Inverter

[dshuman]

I bought a good used Heart inverter (HF32-1200X) from a posting on this site (thanks Mike, if you're reading this) and I'm installing it on my 1978 53MY. I called Heart (now Xantrax), I studied my 53MY blueprint schematics and talked to a knowlegeable friend and I'd appreciate any advice or cautions. Here's the plan:

Don't use the inverter as a charger (the boat's charger charges the batteries). That means I won't connect the A/C input line in the back of the inverter.

Connect the inverter to the house battery bank (32v 660AH).

Connect 110v A/C output from the inverter to the two starboard 110v shore power input lines in place of the actual shore power input sockets on the gunnel. I'm going to use the 110v shore power input panel in the s/b engine room to do this.

Then, the main electric panel selector switches will power the two 110v circuits on the boat from the inverter if I set the 110v selectors to "s/b shore".

Has anybody else used this kind of hookup?

[Dick]

I'm not familiar w/this model. How big is it, and what's the size of the charger? The AC and DC output sorta determines how you might want to wire it. I.e., if it's small, you might just want to use it to power one receptacle. If larger, maybe you'd wire it to several breakers. Either way, you probably wouldn't wire it to the whole boat.

Dick

[Elixirtoo]

Generally people power only essential items with the inverter (unless youve got an 8kw inverter). You could take the inverter ouput straight to selected circuit breakers on a sub panel (refer,freezer etc)and supply the power for the inverter from the original CB supply. When the inverter senses no AC input it will switch to the house bank and invert.

[dshuman]

It's a 1200 watt inverter and I only need to power the refer and the water pump. I thought I'd just not use A/C for anything else while it's on. I like the idea of powering those two items on the sub-panel from the inverter and then hooking up te A/C input. It'd pass the external A/C power through when it's available. The only problem is then it'd charge the batteries constantly with 15 amps because it's an older model with no float. Just constant 15 amp charge if A/C is available. That's why I thought I'd power the whole panel and turn off the water heater and just remember to not use any other A/C.

Is an alternative to add a double throw switch for just those two items so they can be set for inverter or main panel?

[Dick]

I'm beyond my electrical and engineering expertise, but for what it's worth...

A 1200W inverter will work fine for the refer, but not for much more. It's a toy, not able to power very much. But if you have an AC galley, it's a great addition, even at 1200W, to keep the refer running all night w/out running the genset. (I'm guessing but starting the motor might require about 800W, and once started, perhaps 300W. So there's some overhead.)

Before installing my 2.5KW Heart, we had a small inverter that powered an AC radio and TV. It was hardwired. I.e., it was cabled directly from the house batteries to the inverter, then 12 guage to a receptacle for the radio and TV. If the inverter failed, so did the radio and TV. However, it never failed.

You might consider a similar installation wired directly to a separate receptacle for the refer, and only the refer. Thus the refer would always be powered by the inverter, full time, as long as you had battery power. If you want to get more fancy, you could install a manual switch such that when you're connected to AC (either through shore power or the genset), you could switch to that mode. That set-up would be more "energy efficient" in that the inverter loses perhaps 15% of its energy through the "inversion" (DC to AC) process. Just make sure with a switch that there's no possiblity of "back feeding" the inverter with shore power/genset AC. Best way to do it is with a separate receptacle.

Beyond running the refer, I suppose you could turn it off in the morning to run the coffee pot, but that's about all. Assuming your house battery bank is large enough to handle the AmpHr load, it's really pretty small, and I would question why you would install it at all, rather than a larger inverter. But, as we all throw plenty of $ at our boats, something is better than nothing. And, it does give you some flexibility that you didn't have before.

If the battery charger portion of the unit is only 15A, I think you're correct in ignoring it.

I think it's a great addition and will provide a limited amount of AC w/out the noisy genset running.

Dick

[Bayard]

I bought a good used Heart inverter (HF32-1200X) from a posting on this site (thanks Mike, if you're reading this) and I'm installing it on my 1978 53MY. I called Heart (now Xantrax), I studied my 53MY blueprint schematics and talked to a knowlegeable friend and I'd appreciate any advice or cautions. Here's the plan:

Don't use the inverter as a charger (the boat's charger charges the batteries). That means I won't connect the A/C input line in the back of the inverter.

Connect the inverter to the house battery bank (32v 660AH).

Connect 110v A/C output from the inverter to the two starboard 110v shore power input lines in place of the actual shore power input sockets on the gunnel. I'm going to use the 110v shore power input panel in the s/b engine room to do this.

Then, the main electric panel selector switches will power the two 110v circuits on the boat from the inverter if I set the 110v selectors to "s/b shore".

Has anybody else used this kind of hookup?

I think this is an excellent idea!

In fact, I have been mulling over in my head how to get the inverter outputs into that rotary switch on my boat.

Thank you!

[brettportzer]

This must break a thread resurrection record!