach sez use my name at earthlink dot
fishcatcher (net) - with apologies for the spamtrap wrote in
:

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

How big are these solar panels? A Kyocera KC120 panel at 120 watts is:
Max power: 120 Watts

Not really. That is advertising hype.

Max voltage: 16.9 Volts
Max current: 7.10 Amps
Dimensions (LxWxD): 56.1" x 25.7" x 2.2"
Weight: 26.3 lbs

4 of those kinda hinders going on deck, I suppose. Or, do you mean 500
watt-hours per day?? 500 watts x 8 hours = 4 KWh/day...pretty nice!

Useful power is more like 4 hours a day. 10AM to 2PM. Before and after
it is vastly reduced.

, 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.

KISS is a great generator.

Solar is useless on cloudy days, but that's when the wind is usually
blowing so you got it covered.

Depends upon where you are.

Speaking of wind power, have you see http://www.otherpower.com/
These homebrewers are really producing KWh!

Sure, with 6' or better blades.


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?

No, not at all. The big inverters are great for QUICK and TEMPORARY
loads,
even heavy loads if the battery banks can produce the heavy load currents
without sagging a lot.

Too bad boats don't use 48 volts instead of "car power". The whole thing
becomes much more efficient as the voltage rises.

Practical Sailor does not take and, while they are not prone to the less
acceptable vernacular, they have no reservation about saying a product
doesn't work all that well.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
Wayne.B wrote in
:

Practical Sailor just reviewed inverter/chargers and recommended the
new Xantrex MS2000.


Question - Is there an ad for Xantrex (or any of its associated companies)
in Practical Sailor?

Take a look.

The PRIMARY purpose of ANY boating magazine is to SELL PRODUCTS. That's
why they all look like spam, including those "reviews".

Every see Practical Sailor say, "This product sucks!"?

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 21:05:19 -0500, Larry W4CSC
wrote:
Wayne.B wrote in
:

Practical Sailor just reviewed inverter/chargers and recommended the
new Xantrex MS2000.


Question - Is there an ad for Xantrex (or any of its associated companies)
in Practical Sailor?

Take a look.

The PRIMARY purpose of ANY boating magazine is to SELL PRODUCTS. That's
why they all look like spam, including those "reviews".

Every see Practical Sailor say, "This product sucks!"?

===========================================

Have you ever read Pracitcal Sailor? They are an (expensive)
newsletter that carrys no ads whatsoever. Are they totally unbiased?
Who knows, they may have preferences and prejudices like everyone
else. Have they ever said that a product sucks? Not in so many words
but they've come close quite a few times. They may not be perfect,
and I sometimes disagree with their choices, but overall I know of no
better source of product information.

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 21:23:15 -0500, Larry W4CSC
wrote:

Too bad boats don't use 48 volts instead of "car power". The whole thing
becomes much more efficient as the voltage rises.

===========================================

It's not unheard of to use a 48 volt inverter bank. You lose the
ability to tie into your alternators for charging but if you have
reduntant generators and inverters that is not really an issue.