What’s the cheapest and easiest to install inverter?

[janice142]

Regarding your reefer Steve91T... it is entirely possible that yours will be a-okay without power overnight. Provided of course that it is nearly full AND you don't open and close it.

When power was tight I often would simply shut off my inverter (an AIMS from http://theinverterstore.com incidentally) and then turn on in the morning. Folks that Know here (the Electric guys) tell me that I am using more power by doing that. Still, it is what I did do so there you have it.

As for MSW (cheap) versus Pure Sine wave inverters: Pure is the way to go (and believe me, I like inexpensive) ... the thing is, anything digital won't work. There's reasons (above my knowledge level) but as a rule digital and cheap inverters do not cooperate.

My microwave spins, makes an odd noise and does not heat on the cheap inverters.

In any event, you might consider simply wiring in 12 volt fans and using a cigarette lighter (male) with built in USB ports for charging your phones. Just a thought.

If your 12-volt outlets have two holes, that is the old style. Still in use, and you can get males to use them. A multimeter (set to DC, then #20) will show you if you have any power there. It will also give you your battery voltage. This will not tell you how much power you can get out of that outlet -- for that you'll need to see what your wire gauge is, check fusing, etc.

Anyway, good luck.

 

[syjos]

I've found the some AC compressors and AC motors run hotter with modified sinewave.

 

[sbman]

Thanks everyone for the help. This all helps a lot. I really wish the PO had installed a dual voltage fridge, but I know that an an apartment size fridge is really expensive. His mentality was that diesel is cheap, just run the gen. I don’t blame him.

One thing that I haven’t paid much attention to is that I might actually have a couple of 12v outlets. There are two outlets, one in each bathroom that are labeled 12v, and I do have an “outlets” breaker that’s on the DC side. I just do t have anything that’s 12v that plugs in to try.

How do I figure out how much one of those plugs can handle? I’m sure they’ll run some fans, but doubt the fridge will work.

We are getting ready to move the boat from Ft Myers across the lake to the east coast then up to somewhere north of Jax. We’ll do it over several small trips. I was just wanting to have a back up plan if the gen has issues.

If the 12V outlets are 'cigarette lighter' style, then those typically max out at 10 amps, which is only 120 watts, and some are even less. Not enough to run a fridge. If they are re-badged A/C outlets then as @janice142 says, you'd have to check wire gauge and breakers on the circuit to see what they can do and you'd probably have to make a custom cable to hook anything up to them. They will still max at 15 amps if they are non standard use of a A/C plug, still not enough to run an inverter for a fridge.

A $180 600W pure sine inverter such as:

https://www.aimscorp.net/600-watt-pure-sine-power-inverter-12-volt.html

A proper install will require 4AWG cables, crimped on lugs, a 50 Amp fuse holder and fuse (assuming less than 12 feet from the house bank or distribution block it is hooked up to), and mounting. About $50 in cable, $15 in lugs, $25 in fuse/holder, so another $90 for supplies.

It's going to take someone 4-6 hours to do that install with the proper tools, so another $400-$800 in labor to have it installed, depending on your particular boat and labor rates in your area.

With that install you can break out an extension cord to plug in the fridge into the inverter directly in a backup/bad situation. That's about the cheapest/easiest install that would be considered safe and reasonable.

 

[FF]

"I just do t have anything that’s 12v that plugs in to try.

How do I figure out how much one of those plugs can handle? I’m sure they’ll run some fans, but doubt the fridge will work"

The most common plug for better 12v DC use is a 240 15a socket and plug from a box store.

As a std 120v plug will not fit it a 240 socket(one blade is 90deg ) and no 240 uses are aboard its quite safe. They also keep polarity correct.

AS usual the come in a variety of quality range$ the better ones are rated for 20A.