Inverters

[doris]

How many of have an inverter and if you have one, have devices do you use it with.
Am just pondering whether it’s worth having one. At the moment, apart from a kettle I’m not convinced I’ll use it enough.

 

[Tranona]

Only you can decide if it is worth having one. Probably driven by 2 things - do you want to regularly use 240v appliances and do you have the battery capacity/charging resources to power them.

If you are not convinced you would use an electric kettle while away from shorepower then forget an inverter - more trouble and cost just to get hot water a bit quicker than gas.

 

[wonkywinch]

Got a Marinco 700 watt inverter fitted to the boat when new. It is good for the chargers for my laptop, ePropulsion battery, Dewalt batteries and not much else.

A kettle will need between 2,000 and 3,000 watts. Excluding any losses, a 3kw inverter under full load will be drawing 250 amps from a battery. Draining a fully charged 80AHr lead acid battery down to 60% (recommended limit) will take less than 8 minutes at that consumption.

An inverter installation needs careful thought on what consumers you have and how you will supply and replenish that power.

 

[madabouttheboat]

I’ve been down this route of whether to fit an inverter or not, and so far I haven’t. The main reason being that to be powerful enough to be useful, say 2kw minimum, you need a big battery bank, certainly bigger than my two 110ah domestic bank. If I was to fit a 1kw inverter, more realistic for my battery bank size, its uses would be so limited that I am not sure it is worth it. I can charge most things from a 12V socket and for occasional laptop charging I have a portable inverter that I can plug into the same 12v socket. I like the idea of having constant mains voltage available, I am just not sure I really need it.

 

[riverteign]

We have a small one that we use with 240v battery chargers which tend to be higher power and faster than their 12V equivalents. Outboard battery, tool batteries etc

 

[ylop]

How many of have an inverter and if you have one, have devices do you use it with.
Am just pondering whether it’s worth having one. At the moment, apart from a kettle I’m not convinced I’ll use it enough.

I do. 1300W. Bought it (on impulse second hand) but didn't even bother wiring it in when the boat lived in a marina as shore power was available whenever doing maintenance, or for boiling kettle etc "at home". Never felt I needed it during "trips". [I could probably get away with 250W for those]

Wired it in when we moved to swing mooring. Its entire use so far has been: charging a drill and charging an electric outboard as I don't have 12V chargers for them - in reality I could have lived without either.

1300W won't power a useful kettle (I think there are small camping ones but might as well use gas as so slow). I do like decent toast (no grill on board) and I think there might just be enough power for that. We don't have a vacuum cleaner on board but I'm tempted to add one. Again battery and 12V options exist.

Consider Wonkywitch's point carefully.

 

[wonkywinch]

I do like decent toast (no grill on board) and I think there might just be enough power for that

Consider Wonkywitch's point carefully.

Thank you for the mention but I'm not that nasty (winch not witch!).

Have you considered one of these to go over your gas hob? - https://amzn.to/3BfrHjG

 

[ylop]

Thank you for the mention but I'm not that nasty (winch not witch!).

Oops! I'd love to blame autocorrect but I think that was actually me! Hopefully no offence caused.

Have you considered one of these to go over your gas hob? - https://amzn.to/3BfrHjG

View attachment 183322

We have something similar to that which does a passable job but I'll be amazed if that perfectly even, golden brown toast was actually made on that device! You can make toast on them but it is labour intensive.

 

[Irish Rover]

Just ordered the final bits and bobs in preparation for my son coming this weekend to fit 2 x 625W solar panels and a 3Kw inverter. We have an airfryer, rice maker, coffee maker, etc on board which we currently use with the generator operating. We're planning to use the available solar power for cooking etc during the summer when there's plenty of late sunshine here. House Bank is 630ah.

 

[John_Silver]

As a summer liveaboard cruiser (April to Oct) I don’t miss 240v AC, when off shore power. Cook off Gaz. Cafetière (stainless not glass) for the coffee. Cooker specced with grill, for (the all important) toast. Phone, tablet, lap top and cameras all charge off 12v ‘cigar lighter’ socket or usb’s. Only my electric razor needs 240v, about once a month. For which I either beg an hour’s charging, whilst shopping ashore, or put in to port for a plug in (whilst refilling water tanks).
Friends, based in the Med, and on the hook most of the summer, take their Torqeedo battery with them, when eating ashore. And recharge it whilst they dine.

