Do you really need an inverter?

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caltexflanc said:
First of all, I am wondering how you are managing spending 3000 for 4 8D batteries,
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This was the quote I recieved from DC Battery specialist. I was trying to achieve right over 500ah and use agm's. Your right the average price is closer to 2k than 3k. I also had a spread sheet were I had averaged the prices from west marine, sears, napa and oreillys. It was closer to 3k but west kinda skued my data. Good catch caltexflanc (whats with the name?)
Hello Paul,

4 Lifeline GPL-8D $627.73 each picked up at our Miami warehouse.( Will give you a 510AH @ 24v battery bank)

8 Lifeline GPL-6CT $370.87 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 600AH @ 24v battery bank)

4 Lifeline GPL-L16T $550.00 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 400AH @ 24v battery bank)

4 Fullriver DC260-12 $521.51 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 520AH @ 24v battery bank)

4 Fullriver DC240-12 $450.00 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 480AH @ 24v battery bank)

8 Fullriver DC335-6 $326.69 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 670AH @ 24v battery bank)

4 Fullriver DC400-6 $454.28 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 430AH @ 24v battery bank)
 
Swampu I'm looking forward to that game. May come to NOLA for it, waiting for the schedule to come out. :). Why won't your ice maker run off your inverter? Our microwave kills our batts so we usually fire up the genny for that, unless its something REAL quick.
 
LaBomba said:
use a 1000W inverter for charging cell phones, ipad and incidentals.
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Phones, ipad, ipod, etc can be charged thru a cigarette lighter type connector,we used a Belkin plug with a USB connector, worked fine.
 
Pineapple Girl said:
Swampu I'm looking forward to that game. May come to NOLA for it, waiting for the schedule to come out. :). Why won't your ice maker run off your inverter? Our microwave kills our batts so we usually fire up the genny for that, unless its something REAL quick.
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The ice maker is going to be big, maybe a roof top mount #400 variety. I'll need lots of ice. Kaepernick is an awesome qb but I sure hope he has a sophomore slump this year.
 
swampu said:
I'll need lots of ice. Kaepernick is an awesome qb but I sure hope he has a sophomore slump this year.
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I second that! We sure don't want to run into him again in February next year.
 

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swampu said:
I think I may be in the minority of folks using these "trawlers". I will need the ice maker making ice and need the ac in the summer and neither of these items will run off of an inverter. If I wan't to watch some tv it would be nice to have quite time to watch the Saints whoop up on some 49'ers.:D:D (I'll have to check into the 12 volt tv or a small inverter for the tv and games for the kids.
Here is a picture of my friends houseboat he built and drug to the islands to fish. This is heaven.
img_145015_0_cf775cd2f59a210463477a53d894e5a5.jpg
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Paul, I have never been to a more different place than the Chandileurs. I have a video of us anchored out there catching speckled sea trout near Middle Ground. It was perfectly still as in your picture. There was a frigate bird rookery on one of the marsh islands near by. Birds flying everywhere. The only sounds were the cries of the birds and fish breaking the water. Nothing like it.
 
Don, your absolutly right. I don't think many people understand until they go for a week. I can't wait. No better place on earth for an outdoorsman.
......and Baltamorelurker, I don't think ya'll are going to have to worry about running into anybody in Feb....:hide::D:D
 
Northern Spy said:
I have empirical evidence that TVs do indeed, not float.
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Actually that is not completely true... Flat screens for sure dont.. old style tv's do.. depending on size.
A couple years back I passed a 36" tv floating about 50 miles off the coast of Washington on the way down the coast... it went between the hull and the stabilizer cable. The screen reflected light from my high pressure sodium mast lights and I thought at first I was seeing things....
It was a Sony

HOLLYWOOD
 
swampu said:
......and Baltamorelurker, I don't think ya'll are going to have to worry about running into anybody in Feb....:hide::D:D
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Warning - thread creep!

Every off-season is a season of woe for Baltimore fans. And somehow, nearly every season, Ozzie has acquired just the right people to get the Ravens back into the playoffs.

The Steelers & Pats know how to do this. Before free agency, the Niners knew how to do this. It sure seems to me that the Ravens owners/management have figured it out too. Unlike some teams - I'm looking at you, Redskin nation!

