Inverter

[Wayne]

Happy 4th to all. 

I'm thinking of installing a 10,000 watt inverter on my B40 and curious to what others may suggest size-wise on an inverter. Overkill perhaps? The goal is to have the ac outlets hot for fans and chargers at anchor as well as toaster oven and microwave. The eventual television and boosted antenna. Absolutely no thought of using the air conditioning nor water heater.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks,  Wayne 

[Bruce Bogdanoff]

You will want no more than a 2000 watt inverter. My B-40 came with an 1800 watt inverter and that was more than enough to run everything you mentioned. . The toaster and microwave can not be run simultaneously and we always ran the engine with the heavy amperage appliances.Your TV and antenna will draw about 5-7 amps based on its size. The toaster and microwave are about 1200-1500 watts and will quickly discharge your battery, if you do not run your engine at 1800 rpm to keep the battery charged. Fans, charging electronics are minimal. 

Forget about air conditioning unless you add a generator. Also, an inverter draws from the battery. You can't use it to charge the battery using the battery charger. You create a circle of electricity and the overhead of the inverter just continues to discharge the battery. Make sure you get a pure sign inverter or some of your appliances and chargers may not work.

If you are interested in installing a generator, I can help you with that as I installed a NextGen 5.5 kw genset in the cockpit locker of my previous B-40.

[Wayne]

Thanks for the input guys as it will save some money with a smaller inverter. I had looked at specs on the NextGen 5.5 but unsure if we'd be happy with the humming. However, we've not ruled it out provided I can get away from the rat race to install myself. 

Guess I could use the Honda 2000ie I have but rather not deal with having to lift it in and out of the locker and storing mogas onboard.

Wayne

[Mike Wilson]

This is several month after the last post but for future reference:  Installed a Magnum 2000 watt inverter under forward berth.  Two of our 3 4d house batteries are under the starboard settee. A short pair of 2/0 cables for pos and neg run to distribution blocks for the inverter, thruster, and windlass under berth.

Replaced the dual 120vac outlet breaker with two singles.  No longer have negative on a breaker.  Top slot is 25 amp feeding inverter.  Power returns from inverter to the lower slot with a 15 amp breaker to go to original outlets.  The inverter has a pass thru when connected to shore power/generator.  For us, a great thing about the inverter is the 100 amp charging capability if not enough sun and I have to top off the battery from generator for the 120vac.  If down 125 amp hours on a 660 amp hour bank, I will see 1010 to 125 amps from the inverter and battery charger for a short period charging house bank.

2000 watt inverter seems to be good for microwave and one other medium demand device.  Seeing 65 to 75 amps coming out of the house bank when microwaving has to be monitored closely to keep from depleting batteries. 

The inverter draws 1 to 2 amp of 12 volt in idle mode.  I turn off at control panel if not using 120vac.

Mike

S/V MiJoy

[Wayne]

Thank you for the input Mike. It's never too late to get advice.

Good find on your water leak in another post.