Inverter Question

[connie garcy]

I am sure this has been talked about before. Should the inverter be turned on when you leave your boat for the week? We are on shore power and we also turn off the batteries. This is the 3rd set of batteries(4 of them) we have replaced in 6 years. We also have a battey charger on the boat and we don't know if there is something wrong with that over charging the batteries. All of the liquid is cooked out of them. I guess what I am asking is, what does the inverter do?????:huh:

 

[northern]

The SeaRay manual calls the charger a converter on my boat. If you are to leave it on it says to leave a load on it. I did not do that when i got the boat and it would boil the batteries dry in a winter. They lasted a couple of years. I now have them hooked to my converter/charger when I leave the boat. The converter/charger has the 3 phase charge system that stops charging when the batteries are fully charged. The batteries last longer. The 10 six volt house batteries are 6 years old and work well. Battery charge system can be complicated to understand. Talk a good battery supplier and he should be able to help you figure out what you want and need.

 

[connie garcy]

Hi Northern, our boat does not have converter,ours has an inverter. Not sure if a converter does the ame thing as an inverter.

 

[sdarc]

Inverter takes dc(12volt) and "makes" it ac(110volt). A converter takes ac(110volt) and "makes" it dc(12volt). A converter is the battery charger.

I leave the boat on shore power, batteries off, converter on.

 

[chandalen]

Batteries... if taken care of, should last YEARS. Example, a typical car battery lasts 5 years. Granted deep cycle batteries are used 'harder' but a good battery charger / maintainer should be used all the time. Sears warranties their batteries no-fault for 36 months.

Changing 12 batteries in 6 years sounds very excessive. Just the simple chance that all the batteries are all going bad at the same time is cause to look at the charging system and use. Something is wrong.

As a rule, if you dont need it on.. dont leave it on. You mentioned the inverter / converter is on (which is it as this is important)

An inverter, if on, IS USING 12v battery power to make 110v ALL THE TIME. Just because a 110 device is not plugged in or on.. the inverter is still 'inverting' and will drain the batteries. To make this more complicated, a battery charger / maintainer attached to thoes batteries would effectively always be charging, because there is always a drain on the batteries. THIS IS BAD, and will cause the cook off of the batteries.

So simple answer: an INVERTER should never be left on when your not running the boat because you shouldnt have any 110 items that need to be on when your gone.

On shore power, I have my charger on, and the house battery ON but everything else off. I leave the house battery on because I had a bilge pump SNAFU last year where the constant 12v supply line to it was broken. I want the pump to turn on when it needs to! So just in case.. I'm assured its getting power.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Wait a minute, running an inverter and being shore power at the same time? One can only hope that there is an isolation switch just like for a genset between the inverter and shore power.

Short answer is inverter should NEVER be on when shore power is present, let alone when nobody's home.

Henry

 

[rcon]

Related question, does leaving your shore power on, converter on (which in turn runs the battery charger), lead to more corrosion from electrolysis? Or would a mercathode deal with this problem.... or is it only a problem if you've got a leak somewhere?

For the record, I leave shore power on and converter on - I'm told my chargers are the right sort "switching"(?) I think to support not over charging. Occasionally I'll leave the fridge on so I arrive to cold beer Also nice to know my bilge pumps will have constant charge is something goes wrong.

 

[kaz911]

Wait a minute, running an inverter and being shore power at the same time? One can only hope that there is an isolation switch just like for a genset between the inverter and shore power.

Short answer is inverter should NEVER be on when shore power is present, let alone when nobody's home.

Henry

That really depends on the Inverter. Many new inverters have "Shore power" input and some even have Genset input. Then the inverter will manage the output - and even supply extra AC power if the Genset or Shorepower has hickups and cant supply enough. The Xantrex 3012 series can even auto start the Generator.

Victron has done a quite interesting study about "combination power" - absolutely worth a read. Once I find the URL again i'll post it. Typical boat Gensets are configured to match just about the max power consumption on the boat. But with an inverter to take the "peaks" you can actually manage with a smaller genset - and still power the same devices. Genset's are also most happy at 50-70% load. At 30% or less load they are not very happy. Combining to two provides for a more economical and longer lasting power solution.

 

[connie garcy]

Batteries... if taken care of, should last YEARS. Example, a typical car battery lasts 5 years. Granted deep cycle batteries are used 'harder' but a good battery charger / maintainer should be used all the time. Sears warranties their batteries no-fault for 36 months.

Changing 12 batteries in 6 years sounds very excessive. Just the simple chance that all the batteries are all going bad at the same time is cause to look at the charging system and use. Something is wrong.

As a rule, if you dont need it on.. dont leave it on. You mentioned the inverter / converter is on (which is it as this is important)

An inverter, if on, IS USING 12v battery power to make 110v ALL THE TIME. Just because a 110 device is not plugged in or on.. the inverter is still 'inverting' and will drain the batteries. To make this more complicated, a battery charger / maintainer attached to thoes batteries would effectively always be charging, because there is always a drain on the batteries. THIS IS BAD, and will cause the cook off of the batteries.

