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Is it better to get a generator or lots of betteries and an invertor, perhaps also a diesel cooker? I may be interested in liveaboard so it could be an important decision.
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You have to figure out what power you need at 240v. Above a certain power level (quite a low level) the current on the 12v side of the inverter is too much. Therefore inverters are fine for low power items like your Sony Playstation and plasma screen TV, but not the cooker. Anything electrical above a few hundred watts and you're going to need a generator.
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Re: oho, upper class boating
Couldn't agree more jfm. The built-in sauna, on-deck barbecue, and intra-deck elevator will need the power of a generator. With an inverter, you'll be able to run only the laser printer, pulsating matress, fish tank, plasma TV, automatic expresso machine or a smallish non-collating photocopier - but not all of them at once!
Couldn't agree more jfm. The built-in sauna, on-deck barbecue, and intra-deck elevator will need the power of a generator. With an inverter, you'll be able to run only the laser printer, pulsating matress, fish tank, plasma TV, automatic expresso machine or a smallish non-collating photocopier - but not all of them at once!
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Generator every time- you\'ll never run out of power. NM
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Re: err, Energy vs Power - sorry to be pedantic but....
...you may indeed run out of power. I mean, consider the following scenario: your 4KW generator is humming away nicely, and your party of deckbabes has turned on the espresso machine, some hairdryers, leccy blanket, large collating photocopier, ethernet server running Lakeview software, plasma TV in both cabins, and all that adds up to 3.99KW power, and then at that moment Haydn goes and flushes the 100Watt electric flush loo on a "number 2". You will most definitely run out of power, you'll be 99Watts short to be precise.
And with potentially messy results: one of the deckcandybabes turns off her hairdryer, releasing 1kw of power draw, so the genny auto-resets and kicks back in, and the loo motor revs back to life just as Haydn has taken the macerator to bits to see what's up...and eeek! Still, Haydn's a pro, has handled that stuff before, no worries....)
...you may indeed run out of power. I mean, consider the following scenario: your 4KW generator is humming away nicely, and your party of deckbabes has turned on the espresso machine, some hairdryers, leccy blanket, large collating photocopier, ethernet server running Lakeview software, plasma TV in both cabins, and all that adds up to 3.99KW power, and then at that moment Haydn goes and flushes the 100Watt electric flush loo on a "number 2". You will most definitely run out of power, you'll be 99Watts short to be precise.
And with potentially messy results: one of the deckcandybabes turns off her hairdryer, releasing 1kw of power draw, so the genny auto-resets and kicks back in, and the loo motor revs back to life just as Haydn has taken the macerator to bits to see what's up...and eeek! Still, Haydn's a pro, has handled that stuff before, no worries....)
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Re: Haydn and Toilets....
Haydn I do apologise for covering toilet technology in the above post, without first clearing it with you. I do entirely appreciate you are this board's toilet guru, all toilet posts to be approved by you and checked for technical accuracy. Won't happen again. Oooer gotta run....
Haydn I do apologise for covering toilet technology in the above post, without first clearing it with you. I do entirely appreciate you are this board's toilet guru, all toilet posts to be approved by you and checked for technical accuracy. Won't happen again. Oooer gotta run....
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Invertor - energy loss
How much energy is lost in the conversion from 12V DC to 240V AC?. If for example I'm running a 240 Watt appliance off an invertor, how many amps will there be being drawn off the battery?
How much energy is lost in the conversion from 12V DC to 240V AC?. If for example I'm running a 240 Watt appliance off an invertor, how many amps will there be being drawn off the battery?
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Re: Inverter efficiency
Never used one myself but in the catalogues and stuff they're generally rated at 90% efficiency, with a few at 92 or 94%.
Never used one myself but in the catalogues and stuff they're generally rated at 90% efficiency, with a few at 92 or 94%.
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Thanks jfm, that\'salot better than I expected NM
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Re: Generator power limits
Our just trips out if *everything* is on, but not too huge a deal to turn of some aircon before using toaster, oven, er photocopier etc.
Our just trips out if *everything* is on, but not too huge a deal to turn of some aircon before using toaster, oven, er photocopier etc.