Split 240 volts

[Dave 2]

Hi All 

I'm in a bit of quandary.  bought my second hand boat 9 months ago I've been using my inverter for my 240 volt needs. 

Now moved onto a jetty with shore power bit surprised when I plugged in the Shoreline to discover it only powers the battery charger and immersion heater, and not the sockets.  I have two RCD boxes one for the sockets plus one for the immersion heater and battery charger, seems a bit daft to me still having to use my inverter to power my sockets when I have access to mains power.  

I know it's not a normal setup is there any way I can change it to power my sockets?

[rusty69]

 

What battery charger/inverter is it? 

Edited April 25, 2017 by rusty69

[Dave 2]

Battery charger Sterling 1240

Inverter Sterling 1800 watt

[PaulJ]

Not so daft. Probably done so that you cant accidently run the charger off the inverter!

Are you sure you dont just unplug the output on the inverter and plug that it into the shore power supply? Seen this done many times on boats lacking a changeover switch. 

[nicknorman]

Normally there would be a changeover switch to select the incoming shore supply or the inverter to power the sockets. It could possibly be automatic (and broken) or at a simpler level, a plug that can be inserted into one of 2 sockets, one being shore power and the other being the inverter output. It would not be normal to have no such switching mechanism so the chances are you just haven't found it yet!

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, Dave 2 said:

... bit surprised when I plugged in the Shoreline to discover it only powers the battery charger and immersion heater, and not the sockets. 

There's a logic to that, so it may well be wired in that way. You wouldn't want to run either the immersion or the charger off the inverter, hence they're hard wired from the shore power input.

You don't say how big the inverter is but if it's only small then it's possible that the charger could keep up with its demand, in which case it would be perfectly logical to wire the boat as it appears to be. 

[mickp]

As already said look for a change over switch to divert inverter power over to shore ,a lot of boats wired this way including mine.

[Dave 2]

Hi all

Definitely no change over switch looks to me like there's two separate systems, the boats around 14 years old, I'll have a good look around tomorrow and report back.

[Dave 2]

Hi all 

Decided to call the boat builder who is still in business there is a switch, never having a 240 volt system before I thought it was a battery isolation switch for the batteries, so I'll give it a try tomorrow feeling a bit silly at the moment thanks for all the comments.

[PaulJ]

Sorted! So All good☺

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, Dave 2 said:

I thought it was a battery isolation switch for the batteries

It's obviously very well labelled then

[Arthur Brown]

It's seriously important that you do not accidentally power the bollard from the boat inverter -things may go bang! Also that you do NOT power the immersion or the charger from the batteries however you wire things and operate things 

[WotEver]

3 minutes ago, Arthur Brown said:

It's seriously important that you do not accidentally power the bollard from the boat inverter -things may will definitely go bang!

There, fixed that for you.

[Dave 2]

Hi all 

 

Checked out the switch and it's all ok so I've marked it up 1 Shoreline 2 inverter, the reason I was a bit unsure the guy in boat sales told me it was a battery switch.

[nicknorman]

36 minutes ago, Dave 2 said:

Hi all 

 

Checked out the switch and it's all ok so I've marked it up 1 Shoreline 2 inverter, the reason I was a bit unsure the guy in boat sales told me it was a battery switch.

Never believe a salesman!