 

[noelex]

How many of have an inverter and if you have one, have devices do you use it with.

There are two main types of uses. The first is for charging low power devices such as chargers for tool batteries, toothbrushes etc. It is usually possible (and more electrically efficient) to charge most devices via a DC to DC converter rather than an inverter, but it is not worth the trouble to set this up for devices that are used infrequently. This type of inverter is helpful on most cruising boats, and as it only requires a low power unit it is easy and cheap to set up.

The second use is for high power devices such as electric cooking. Being able to run high power appliances such as this has many advantages, but to be useful it requires a means of replacing the electrical energy, such as a large solar array. It also requires a robust electrical system that can deliver the considerable current that is needed. This option is expensive, as not only does it need a large inverter, but the cabling and battery bank will also be substantial.

There is no right answer. It depends on your requirements and the capabilities of your boat. Our first cruising yachts had no inverter. Our last boat had a modest non sine wave inverter that was of very limited value and therefore used only occasionally. Our current boat has a large inverter and almost all our cooking and water heating is done via this unless we are cruising areas with poor solar insolation. There was no electric cooking when we were cruising Scotland in winter .

 

[rotrax]

Already working on the power system when we downsize. A domestic only Lifepo house battery, Solar and an inverter ar high on the list. We have a 3,000W peak, 1500 constant inverter powered by 440AH of AGM's. Does everything but the kettle and Air Fryer, so the next system will do that.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I have a 2500 w inverter mainly used for a microwave and some power tools

Cooking and kettle are mainly done on LPG . Hot water is either from engine of Gas instant water heater

 

[Gustywinds]

Thank you for the mention but I'm not that nasty (winch not witch!).

Have you considered one of these to go over your gas hob? - https://amzn.to/3BfrHjG

View attachment 183322

Not for gas but these are great for making toast on a diesel hob:

 

[Gustywinds]

We have a Victron 2000W inverter/charger with 3 x 110AH batteries. We run a 1500W kettle, a Nespresso machine and a 1600w hairdryer but obviously not at the same time.
We did originally want 3000w but had availability issues and settled for this and it’s been fine. The remote monitoring is fascinating to watch it managing power.

 

[geem]

We run two inverters a 3kw inverter that powers all 230v supplies in the boat. The batteries are in the middle of an upgrade to 560Ah of 24v lithium plus an increase to1000w of solar and full electric cooking.
We also have a smaller 800w inverter that supplies a double socket in the nav station for small devices that don't require you to run a 3kw inverter.
Our large inverter will run the immersion heater, 220v watermaker, electric cooker, kettle, ice maker, etc

 

[lektran]

We have 800Ah of 12v lithium and a 1600W inverter (Victron EasyPlus), full time cruising with 730w permanent solar and another 240w when anchored. When the sun is available we use a single element induction hob for cooking and boiling water but use gas for baking or when solar isn't keeping up, with this approach a Campingaz 907 will last us between 6-12 weeks depending on the sun. The induction hob has power levels 1-7 and we can't go above 3 without overloading the inverter but 95% of the time that is plenty of heat.
Other uses for the inverter are the toaster, TV, starlink, charging the outboard battery, running laptops and occasional use of workshop vac when sanding etc. (all other tools are cordless and charged via inverter)

 

[ridgy]

I have a 2000w inverter but I don't use it very often. Apart from obvious uses like charging tools and laptops etc, its handy for when I need to use more serious power tools like a grinder. I've also run a small table saw and mitre saw with it. Obviously those thing run typically for less than a minute so the batteries can cope every now and then.

 

[Daverw]

We needed to change our battery charger a few years ago and at the time had a small 300 watt inverter for running small laptops etc. decided to upgrade to victron multiplus 1600w inverter charger, use it now for microwave and small kettle, just also got a small induction hob. SWMBO spends more time on the boat now as she finds doing stuff easier. Still have gas as option though

 

[Beneteau381]

Thank you for the mention but I'm not that nasty (winch not witch!).

Have you considered one of these to go over your gas hob? - https://amzn.to/3BfrHjG

View attachment 183322

Used one the other week, absolutely useless, it dries the bread out before browning