Richard Houlgate

So to hopefully end the saga, the Heart stopped working and has been replaced by a Sterling Pro Combi https://sterling-power.com/products/pro-combi-s-pure-sine-wave-inverter. Why Sterling when everyone champions Victron? Because the local canal boat electrician prefers Sterling and was dragging her feet over the Victron and I wanted to get the job done. Joy of joys, the thing works! We now have 240v at the plugs again. What to do with the old Heart Freedom Combi 20? If someone wants it for spares and can pick it up from Shrewsbury, or the marina near Nantwich, they are welcome. Otherwise it's going down the tip.

So if I understand Wikipedia correctly a Switch Mode Power supply is one that alters the voltage by switching on and off very rapidly, so it doesn't necessarily take the whole sinusoidal wave form making the idea of power factor irrelevant. Or am I wrong? Not that it matters though, but it's interesting to learn new things. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched-mode_power_supply

Power Factor - ouch! This seems an easy explanation http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/watts_4.html So if the PF is 0.9 and the cleaner is rated at 1500va it would actually take 1667 watts of power. Or did I misunderstand. (Thinks: A level Physics was 55 years ago!)

One potential installer is keen to use the Victron Easy Plus Compact 12/1600/70, I suspect because he understands it as he has one on his boat. The Technical data gives So I suppose that when on shore power it would transmit 3000w. When on battery it would give a continuous 1600w, but peak would go up to 3000w (depending on the batteries). Or am I wrong?

While I'm sure that I could master it eventually that's not something I've done before. I spend most of my time with the 100 year old technology of vintage cars and use modern stuff as and when I need it.

Comparing the power usage on standby of the two combis it seems that the Victron takes 10 watts while the Sterling takes 1.2 amps at 12v = 14.4 watts, quite a bit more but not much in the grand scheme of things. It would seem that the Victron Multiplus 12/2000/80 might be suitable https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-MultiPlus-500VA-2000VA-EN.pdf.It would be good to have some form of remote monitoring and they do Cerbo GX https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-Cerbo-GX-GX-Touch-EN.pdf which would be great as I could monitor the boat inverter from home. But it all seems expensive and complicated. I've also looked at the Sterling Pro Combi S https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0649/1945/files/combi.pdf?18179976823646981715 but am not sure if this comes with remote monitoring.

I've had two suggestions made Victron Easy plus compact 12 1600 70 Sterling Pro Combi 2500w. presumably the Victron would be underpowered. Is the Sterling any good? I'm confused by Victron, there is the EasyPlus Compact and the Multiplus, which is best to go for?

The Heart was only set to take 7.5 amps out of a possible 16 from the shore bollard. So I changed the setting to 16 amps and now the thing has stopped working. I'm going to buy a new one, what should I buy? It would need to handle up to 3kw shore power continuously, but only enough when not on shore power to run the microwave or vacuum cleaner in short bursts. The are 4 domestic batteries and 1 starter, 2 alternators, 20 & 70 amp. Your advice would be appreciated.

So having read all that: I'm waiting for the marina to tell me the bollard supply amps When next on the boat I'll read the manual, and make sure that the Heart combi limit is <= to that. Many thanks to you all.

Many thanks for all your replies. My main concern is the wiring of the inverter, not the radial circuit. I'm assuming that the bollard can supply 16 amps so the maximum theoretical load is 16 x 240 = 3840 watts so I make sure that this is not exceeded. Comments on Nicknorman's post - What is the difference between an inverter and combi? Mr Google doesn't make this clear. - I take the point about the location of the generator. This is a Transpower system, but I don't think we will be able to be away from the marina for more than a few days so won't be using it. - I had expected the circuit to be as the picture. So I'll take the following actions Ask the marina what is the maximum amperage the bollard can deliver Read the Heart manual. Of course this is on the boat and I'm 40 miles away; it will have to wait until we are next on the boat. But as the most we have loaded the circuit with is 2000 watts I'm not sure that this is the answer. Maybe best to bite the bullet and get a new inverter.

I have just purchased my first narrow boat. It's a 1999 Colecraft in good condition with a Heart Freedom Model 20 inverter. I'm puzzled by the 240v electrics. When connected to shore power and with a 2kw electric fire on the battery voltage slowly goes down. Occasionally the 240v stops working for a few minutes. I would have thought the 240v circuit would have been independent of the batteries but according to the circuit diagram in the owners manual this is not the case, see attached. I would have thought the circuit should be as in the second attachment. Has the boat been wired correctly?

We are hoping to set off in a couple of years time to cover most of the country's navigable canal and rivers. A good route planning piece of software would seem essential to work out the optimium routing. The only one I have seen advertised is the Canal Planner (www.canalplanner.com). Does anyone have any experience of this? Or is there a better alternative?