Inverter Size Compared to Your Boat Size?

[YannikPronto]

I'm looking to get some info on your boat size and the size of the inverter you chose... I'm familiar with the fact that you should add up all your devices wattages and choose an inverter from there...

But, out of curiosity, what size and kind of boat do you have, and what size inverter did you choose to install?

May you have fair winds and following sea,

YannikPronto

 

[KompetentKrew]

When I bought my 40' (12m) boat, it already had fitted a Victron Atlas Combi 12/800 (i.e. 800W inverter section) and 330Ah of AGM house batteries.

 

[pvb]

Welcome to the forums!

Inverter size has no relation to boat size; it all depends why you want an inverter. I fitted a 2000W pure sine wave inverter so that I could run a hairdryer, kettle and microwave (only one at a time) whilst away from shorepower.

 

[Mistroma]

Welcome to the forums!

Inverter size has no relation to boat size; it all depends why you want an inverter. I fitted a 2000W pure sine wave inverter so that I could run a hairdryer, kettle and microwave (only one at a time) whilst away from shorepower.

Completely agree. I'd bet some extremely large boats don't have an inverter at all and just run a generator all the time and some tiny ones have a much larger inverter than you would expect. We have a 300W inverter giving AC to all sockets (about 10 sockets) and a backup 150W one which could be plugged a 12V socket (there are 5).

Our normal usage at anchor is modest and almost everything only needs 12V but I do run a generator from time to time. I guess that I could plug in about 20 or more items at once if I used all the adapters and extension cables. However, that never happens and the large number of sockets just make it easier to do various things (soldering, drilling, lighting etc.) on shore power.

 

[JumbleDuck]

26', 150W "drinks can" inverter. I think. Haven't used it for years, may have given it to charity.

 

[prv]

34’ boat. Don’t have any 240v equipment on board except the battery charger and the hot water element, so don’t have any inverter.

Pete

 

[MarkCX]

No inverter. If it can’t run on 12v or USB, then we don’t need it.

 

[geem]

,44 ft boat. 3000w pure sine wave inverter to run power tools and watermaker in the unlikely event we lose the genset. Its switchable to all power outlets in the boat. We also have an 800w pure sine wave inverter for small stuff. This one is wired to a dedicated socket on the nav station

 

[FlyingGoose]

42ft 600w quasi , never use it unless the child needs a laptop on .
everything else is 24v , never missed 240v , although the wife wants a hairdryer, I suggested the bilge blower, she hit me

 

[Buck Turgidson]

28' 300W think I've used it once to charge my laptop.

 

[Sandy]

10 meter boat. What's an inverter? Seriously, I have no need for AC on the boat when away from shore power.

 

[Ningaloo]

10m boat: 150W, 11m boat: 150W..
Next boat will be 14m and I'll be transferring the same 150W inverter.

I guess this might change but at present but only use it for my laptop, and come to think of it, I have a DC converter for that now...

Vacuum, hair dryer, toaster, electric kettle, travel iron etc. are only used on shore power.

 

[Ademist]

50ft. mastervolt 24/2500W sine wave inverter

 

[Ian_Edwards]

Just to add to the mix, 12m boat 2.5kWatt pure sine wave inverter and 5KVA generator (again pure sine wave), I use it to run a microwave, electric kettle, toaster, laptops, power tools, occasionally a small fan heater, and as a luxury item and electric blanket! Great to be able to get into a warm dry bunk on a cold Scottish evening.
But as a general comment, the inverter you fit really depends on what you want to power, a cheap quasi sine wave inverter will power most power tools, but needs to be at least 1kWatt, laptops and other electronic equipment often demand a pure sine wave inverter, and you'll need an inverter of 500 Watts or so. If you want to run an electric kettle and other kitchen equipment, then you need an inverter of 2kWatts or more. But 2Kwatts at 12 volts is around is taking around 180amps from the battery bank, by the time you factor in all the losses in the inverter, battery and cabling, so you need a decent sized battery bank and an adequate method of charging the battery bank.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

26', 150W "drinks can" inverter. I think. Haven't used it for years, may have given it to charity.

You got there before me . 30'

 

[PaulRainbow]

This thread is nuts. Inverter size has nothing to do with boat size.

I have a 35 foot boat, what size shoes should i wear ?

 

[fredrussell]

I’ve done away with the inverter and now just use a very long extension lead on a huge reel on back of boat.

 

[Iliade]

1kw, inside a Honda generator :0)

1 x 150w & 1x~300w which never seem to work when I want to use them.

3kw in the m/h to run microwave and aircon.

 

[Bristolfashion]

Ours is about 1" of inverter per 1m of boat, if that helps.

 

[chrishscorp]

I have a 26 foot boat with a 300w inverter. I have a 3100w inverter in my van, I did think about putting it in the boat but i dont think i can be bothered.