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OK all you very very kind chaps and chapesses out there. This is a shout out for some tangible help if possible. My inverter and battery charger has taken one for the team. While I know these things are not cheap and I am able to pay for them, if anyone has any of the above gathering dust I would like to make a bid. My engine is running as well as ever, ( thank you P and S) I need a 70/80 amp alternator, standard LR type.and would like to employ the services of a recommended reasonable charging Electrician in the Hertford/Lee/Stort area. The boat has suffered some damp, but the humidifier will stay in for as long as I can keep it there. I need to get the boat back here for next weekend if practical. At the moment without 240v there are some extras I would like some advice and ideas on please. A 12v 26" + TV or What else is there.? Also a DVD player again 12v A fridge is going to be needed do I invert or do I go down the 12v route with that too , advice again please. Apart from the stated items, I will be ready to cruise as soon as soon as it is dry enough to sleep on.

Hi ya'll well, I am now looking at putting my Alfie back to a useable condition. That means I would like some advice on electrics and hot water. I will need to run my 3-5 cubic foot fridge and TV with the odd burst of a coffee machine. Maybe my washing machine too when I could possibly turn everything else off to make it viable. Also since my Alfie took a turn for the worse, I have had very little signs of hot water, and not quite understanding the Calorifier need to know why it too has given up the ghost. Also my shower was running on 240v so is it feasable to have a decent 12v power shower installed or should I rely on the inverter for that as well.

Hi I've got a higher end laptop where the need will be arising to charge it when on the move. For background info; the boat itself has a 12V, 176AH [upgrading to 264AH later] leisure battery bank charged off a 60-Amp alternator onto a generic 1000 Watt modified inverter [upgrading later to a Sterling Quasi 1800 Watt unit]. Though I could charge the laptop from the Inverter, feel it would be wasteful going from DC to AC, then back to DC. The laptop itself already comes with a 19V external power supply brick rated at 180 watts which I guess gives about 87%ish conversion efficiency. Despite it's max rating, using a watt meter has shown the laptop at it's absolute maximum stress only draws 145 watts from the wall. On lesser use with browsing & youtube it only draws about 45 watts when fully charged or double that when charging at the same time so shouldn't suck my batteries dry with the engine off. To avoid the unnecessary use of the Inverter, I've been looking into DC-DC regulators / converters and was after peoples experience with them. Initially I've only found one from Maplins which claims to be rated at 150Watts output [selector on 19V claims to deliver 8A] but I am sceptical as it only comes with a cigarette plug input which would most likely fry beyond 90 Watts and the body shows no signs of heat dissipation. Digging further, I came across this wide range input [9-19V] heatsinked version on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251375457679?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_3711wt_1162 and was wondering if this is a solution? Given it's claimed 90% efficiency, it shouldn't overload as the wattage should be a little less drawn in equivalent amps than the current laptop brick. The bare ended wires will also allow soldering on a barrel jack of my choice and it can be mounted next to the inverter taking it's power directly from the inverter input terminals. Would this source be a problem? My assumption was that taking the high amp draw from the thickest cables would minimise any voltage loss. I also noticed similar 12V wide-input regulators here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-DC-Power-Converter-Wide-Range-Regulator-8V-40V-to-12V-6A-70W-/300950050478?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item46120556ae#ht_3221wt_1162 of a similar design. I figure I can just rewire the ends on to a standard cigarette socket & plug to act as a pass-through in the final stage of my 12V system. My reasoning is I can then run more voltage sensitive stuff like standard domestic TV's [with external 12V bricks, bypassing them entirely] directly off my 14V alternator. Are there many here who regulate their DC? On another note, I'm also looking at mounting a small victron 15A MPPT solar regulator next to the inverter and was wondering if I can attach the regulator output wires onto the inverter input terminals as well to allow charge flow down the thicker cabling direct to the batteries and avoid extra wiring.

