Advice on Inverter integration

[MarieK]

Hi guys

I want to add an inverter. Boat currently has a manual 2 way crossover switch to switch between Shore Power (Mains) and Generator, I have bought a 3 way crossover switch so i can wire in the Inverter then select accordingly. All good and no issue. My current intention is just to switch off the battery charger everytime i cross over to the inverter but this requires me to remember to do this and more importantly remember to switch it all back when I get back on shorepower. I know I will be driving home from the boat some night and have forgotten to switch back. I could have wired the inverter "in line" with the shore power as the inverter has an AC priority function which enables it to automatically kick in when shore power disconnected but it would still leave me with the battery charger running on the inverter (unless i switch it off manually).

Is there a smarter way to do all this?

 

[jfm]

Yes!

Normally you would have only some, not all, 230v AC circuits fed by the inverter. You wouldn't feed the oven from the inverter, for example. Normally the battery charger would be on a circuit that can never be fed by the inverter, so you leave the battery charger switched on all the time if you want.

I have never seen it done any other way than this.

Also, you can get VSR switches that select the inverter as a 230v source only when no 230v is available from shore or genset, automatically. So you don't need your manual 3-way switch.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Hi guys

I want to add an inverter. Boat currently has a manual 2 way crossover switch to switch between Shore Power (Mains) and Generator, I have bought a 3 way crossover switch so i can wire in the Inverter then select accordingly. All good and no issue. My current intention is just to switch off the battery charger everytime i cross over to the inverter but this requires me to remember to do this and more importantly remember to switch it all back when I get back on shorepower. I know I will be driving home from the boat some night and have forgotten to switch back. I could have wired the inverter "in line" with the shore power as the inverter has an AC priority function which enables it to automatically kick in when shore power disconnected but it would still leave me with the battery charger running on the inverter (unless i switch it off manually).

Is there a smarter way to do all this?

What's the make and model of inverter please ?

 

[jrudge]

Yes!

Normally you would have only some, not all, 230v AC circuits fed by the inverter. You wouldn't feed the oven from the inverter, for example. Normally the battery charger would be on a circuit that can never be fed by the inverter, so you leave the battery charger switched on all the time if you want.

I have never seen it done any other way than this.

Also, you can get VSR switches that select the inverter as a 230v source only when no 230v is available from shore or genset, automatically. So you don't need your manual 3-way switch.

This.

If it is only the charger then you could wire a dual pole relay the coil of which is powered by the inverter - so when it is on and selected the coil energises and disconnects the charger.

If you have multiple circuits this will still work but it gets impractical to implement. Better to then split the ring as JFM suggests.

 

[MarieK]

Ok thanks guys this makes more sense!