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Showing results for tags 'inverter'.
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Hi all Looks needing to use power tools on the 2kw pure sine inverter. When running these large loads with high inductances how wise is it to push the inverter? Or should leave a good over head like push no more than 1.5kw? Thanks again James -
Mastervolt 2000w combi charger/inverter Mains input is not going anywhere, will not charge the batteries. Mains up to the connections underneath OK. Inverter works fine apart from showing led fault code for overheating even from stone cold switch on. Its not any connections, resetable thermal fuse, or duff batteries. No signs of a burn up. Any ideas please?
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Hi everyone, I have just moved onto a canal boat and am looking to update my electrics and install some solar panels. I am a newbie so really appreciate any advice you can give. I have been attempting to do an electrical audit (using a template I found online) Firstly I wonder if someone could have a look over it and see if I have made any glaringly obvious mistakes?? I have done my best but I must admit I do find the electrics a little confusing !! I am continually cruising and my boat is 57x10 I am looking at installing: - 3x 260w or 305w solar panels (with the plan to add a fourth in the future) - 2x 40A MPPT controllers - Victron Multiplus Inverter/ Charger - A monitor of some kind recommendations apreciated! I will also have a Honda EU20i generator to top things up. The questions which I am struggling to find answers to online are... What is a good size battery bank to match this system? I have been told it's important not to go too big as it means lots of time spent trying to charge them up. Not to mention the expense. Is it a good idea to get a multiplus inverter and charger or a separate inverter and charger? I am thinking about purchasing a washer dryer which will need 2.1kw to run (not shown on audit) would it be acceptable / advisable to run this of my setup while the generator is running? So the batteries / inverter would only need to supply the extra bit of energy as the Honda is only rated at 1600w continuous. Is there any other major bit to the system I am missing. My understanding is Batteries / Inverter / Charger / MPPT Controllers / Solar Panels / System monitor. Do I need fuses or any other bits? Thanks in advace for your time. Look forward to hearing your opinions. (Please be gentle I am new and still figuring it all out) Martin just figured out how to attached the file hope that works ok : http://www.martin-price.org/downloads/boat.pdf -
Before embarking on installation of my AC system, if anyone could share any information on the following I would appreciate it. According to the RCD (recreational craft directive) is the following AC system acceptable? (I shall start form shoreline connection to AC outlets) Shore line connection plug fed into an RCD (residual current device) within 0.5 meters form the plug, the RCD shall be housed in a waterproof box next to the plug (a garage box). This RCD shall feed into two single pole MCBs, one connected to the diesel immersion heater, and the other connected to the inverter. Out of the inverter I propose to feed another RCD, housed within the electrical cupboard which shall feed two other single pole MCBs, a 10A MCB for a ring circuit of ac sockets (12 sockets, which I know is a large amount for one ring, but with 2.5mm cable and a smaller MCB this will reduce loading the sockets with the full whack of the 3KW inverter), and the other 12A MCB for a washing machine. My main question is... Does the galvanic isolator need to be connected at both RCDS or would connecting it to the first RCD ground the inverter through the galvanic isolator? Or do both RCDs and Inverter require grounding through the galvanic isolator. I will also be connecting the inverter to the batteries but that shall be for another day. Thanks, Will
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A friend of mine has just rung me to say that he has just fitted a new 350W Sterling Quasi sinewave inverter. Measuring the output voltage with a meter it was only reading 180 volts. Now this is something I have never tried but we are wondering if its faulty or is it the crap waveform confusing the meter?
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Hi all. I should begin by saying that I'm not the most talented when it comes to matters of electrickery, so please be gentle with me if I've overlooked something glaringly obvious! I'm hoping to be able to pick someone's brains about a problem with my inverter/charger. It's a Studer Compact C-1312, and I'm also connected to shore power. The other evening, the inverter suddenly went off - completely dead, no lights on the display panel, and won't come back on. I'm also not getting any 240v in the boat through the shore line, and neither are the batteries charging (apart from when I run the engine). The 12v still works fine (water pump, lights, fridge, freezer, 12v sockets etc), and I've checked that the shore power hasn't tripped. The shore lead is also fine, and there are no obvious loose wires anywhere that I can see. I've also got a Travel Pack, and I get 240 when I run that, but nothing otherwise. I've got a manual for the Studer, but the English isn't the best (especially for a numpty like me!). I'm hoping it's something simple (and cheap!) like a fuse blowing, but I can't see any fuse holder on the outside of the casing. I haven't yet removed the cover, but does anyone know if this inverter has a fuse inside? Or any other possible causes/solutions? Many thanks in advance
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Our Trace charger/inverter was installed some 12 years ago. It is giving problems. We can find nobody to advise on its checking/repairing/replacement. Can anybody help? Boat based in Banbury area.