So simple answer: an INVERTER should never be left on when your not running the boat because you shouldnt have any 110 items that need to be on when your gone.

On shore power, I have my charger on, and the house battery ON but everything else off. I leave the house battery on because I had a bilge pump SNAFU last year where the constant 12v supply line to it was broken. I want the pump to turn on when it needs to! So just in case.. I'm assured its getting power.

I just found out from my husband it is a converter NOT an inverter. Sorry my mistake, we can not understand what could be cooking them dry after 2 years. They are disconnected during winter storage. Could it be the charger is bad and over charging??

 

[Bob & Sue]

I just found out from my husband it is a converter NOT an inverter. Sorry my mistake, we can not understand what could be cooking them dry after 2 years. They are disconnected during winter storage. Could it be the charger is bad and over charging??

From what you're saying it sounds like you have flooded wet cell batteries meaning you need to add distilled water to them is this correct? If it is I would be checking the batteries at least once a week if your leaving your converter on 24 hours a day to make sure your water level is above the plates. If you haven't checked your water level for long periods of time the water will dissipate from the charging. The other thing might be your charger if it's a single stage charger meaning it only charges at a high rate you may need to change to a triple stage charger or your charger may be bad and not going into the float stage.

 

[connie garcy]

From what you're saying it sounds like you have flooded wet cell batteries meaning you need to add distilled water to them is this correct? If it is I would be checking the batteries at least once a week if your leaving your converter on 24 hours a day to make sure your water level is above the plates. If you haven't checked your water level for long periods of time the water will dissipate from the charging. The other thing might be your charger if it's a single stage charger meaning it only charges at a high rate you may need to change to a triple stage charger or your charger may be bad and not going into the float stage.

Thanks Bob, Is there a way to check the charger. Also, how do you check to see if it is a single stage or a triple stage?

 

[Bob & Sue]

It should be in the forward wall of the bilge not sure on your boat look for the battery cables running to it you can then get the model number and brand to look up the specs. Someone with more experience can guide you thru troubleshooting it.

 

[connie garcy]

It should be in the forward wall of the bilge not sure on your boat look for the battery cables running to it you can then get the model number and brand to look up the specs. Someone with more experience can guide you thru troubleshooting it.

Thanks Bob, I know exactly where it is and I will be going down the the boat tonight and I will get that info.

 

[connie garcy]

It should be in the forward wall of the bilge not sure on your boat look for the battery cables running to it you can then get the model number and brand to look up the specs. Someone with more experience can guide you thru troubleshooting it.

Hi Bob, The Model is Pro Marnier 30, the info that is on the front is "Complete Auto 120VDC, 3 bank, 20 AMP power supply, 30 AMP Multi Charger, Input 85-140 VAC, 60 Cycles, 3 AMPS, Finishing Voltage 13.5 Normal". I coud not find a model # on it. If anyone as any info on this charger please let me know.

 

[chandalen]

That is a multi stage charger with lifetime warranty.
Do you leave your fridge on when your gone? Or other items that could possibly draw 12v constantly?

 

[connie garcy]

That is a multi stage charger with lifetime warranty.
Do you leave your fridge on when your gone? Or other items that could possibly draw 12v constantly?

We do leave our fridge, ice maker and microwave on but they are on shore power. The only thing that is on 12V is the outlets.

 

[chandalen]

Just covering the bases, but does your fridge auto select 110v or 12 v or is it a switch you have to flip? Also, my fridge has its own 110v breaker. If its off, and the dial in the fridge is on it will only draw from the battery even when on shore power.

It sounds like the batteries are just in a constant state of draw / charge.

 

[connie garcy]

Just covering the bases, but does your fridge auto select 110v or 12 v or is it a switch you have to flip? Also, my fridge has its own 110v breaker. If its off, and the dial in the fridge is on it will only draw from the battery even when on shore power.

It sounds like the batteries are just in a constant state of draw / charge.

We flip the 110V breaker switch on and turn off the 12V whenever we are on shore power.

 

[chandalen]

Next step ( i can thnk of) is to grab a multimeter and check for power draw. This is done with the charger OFF. As multimeters vary greatly, the directions with the meter should be used. This is an easy test, nothing major. Do this check after you have 'closed the boat up' for the week and see if there is any pull from the battery.

Are these MARINE grade deep cycle batteries? I ask because non-marine batteries are cheaper, but the plates are not as durable.

 

[connie garcy]

Next step ( i can thnk of) is to grab a multimeter and check for power draw. This is done with the charger OFF. As multimeters vary greatly, the directions with the meter should be used. This is an easy test, nothing major. Do this check after you have 'closed the boat up' for the week and see if there is any pull from the battery.

Are these MARINE grade deep cycle batteries? I ask because non-marine batteries are cheaper, but the plates are not as durable.

They are marine grade deep cycle batteries. To do this test, should every thing be powered off including the charger?