Noticed this on Screwfix over the weekend, £169.99 for a small inverter genny doesn't sound tooo bad... http://www.screwfix.com/p/impax-im800i-700w-inverter-generator-230v/15760 OK, 'ya get what ya pay for', but this sort of money buys a lot better cheap genny than a few years ago, and if it breaks within the guarantee it could be returned to the local Screwfix. Not as good as a Honda clearly, but might serve as a bit of a backup to solar in the winter months. There's also some reviews for an identical looking genny on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Earthquake-11613-Portable-Generator-Compliant/product-reviews/B00FL89I2W/ref=dpx_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1 Put it this way, you could have a fairly decent solar setup AND this little genny for the price of a Honda EU10i, not bad if you're on a budget. cheers, Pete. ~smpt~

Hi Everyone, I have a Stirling Pro Combi Q 2500W modified sine wave inverter, which I can use successfully to power things like Dyson Vacuum, Microwave, Twin tub Washing machine. and various small things like Chargers, TV Etc. I consider this unit to be at the Top end of the MSW market and it is a very electrically robust and well made unit. I would like to upgrade from my twin tub to using a compact 3kg load washing machine like the Zanussi ZWC3000W or the Candy Aqua 100F, both of which have been mentioned in other topics. My question is simple. Will this type of Washing machine work with a MSW invertor. I know a simple washing machine with a Mechanical timer will, but is the method of switching in an Electronics based machine compatible with an MSW inverter ? Any help or other peoples experience's with this would be very helpful. Regards Andy Taylor

Hiya, Further to my last inverter thread, I now have a shiny new Sterling Pro Power 1600w PSW inverter with pre wired RCD to install. In the unit's instructions it states that I must change the Earth setting from the default Centre Tapped to Neutral Earth Bonded for the pre wired RCD model. A diagram shows the Neutral & Earth linked together, so I suppose that's what they mean. The Dopey question: Should my consumer unit also be Neutral Earth Bonded? I don't actually know whether it is or not, but I suspect that it probably isn't. If I need to match it with the inverter, is it simply a case of directly linking Neutral & Earth inside the consumer unit? Cheers.

Well, just moved aboard our boat to find the we have a fault with the above unit. Details below:- Background info:- Saturday, week before last we moored in a marina and I connected up the shore power. Turned the Victron over to charge and all was good. Lights on and everything seemed to be working. As I left the boat the fan in the base of the unit kicked in, so left thinking all was fine and the batteries were charging. The next day I get a call from the marina, however I missed it and didn't get in touch until a couple of days later. Apparently there was an alarm going off on the boat so they went and investigated. It turns out that the alarm that was activated was the CO2 one. However, there was no smell. So the batteries for the alarm were removed. Someone looked at the batteries and said they were well past their use by date and it was probably them gassing that caused the alarm. The shore power was disconnected and and the boat locked up. Current status:- Yesterday we moved aboard and I replaced the batteries with some new ones. Checked that we now had a 12v system running again and found it all working as it should. Connected the shore power and found we didn't have any 240v at the sockets. So after testing connections with a multimeter I noticed that nonce of the LEDs were lit on the Victron as they were previously. It didn't make any different if I changed the switch to charge or, with the shore line disconnected, inverter. There wasn't 240v anywhere except for the 240v IN connector on the Victron. Temporary solution was to connect the 240v input and output wires and bypass the unit altogether. My thoughts:- i think something fried in the unit whilst trying to charge the batteries that were knackered. Which is probably what set off the CO2 detector. If anyone has any thoughts or experience on this I'd be pleased to hear them. Since I'm away from the boat for just over a fortnight I'd like to see if there is anything I can test when I return before ripping the unit out and sending it away for repair as a new unit is rather costly and an expense we'd rather not have right now. Thanks, Alan.

Hi all, Just had a new victron multiplus installed ! Very exciting I am no trying to figure out how to use it !! The inverter seems to work fine, switch on inveter and my 240 works.. great ! The charger I am going to try tomorrow with the Genny but my confusion comes from what settings I use to use the power assist feature. there is a switch on for charger or on for inverter but which one would I use for the Genny/ power assist. I would like to run my washing machine by running my generator (honda eu20i) and using the power assist feature to take any extra load from my batteries. Any one have any experience how I would do this? Thanks for your time. Martin

Hey I've got an older sterling 3000w psw inverter, (DAI3000c). Every now and then when I turn it on the fan starts straight away and it comes up with overheating message on display. Seems to be random when it chooses to do it. I have replaced the lm35 temp sensor on it but it hasn't helped. Anyone had this problem before with this inverter and know how to fix it?