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Hi all I have a power master 3000 inverter and it keeps cutting out with hardly any load it also does it with engine running . Any ideas ?I know nothing about inverters and it came with the boat Many thanks in advance
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Hi all, We have a Multi Plus 12v 3000va 120amp inverter which has stopped working (unit is 4 years old) When I unplug / turn off the shore power to our boat, the inverter fails kick in to supply 240v power (It is on) I have checked the 12v terminals going in to the inverter which are fine (12.8v), but it seems the inverter wont switch and turn on (no LEDs on the inverter side on panel either). Perhaps there is an internal fuse that needs replacing? - I've had the cover off, and cant see anything, Its worked fine until now, (and works fine on shore power) I did trip the power recently due to a faulty set of fairy lights, perhaps that's fried something? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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I have one of these: It doesn't appear to look like anything on the Sterling web site or anywhere else for that matter. Does anyone else have one? If so do you have a manual for it? What I'd really like to know is whether it has a starter battery charging circuit or not.
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Hello We are getting a wide beam canal boat built and are planning on constantly cruising and would really appreciate some advise on a few things! I was hoping to have a full length bath onboard, and 4-6 radiators but I have now been told that unless you have a diesel run boiler radiators are pretty useless, and you’d have to have a huge boiler to be able to heat enough water for a full length bath. Anyone have any experience with either of these? Is it possible at all? Are diesel boilers very expensive to buy and run? Would I have to have a huge boiler? Also I want to be able to use kitchen appliances fairly regularly (nutribullet - 600w magimix - 1100w) and wanted to have low watt floor lamps and maybe some fairy lights (not to run all the time, but when i want to make it super cosy) - I've been told this wouldn't be possible but I've seen lots of boats with these things in them! Do you have to have a very high watt inverter (and is this very expensive?) Or would I have to get a generator? Or are these things only possible to have if you have a mooring and are connected to the grid? I have been quoted £4800 to have the boat painted which seems slightly ridiculous to me! Does anyone know how much it would cost to employ someone to come and paint an overcoat and then do some stencilling? Does the price we’ve been quoted sound right? Really appreciate any advise or guidance! Thanks :-)
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Hi All, I am just doing the sums on my electricity usage and requirements in order to choose the correct fridge, i want to make sure i am doing the correct maths on this. I have a Victron Quatro 12/3000/120 and am trying to work out what the "no-load consumption" (correct terminology? I mean when it its turned on, ready to power equipment but not powering anything) is. http://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-Quattro-3kVA-10kVA-EN.pdf From the link above I understand it might be 4 watts (search mode?) or 15 watts AES power (I cant work out what AES is and therefore don't know if it) or 15 watts. Can anyone help please? Thanks
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Afternoon! Quick(ish) query. We are continuous cruisers with a 63ft narrowboat - no shore-power. We are planning to get a washer dryer, just to do a couple of washes every fortnight or so. We have an inverter (Mastervolt 12/2000 - power 2000w, max 4000w), battery bank, charge from engine type set up. The washer dryers we are looking at all have a power rating of around 2100 to 2200w. I just want to know whether the inverter could handle this machine (with the engine running of course)? We have a 3.2 genny but it is noisy and would rather not use it and also I see that there can be problems with washing machines not working from gennies cos of the sine wave blah blah (I know nothing about this). I know that they are thirsty on water etc etc and some people don't agree with having them if you are a cc without shore-power etc etc, but if we run it once a fortnight for maybe 4 or 5 hours can we do this using our present inverter whilst running the engine (either whilst cruising or stationary)? Does the 4000w maximum inverter spec mean that it can comfortably deal with a machine drawing 2200w?? Hope you can help! Mike
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I know you get what you pay for etc etc but if I pay for a pure sine wave inverter then I expect to get one, so, has anyone bought one and if so how is it? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2000W-4000W-Peak-PURE-SINE-WAVE-POWER-INVERTER-WITH-DIGITAL-DISPLAY-DC12V-AC240V-/360551732856?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item53f28ed678 Does seem too good to be true but may be it will do for us for the odd trips out we have? Our existing one is a 1500w MSW and our equipment mostly hates it. Thanks David
