Inverter power requirements

[pheran]

My boat is fitted with a Vetus combined 50amp charger/2000W inverter. Does anyone know how much power the inverter itself requires when swtched on but no mains current is being drawn? (not to be confused with the 8-15% inefficiency apparently incurred when actually 'inverting') Also there is a 'standby' button. Whats the difference between standby and on? Many thanks.

 

[Mal113]

I assume the invert has a supply from the battery so you can have 240 volts output when the charge is not plugged into the shore power? As the current draw will be low can you not put an ammeter in series with the inverter and measure the amps on the supply side? Normally inverts take power even when not in use to supply the electronic components with +/- 15-volt supplies in order to drive the system, I would guess this to be low but it is easy to measure.

 

[VicS]

Vetus no longer seem to do any combined charger/inverters and they do not seem to offer online manuals for obsolete equipment.

The manuals I have found for just inverters give figures of <3wattts in "power save mode" and in the catalogue <1.5watts in "Energy saving position"

The first figure seems to be for a range of 12 and 24 volt inverters from 600 to 3000watts which can provide an uninterruptible power supply and the second for a less sophisticated range from 500 to 2000watts. but I am rather confused by it all.

However maybe those figures give some sort of clue. I take it you cannot make much more sense of the manual for your charger/ inverter.

Armed with the knowledge that the power consumption is not likely to exceed 3watts, that's 0.25 amps at 12 volts or 0.125 amps at 24volts, perhaps you can do as suggested and cautiously measure the current consumption in the different modes you mention. Keep the meter on a high range (2 amps) at least initially.

Sorry not a lot of help really. I am surprised your manual does not give the info.

 

[pheran]

Thank you both for your replies. Unfortunately I do not have a manual for this item - indeed it was just about the only item of equipment on the boat that wasn't fully documented. Like you, Vic, I had a look at the Vetus website but couldn't trace a manual. I'll give the measuring suggestion a try and also contact Vetus direct to see if they can help as there are other aspects of its operation I would like clarifying eg low voltage cut-out level
Thanks again.