I ain't sayin' Joe Flacco is the reincarnation of Joe Montanna or Steve Young. Yet. But he's trending that way.
 
swampu said:
This was the quote I recieved from DC Battery specialist. I was trying to achieve right over 500ah and use agm's. Your right the average price is closer to 2k than 3k. I also had a spread sheet were I had averaged the prices from west marine, sears, napa and oreillys. It was closer to 3k but west kinda skued my data. Good catch caltexflanc (whats with the name?)
Hello Paul,

4 Lifeline GPL-8D $627.73 each picked up at our Miami warehouse.( Will give you a 510AH @ 24v battery bank)

8 Lifeline GPL-6CT $370.87 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 600AH @ 24v battery bank)

4 Lifeline GPL-L16T $550.00 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 400AH @ 24v battery bank)

4 Fullriver DC260-12 $521.51 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 520AH @ 24v battery bank)

4 Fullriver DC240-12 $450.00 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 480AH @ 24v battery bank)

8 Fullriver DC335-6 $326.69 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 670AH @ 24v battery bank)

4 Fullriver DC400-6 $454.28 each picked up at our Miami warehouse. (Will give you a 430AH @ 24v battery bank)
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At 24 volts, you need only half the amp hours of a 12 volt system for the same amount of power (watts). So what you are looking at is the equivalent of 1K or more amp hours at 12 volts. It would be very unusual to actually need that much power on a recreational trawler.

And of course, you're going to need some heavy duty alternators to recharge them.
 
Tom.B said:
Well I *DID* pay attention. :thumb: The cables are either the recommended size or are one gauge larger that the inverter called for a full power for the short distance they are going (about 5 or 6 feet) to the ProMariner Tru Power 200W inverter. I want to say I used 2/0. That's what my schematics show. Currently, I have 4 golf cart batts (440Ah) that are less than one year old and "seem" to check out. However, I plan to add two more. This combination has work on other boats, but like I said, I need to do some more tests and collect some more data before I throw too much time at it. It's not a high priority thing right now :thumb:
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Remember, the length of the allowable cable run includes both the positive and negative cables.

Other possible sources of resistance (and voltage drop) are the cables connecting the batteries together, the cable to lug connection, and the lug to battery terminal connection. And the connections to the fuse or circuit breaker.

Even though the batteries are relatively new, that's no guarantee that one or more doesn't have a high internal resistance.

You can use a voltmeter to track down any possible source of resistance and voltage drop.

Mine drops to a little over 11 volts when the microwave is in operation. Knowing the power limitations on the boat, it's important to select a microwave with a lower power consumption than you might choose for home use.
 
rwidman said:
At 24 volts, you need only half the amp hours of a 12 volt system for the same amount of power (watts). So what you are looking at is the equivalent of 1K or more amp hours at 12 volts. It would be very unusual to actually need that much power on a recreational trawler.

And of course, you're going to need some heavy duty alternators to recharge them.
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Not so unusual if you are away from shore power and on the hook or a mooring for several days or weeks at a time. The more KWH the longer you can go without charging. And the lesser the dent in voltage when loaded up by something like a microwave or coffee maker.

But since the OP is opting against an inverter, it's kind of moot now.
 
Tom.B said:
When we make coffee or run the microwave, the voltage of the house batts drops to between 10 and 11 volts and I am not sure if that is supposed to happen or not. Seems low. -
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A similar thing happened to me a few years ago. Having a 3000 watt inverter & 3X 8-D AGMs, after making coffee in the morning, I found that my batts were almost dead! It turned out that my batt charger (separate from the inverter) is powered off a 110 circuit and obviously uses amps when charging. By not turning off the breaker to the charger when inverting, the inverter was sending 110 to all the 110 receptacles , including the one the charger is plugged in to, resulting in running the batteries down. Now, when I use the inverter, running or at anchor, I switch the charger breaker off and can last a couple of days!

I don't know how your boat is wired but that's what the electrician found on my boat.:facepalm:
 
Walt, I can't imagine why anyone would wire an inverter to power a charger. .
 
Moonstruck said:
Walt, I can't imagine why anyone would wire an inverter to power a charger. .
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I can't either, Don but the charger was plugged in to a 110 receptacle.:confused:
 
SeaHorse II said:
I can't either, Don but the charger was plugged in to a 110 receptacle.:confused:
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If that charger and circuit breaker was rewired to the 110 shore power feed, that would fix your problem without the need to isolate the charger. Then when you get your Honda and plug it into your shore power plug, your charger is powered without having to throw switches.
 
SeaHorse II said:
A similar thing happened to me a few years ago. Having a 3000 watt inverter & 3X 8-D AGMs, after making coffee in the morning, I found that my batts were almost dead! It turned out that my batt charger (separate from the inverter) is powered off a 110 circuit and obviously uses amps when charging. By not turning off the breaker to the charger when inverting, the inverter was sending 110 to all the 110 receptacles , including the one the charger is plugged in to, resulting in running the batteries down. Now, when I use the inverter, running or at anchor, I switch the charger breaker off and can last a couple of days!