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Forgive me, I have searched and I cannot find the answer. We have three leisure batteries, we have a Victron inverter, which is used to charge laptops, phones (one a smartphone), the MiFi unit and a couple of lamps. Last night, we had my smartphone and OH laptop plugged in and the inverter started singing. So turned it off - it had been on for about four hours - this morning, when we turned the engine on, it started and the charge in the batteries was 13.5, so, is it the batteries not holding charge (the alarm going off due to.low power) or something wrong with the inverter? We do not have microwave or TV (from choice) and washing machine & vacuum cleaner I use when engine is running only. Just puzzled really & looking for some ABC answers
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Hi there, We have recently been having problems with losing power on our batteries, so around 4 weeks ago, we have 4 new leisure batteries fitted. However the problem has continued. Our inverter has started beeping and the fridge is cutting off, so i think the batteries have lost power. -We had the batteries fitted by experts, so I think they were fitted properly. -We charge the batteries from the engine. And have been running the engine for at least an hour a day and sometimes up to 4 hours to attempt to recharge. -We have only been running lights, fridge, tv (sporadically) and water. No charging/laptops etc. -We only turn the inverter on when we need power from the sockets, which is around an hour a day. -We have been reassured that they were top quality batteries If anybody can help with advice as to why we are losing charge/not charging up, any advice would be appreciated, as we have no power at the moment. I am also worried that the £450 we spent on new batteries has gone to waste and that the batteries are now dead. Thanks
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Hello! When we got our boat 18 months ago, it had a very simple 12v system, and all I've done so far is modernise it slightly - a few more cigar lighter sockets, all LED lights etc. But we still don't have any kind of 240 power setup. We've got by so far with just 12v and that really fits most of our needs - charging phones, laptops and so forth. But the odd luxury here and there (blender, juicer, hoover) would not go amiss. We don't have any immediate plans to get an inverter (£ flow) but probably will someday. So in the immediate future the only times we'll be using 240 power is when we have landline hookup (very rare as we are CCers) or when we run the gennie. I only really envisage fitting one double socket in the kitchen area, but might also put one by the bed and in the living area (thinking about future users if we ever decide to sell). With all the above, what do I need to do in order to have this? I've had a look through the BSS website but couldn't quite understand what it all meant! Can I simply put a hookup socket on the outer cabin, run it to a socket in the engine room into which I'd plug in the battery charger, and a line running into the main cabin to a socket? Does there need to be a fusebox of some sort? Excuse my ignorance, as you can tell from above please assume no prior knowledge! Many thanks!
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hiya quick query!! our narrowboat started life as a holiday boat and so there is an absolute proliferation of unwanted 230v/115v shaver sockets!! these are big and heavy with internal transformers, currently unused but connected to our 230/240v system powered by our inverter. can these unwanted sockets be rewired into normal 240v plug sockets?? also, can someone enlighten me as to whether we (terrestrial, and riverine with inverters) use 240v or 230v?? i always thought it was the former, but someone told me this has changed to the latter?? am i being wound up?? is the earth not flat? SB
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Can anybody help me? When we woke up yesterday the newish 12v fridge and shower pump wouldn't work and when the water pump ran all the lights dimmed. Our batteries are less than a year old and the engine was new in February (Beta 38). The batteries seem to charge up normally when the engine is running but as soon as the water pump runs the power drops right down and the lights flicker. To make things more confusing even when the gauges state that the battery power is really low, the Victron inverter still works. I thought the shower pump might have been the cause so I replaced the impellor but still no joy. I've disconned the fridge and replaced a 15A fuse in the engine bay but the wiring looks so confusing I don't know where to start. Please help an electrically challenged bumbler if you can.
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Can someone advise? We move onto Gracie at the end of the week and are cruising for a fortnight anti-clockwise - she is a 1978 boat and so works on 12 volt lighting and has gas fridge etc. this is fine for us; however, we do have two laptops, a Blackberry and a mobile to charge - I have a car charger for the BB, and phone; but wonder what is the best inverter to buy - because time is now limited, i have checked Halfords (I live near Broadheath Bridge #30 on the Bridgewater) and see they sell inverters - my question is are they any good and can anyone suggest elsewhere. http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_183975_langId_-1_categoryId_255206 http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_242529_langId_-1_categoryId_255206 There is also a Maplins adjacent to Oxford Road Bridge in Manchester http://www.maplin.co.uk/600w-12v-inverter-48724 I am unsure on which is the best - please be nice!
