Inverter

[Sanddancer]

What is best to leave inverter on all the time or only when needed?

I turn mine off and only on when required

[Dave Payne]

i have mine on eco mode, only kicks in when the fridge/freezer requests power, leave it like this 24/7, but only because i have just fitted a solar panel.

 

Before the solar i had to turn it off at night or run my engine a lot before and after bedtime.

 

Does yours have an eco mode, what is it powering?

[Guest]

i have mine on eco mode, only kicks in when the fridge/freezer requests power, leave it like this 24/7, but only because i have just fitted a solar panel.

 

Before the solar i had to turn it off at night or run my engine a lot before and after bedtime.

 

Does yours have an eco mode, what is it powering?

Likewise. Our now old Sterling inverter uses next to nowt in standby mode.

[Dave Payne]

funny thing when i first did it though, it makes a little blip noise every couple of seconds as its sending its signal out to check, i thought it was water dripping and spent an hour panicking and sticking my ear to the floor all over the boat to find the non existent leak!!

[Sanddancer]

No just on and off. It was just the thought of the power out uses

[Dave Payne]

turn off when not being used, unless you have a fridge/freezer or something else plugged in that may need power when not about?

[bottle]

As a very rough guide, depending on make, efficiency and probably a few other things, an inverter has load of 1amp so it uses 24 amp.hrs in a 24 hour (one day) period, just sitting there turned ON

 

Some inverters have an 'eco-mode' again depending on the above it may have a load of 0.5 amp so 12 amp.hrs in the same period. not doing anything

 

but it will not be in eco-mode for the 24 hrs, if it was it would be better to turn it OFF.

 

So lets say the inverter is in use 12 hrs and in eco-mode for 12 hours (using the above figures) that would be 12 amp.hrs plus 6 amp.hrs, equals 18 amp.hrs

 

That means a saving of 6 amp.hrs in any 24 hour period.

 

The load it is supplying has been ignored.

 

Play with the figures as there is not a yes, no answer to this it depends on your boat and your usage.

[Guest]

As a very rough guide, depending on make, efficiency and probably a few other things, an inverter has load of 1amp so it uses 24 amp.hrs in a 24 hour (one day) period, just sitting there turned ON

 

Some inverters have an 'eco-mode' again depending on the above it may have a load of 0.5 amp so 12 amp.hrs in the same period. not doing anything

 

but it will not be in eco-mode for the 24 hrs, if it was it would be better to turn it OFF.

 

So lets say the inverter is in use 12 hrs and in eco-mode for 12 hours (using the above figures) that would be 12 amp.hrs plus 6 amp.hrs, equals 18 amp.hrs

 

That means a saving of 6 amp.hrs in any 24 hour period.

 

The load it is supplying has been ignored.

 

Play with the figures as there is not a yes, no answer to this it depends on your boat and your usage.

Pretty good advice I would say. If no eco/standby function, then switch off if not in use. IIRC the sterling uses in region of 0.3A in standby so despite being low is still significant over 24 hrs.

[Sanddancer]

What about wear and tear in stopping and starting? Does it shorting the life of the inverter?

[spadefoot]

It might shorten the life of the switch. Which is designed to be switched.

[by'eck]

funny thing when i first did it though, it makes a little blip noise every couple of seconds as its sending its signal out to check, i thought it was water dripping and spent an hour panicking and sticking my ear to the floor all over the boat to find the non existent leak!!

 

The reason it's bleeping in ECO mode is because the AC load whilst high enough to trigger the inverter to ON, is not enough to hold it in this mode. Consequently it's turning on then off every second or so with associated bleep from inverter itself or maybe the device it's powering.

 

Some of the more sophisticated models have differing load values for on and off to stop this cycling in power saving modes.

[nicknorman]

I think it depends on what sort of boating you do. We tend to cruise every day and so keeping the batteries charged is not an issue. We leave the inverter on 24/7.

 

If you want to be stationary a lot, it makes sense to have the inverter on only when you need mains power.

[homer2911]

My 12 yr old Sterling inverter has a fairly noisy fan, so gets switched off at night. (Touch wood) hasn't given an ounce of trouble in all that time.

[ditchcrawler]

I think it depends on what sort of boating you do. We tend to cruise every day and so keeping the batteries charged is not an issue. We leave the inverter on 24/7.

 

If you want to be stationary a lot, it makes sense to have the inverter on only when you need mains power.

Same here

[Guest]

My 12 yr old Sterling inverter has a fairly noisy fan, so gets switched off at night. (Touch wood) hasn't given an ounce of trouble in all that time.

Likewise. Our Sterling is about the same age (a yellow case?) and it too is noisy when trying to get some kip. Great inverter though.

 

The reason it's bleeping in ECO mode is because the AC load whilst high enough to trigger the inverter to ON, is not enough to hold it in this mode. Consequently it's turning on then off every second or so with associated bleep from inverter itself or maybe the device it's powering.

 

Some of the more sophisticated models have differing load values for on and off to stop this cycling in power saving modes.

Yes our sterling does exactly that. I find that the chargers for the laptops used to make it "hunt" in this fashion (I now have 12V chargers). Also a 3 second delay when switching on power tools, which can be a pain, so I have a 240V table lamp with a traditional 40W bulb, which when switched on is enough to "hold inverter in" whilst drilling, power sawing etc.

Edited July 21, 2016 by Guest