Ted,
Try:
Power Inverters and Solar Inverters for Home and Businesses - The Inverter Store
They seem to have one of the widest selections at competitive prices. Had one of my units die with in a year from something coming loose inside and shorting the inverter out. They replaced the unit promptly.
16,000 btu ac with rotary compressor and 120 VAC raw water pump. It requires about 120 amp 12 VDC. Use a 220 amp Lecee Neville truck alternator to provide power and an 8D battery to handle the starting surge.
Ted
Sure, run them at their maximum. My $500 pos Xantrex 1KW true sinewave puked, rolled over and died on a sudden power load slightly over 1KW operating my fridge and another load. REplaced with Chinese junk 2KW true sinewave for $175 which continues to work very well.
There are other issues pertaining to running at max power and one is cooling especially in warm climates along with being operated in areas where air circulation is poor. But getting back to efficiency. Who really cares if their "box" operates at 89 or 92% efficiency?
Your chinese inverter gets 89% efficiency at 10% load? I'll take two!
Who knows? I don't care what the efficiency is as long as it works reliably
Note you will need to replace your a.c. main 3 poison switch (off/ shore/ gen) with a 4 position swich. Expensive $600! Also use very heavy gauge wire to battery and short run.
Many boats are set up without a separate position for the inverter. The wiring is set up so that power from shore power or the genset is passed through the inverter to certain outlets on the boat. Typically the passthrough is not connected to the air conditioner, the water heater, or electric stove.
I like to use microwave while underway with inverter sometimes. Care must be used not to switch on battery charger while using inverter. 4000 watt dedicated inverters primary use on my boat is running 5cf chest freezer while underway and refer. Freezer has super insulation. It freezes liter water bottles I use in my Pelican super coolers. I use these for perishables when on long remote cruises in the Sea of Cortez. This system works well as long as freezer can run 2 hrs a day. I have 2 alternator that generate 65 amps each while underway. I also have 4.5 kw gen set. I usually run it Ann hour am and an hour pm while at anchor to top batteries and run freezer / hot water / refer. I have a dedicated Charles 50 amp smart charger for my bank of 6 golf cart batteries for the house. Separate 8 d start battery with mechanical "off" switch on box to assure there is no unintended loss of charge. Also. Last resort is 2000 watt Honda generator.Yep, ours is this way.
Main panel has two main AC breakers, one for shorepower, one for genset. If either one or the other passes AC to inverter/charger, the unit charges batteries and current passes though to it's own specific circuits.
The inverter/charger has it's own internal automatic transfer switch, switching between charging or inverting... so if neither shorepower nor genset breakers are open, the unit inverts, enabling it's own specific circuits.
The specific circuits in question are all relatively low consumption outlets, largest consumers likely being the two separate circuits the microwave and the coffee maker are plugged into. No AC (aircon) water heater, fridges, etc...
-Chris
Care must be used not to switch on battery charger while using inverter.
Surprised no one has mentioned this but important to keep in mind inverters are most efficient (maybe even ONLY efficient) near their max power, so a lot of applications are best off having a small even just a 750W inverter to run a couple outlets you use the most (e.g. laptop) and a larger one for remaining. The specs won't normally show the efficiency curve only idle draw and peak efficiency.
We operate our boat primarily as a DC boat. I find the "background" consumption of the inverter adds up when on anchor, so we turn the inverter off unless we need to operate AC appliances. On sunny days, once the house bank is charged via the solar panels, we switch the inverter on to charge I-devices, etc, because they charge faster. Same when running. Otherwise the I-devices are charged via a DC USB port.
I think the problem lies in when you need small amounts of A/C, like a laptop.
12V USB chargers are definitely key these days and with good switching 2A outlets, they should charge just as fast as with an AC adapter..
I bought a Magnum MS2000-15. Thanks to all of you for your input. Does anyone know where I can a good deal on marine wiring?
Thanks so much JD
Genuinedealz.com which used to be Bestboatwire. They will also crimp lugs to your specs.
David
All I know about 240v inverters is they suck my battery's dry faster than Monica Lewinsky and forced me to buy a small Yamaha generator
You need better inverter or better batteries.
As a full time live aboard on the hook we currently run a
500 litre 2 door Samsung fridge freezer with icemaker
120 litre bar fridge
90 litre freezer
180 litre rheem hws
40 inch and 37 inch TV
Laptop and mini PC
Various pumps, toilets, lights, chargers for phones, tablets and eneloops
All running through a victron 5000 and 8 x 220ah 12v.
Batteries are very rarely below 80% in the morning.
On a sunny day solar has them at 100% by lunchtime Charging with as much as 120 amps.
Used the genset for 2 hours about 2 months ago.
You need better inverter or better batteries.
As a full time live aboard on the hook we currently run a
500 litre 2 door Samsung fridge freezer with icemaker
120 litre bar fridge
90 litre freezer
180 litre rheem hws
40 inch and 37 inch TV
Laptop and mini PC
Various pumps, toilets, lights, chargers for phones, tablets and eneloops
All running through a victron 5000 and 8 x 220ah 12v.
Batteries are very rarely below 80% in the morning.
On a sunny day solar has them at 100% by lunchtime Charging with as much as 120 amps.
Used the genset for 2 hours about 2 months ago.