I don't know how your boat is wired but that's what the electrician found on my boat.:facepalm:
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Charging the batteries with a charger that's powered by an inverter connected to the same batteries is a losing proposition. ;)

The charger should be powered off the main AC panel with its own circuit breaker.

All my 120 volt receptacles are on one circuit so I just wired the inverter to power that circuit. That way I don't have to turn off the AC, water heater, and charger breakers when using the inverter.
 
rwidman said:
Charging the batteries with a charger that's powered by an inverter connected to the same batteries is a losing proposition. ;)
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:rofl:


rwidman said:
All my 120 volt receptacles are on one circuit so I just wired the inverter to power that circuit. That way I don't have to turn off the AC, water heater, and charger breakers when using the inverter.
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That is how ours is wired as well, though we have two breakers for outlets. The inverter isn't wired to any other breakers.
 
I have the frig, ice maker, TV/VCR, and an outlet circuit wired to be powered by the inverter. The inverter has an automatic transfer switch the lets utility power run through when hooked up dockside or the generator is running.

For the big loads (heating water and cooking) it is more efficient to do them off the generator than to run through the inverter, and have to recharge. There is loss on both ends of that. We will start the generator for charging morning and evening anyway. It needs to be loaded. Why not make use of it in the most efficient way.

Morning coffee when at anchor is made on the gas stove.
 
On my previous boat I used a single cup drip device that sits on the cup. Put a filter and coffee in it, pour hot water in and coffee comes out and fills the cup.

My wife doesn't drink coffee but she bought me a nice single cup electric coffee maker so I put it on my boat and that's what I use. With the inverter.
 
rwidman said:
My wife doesn't drink coffee but she bought me a nice single cup electric coffee maker so I put it on my boat and that's what I use. With the inverter.
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Ditto
 
We may have to split this off to start yet another coffee thread.

I usually make a 10 cup carafe morning and evening. Lou will usually drink one cup from each. What? Me nervous? No o o o o o.:nonono::eek::facepalm:
 
I thought there was a coffee thread already? It was called "how do you make coffee on board?" or something like that.
 
Marin said:
I thought there was a coffee thread already? It was called "how do you make coffee on board?" or something like that.
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"How do you make coffee?" started 9/26/12 by TomB. If it`s just about making coffee, and not about inverters, it has a home already.
 
When I bought the boat, it was just 12V and propane. No inverter, no genny. I left it that way for a while, but found the need for silent coffee and minor microwave operation without shore power. I added a small inverter, a beefier house bank and a Honda eu2000i to provide greater capabilities and flexibility away from shore power.

My 1000W inverter provides 110V power to one counter top outlet only which powers a college dorm size fridge, a small 700W microwave and a Mr. Coffee style coffee maker. (one at a time, of course) The rest of my boat is 12V (lights, head, TV) and propane (stove/oven, portable heater, grill). I have a couple of 110V appliances like a George Foreman grill and small ceramic heaters which normally only see use on shore power, but nothing says they can't be used underway on the inverter if needed.

I also have a small 300-400W inverter which provides silent power to my laptops as needed. It came with the boat and has worked flawlessly.

Is an inverter necessary? I would say 'hell no.' Is it nice having an inverter? I would say 'hell yes!'
 
Is a boat a necessity? Not unless you use it commercially. If you want one they are nice to have. Is an inverter a necessity? No, but if you want one they are nice to have.

Inverters are quiet, and save hours of generator time if you have any AC needs on board. I have had a love/hate relationship with mine, but it is getting better. I certainly would rather have one than run the generator almost constantly.
 
Some of our nicer conveniences (full size fridge, ice maker, stereo, computers) run on AC, and the ability to use those seamlessly as we leave the dock and are underway is priceless. We will always have an inverter, genset and AC power. :)
 
SomeSailor said:
Some of our nicer conveniences (full size fridge, ice maker, stereo, computers) run on AC, and the ability to use those seamlessly as we leave the dock and are underway is priceless. We will always have an inverter, genset and AC power. :)
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Agree! We liveaboard and want all the creature comforts. We run an AC refrigerator and all outlets with a 2500 w inverter.

Just the other day we were on the hook and when I switched from generator to inverter I forgot to turn off the battery charger ad water heater. It tripped the breaker in the inverter. I have to be more careful next time.
 
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