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Hi there new to the community so I hope it's alright to create a new thread. The narrowboat I'm currently looking to purchase is set up with an alternator, 3 new 12v batteries, no inverter, mains cabling throughout. There is also a generator on board. I'm sorry I can't provide specifics at this point, but even general advice much appreciated. If I continue with the purchase, I'm intending on putting on 4 Renogy 100 Watts 12v Monocrystalline Solar panels and doing my best to use the engine for power as minimally as possible (going into winter I realise that the solar is not going to give much power). The current owner will also be putting on a new 12v Fridge if I go ahead with the purchase. The appliances I intend on running would be a toaster, iron, TV, record player, iMac (I already own this and not looking to replace it), Laptop charger, Mobile charger. I'll be replacing all the current lighting with LED. There is currently a Washing Machine on board but the owner says its best to remove it as its on the mains (makes sense, although I would consider keeping it if anyone could provide a realistic solution). Stove and oven will be gas, have yet to decide on a water heating system. The current gas boiler is defunct. Currently considering a new gas boiler or a back boiler for the burner (no burner currently on board looking to purchase) to fuel hot water (taps, shower) and heating (there are radiators throughout but I'm not sure if they would be necessary once I purchase the burner - she's 63'. To be clear I will not be mooring up and 'plugging in', so everything needs to be off grid power. My knowledge is limited so being completely open, I apologise if my questions appear naive any support appreciated: Is it better to consider investing in a good inverter, or should I look at transformers on an appliance by appliance basis? If primary usage was 12v, would installing an inverter affect functionality or can you run both 230v and 12v with an inverter? I'm not particularly keen to keep the generator but would anyone advise that I do and why? Instead of an inverter or transformers would anyone's opinion be that I simply run the engine (with alternator) when using non-12v appliances, and why? I want to reduce emissions and costs from over using the engine unnecessarily wherever possible. Will the current 'all mains' wiring cause any problems with purchasing 12v appliances e.g. the fridge. If I wanted to consider keeping the washing machine what would you recommend having in place? Thank you for your advice.
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Yet another query, sorry folks. after almost buying a rubbish inverter, we took all the lovely advice off you guys and got a victron inverter/charger. For a few days whilst cruising we managed to get some use out of it, but feel like the leisure batteries may have seen the end of their days. Our issue now is though that whilst connected to mains electricity we still have no use in our inverter/charger. Like, nil puit! Have we bought something dodgy? Are we still that novice that we haven’t sussed it out? Can anyone (in simple language) spell it out to us? cheers in advance!
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I wanted to start looking at the settings on my Victron 3000 phoenix multiplus. (get that equalisation charge a bit higher!) I didn't think it had VE capability because it doesn't specifically mention it on the case, but after investigating, I now believe that it does. Which is handy, as trying to set anything with the dil switch on the pcb is a cryptic process indeed. So, I have 2xethernet sockets on my pcb. It appears that one has to connect a cable from that, to a special black adapter called an MK2b, then on to the pc serial com(?). Or looking on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Victron-VE-Direct-to-USB-Interface/272760914869?epid=6005290134&hash=item3f81d143b5:g:wQQAAOSwLdBaBBYH there seems to be a different thing that goes direct to usb but the other end doesn't look like an ethernet connection. TOTALLY confused, so if someone could kindly put me straight I'd be grateful. My first thought is that an ethernet to ethernet cable would make sens - but I remember when connecting pc's that way you need to get one with crossed over wires (I do have one somewhere). The serial number on the chip on the pcb is 1809149.HEX which doesn't quite correspond to anything on the Victron document I found online https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Manual-A-Guide-to-VEConfigure-EN.pdf Of course, the next hurdle is that I normally use Ubuntu
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Hello there, what would you say is the best over all investor/charger I should get for my boat? From genty
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Hi All Another newbie here. I have an old boat which is stationary at the moment, and hooked up to a landline. One)brand new leisure battery on constant charge via a 12v battery charger (as recommended by neighbouring boaters). Been fine for months then suddenly - battery dies. Battery charger red light on (for power) but not charging, Went and bought another 115ah battery, checked battery charger, all fine - lights came back on, water pump works again., hurray! Few weeks go by, lights die, water pump not working. Battery dead. Charger still plugged into mains socket and attached to battery but not charging. My multimeter registered 00 charge!!! Got out a very old small battery charger 6V and put battery on charge - bingo,it's now charging (I found out from internet about smart chargers not 'recognising' very low/no volts in batteries). Now what do I do? I have even found out what 'parasitic drain' means and checked that nothing is switched on, but am lost for ideas. Is it something to do with the inverter? (I flipped a switch upwards on it yesterday and the TV went off so I have now put it back down). I can wire a plug and change a fuse, but other than that, the sum total of my electrical knowledge is written above. (I have impressed myself with having got this far!). Any advice/suggestions very much appreciated, as I am determined to crack this. OliveOyl
