Invertor to Supplement 10 amp shore power

[Newbroom]

Hi
I am moving my boat to the Netherlands but the marina I have chosen only has a 10 amp shore supply.
My boat a Broom450 is all electric.
I have a 3 outlet battery charger which charge the domestic and the two sets of starter batteries.
I also have and independent 3KW Invertor which supplies i double socket in the galley.
With out going to the expense of a smart charger/invertor is there any way that the invertor can be used to supplement the 10 amp shore supply automatically if the draw goes aver 10 amps.
Thanks
Dave

 

[[2574]]

Hi
I am moving my boat to the Netherlands but the marina I have chosen only has a 10 amp shore supply.
My boat a Broom450 is all electric.
I have a 3 outlet battery charger which charge the domestic and the two sets of starter batteries.
I also have and independent 3KW Invertor which supplies i double socket in the galley.
With out going to the expense of a smart charger/invertor is there any way that the invertor can be used to supplement the 10 amp shore supply automatically if the draw goes aver 10 amps.
Thanks
Dave

I don’t think so as the 240v ac has to be “in phase’ before it can be blended from two sources, that’s the clever bit done by the likes of Victron’s Multiplus (which I have onboard). My advice would be to bust the piggy bank and fit a Multi, fabulous kit.

 

[vas]

+1 on the multi/quatro. They do a brilliant job and v.configurable.
Mind need some decent battery bank to support the extra amps, so the bill may be higher than the multi

 

[jwfrary]

I have 2 multi plus 3000 rigged, most of the time we run at 10 amps on the shorepower inlet to allow the solar to put some of the work in and the multis togther can provide some 26 amps of power on their own or 36 with the 10amps from the shorepower.

We have a 10kwh battery bank as well so fair storage and 1200 Watts of solar. Quite a big expense but worth it and will reduce your generator running hours as well and with the right alternator setup potentially getting rid of it completly.

 

[Newbroom]

Was hoping to keep my existing.
I think that I can manage by letting the invertor deal with the higher wattage items from a separate socket and the shore power look after the charger and fridges etc.
Depending on what the start up current is on the immersion put a timer on it so it comes on in the early hours when nothing else is running via the shore power

 

[rogerthebodger]

Was hoping to keep my existing.
I think that I can manage by letting the invertor deal with the higher wattage items from a separate socket and the shore power look after the charger and fridges etc.
Depending on what the start up current is on the immersion put a timer on it so it comes on in the early hours when nothing else is running via the shore power

I take it the marina only has 10 Amp per outlet.

Would it be possible to use 2 seperate marina outlets allowing 1 Amps from each there fore a total of 20 Amps

If the outlets are the same phase they can be connected together. I can tell you how but not on a public forum

 

[PaulRainbow]

Was hoping to keep my existing.
I think that I can manage by letting the invertor deal with the higher wattage items from a separate socket and the shore power look after the charger and fridges etc.
Depending on what the start up current is on the immersion put a timer on it so it comes on in the early hours when nothing else is running via the shore power

Crossing phases wouldn't end well, so be very careful.

What do you plan to run from the inverter and how big is your domestic battery bank.

 

[vas]

imho, what the OP is trying to achieve is quite messy and even with one only shore power connection has the potential to destroy the battery bank he already has.
For the cost of a decent inverter that will power the LOT and charge the batteries I personally wouldn't even discuss it.
you can always sell the old inverter and old battery charger to recover some of the expenses- that's what I did

 

[PaulRainbow]

imho, what the OP is trying to achieve is quite messy and even with one only shore power connection has the potential to destroy the battery bank he already has.
For the cost of a decent inverter that will power the LOT and charge the batteries I personally wouldn't even discuss it.
you can always sell the old inverter and old battery charger to recover some of the expenses- that's what I did

100% agree with you VAS, hand mixing inverter and shore power phases is a no-no for me. Connecting two phases from the pontoon is just plain insanity.

 

[Newbroom]

Sorry guys you have misunderstood what I meant
I would keep the two completely separate
The shore power supplying the the boats ring mains and the investor suppling a independent socket in the galley
Both my charger and investor are relatively new and wher purchased to deal with a completely different environment
Dave

 

[Newbroom]

Crossing phases wouldn't end well, so be very careful.

What do you plan to run from the inverter and how big is your domestic battery bank.

From the invertor the kettle wifes hair dryer etc
I have 4 x 125 ah batteries as domestic onl and 2 x2 125ah starter batteries

 

[PaulRainbow]

Sorry guys you have misunderstood what I meant
I would keep the two completely separate
The shore power supplying the the boats ring mains and the investor suppling a independent socket in the galley
Both my charger and investor are relatively new and wher purchased to deal with a completely different environment
Dave

I understood Dave, was just issuing caution regarding crossing phases. Mixing two phases from the pontoon is obviously insane.

I asked a question in post #7 ?

 

[Newbroom]

Thanks Paul
While I am no electrician I know enough not to try connecting to inputs from different phases.
I have 4 x125 ah batteries as domestics and 2x2 125ah batteries as starter batteries all charged and floated by a smart charger with 3 12volt outputs
My 3kw investor socket was mainly used on the river to boil the kettle when we had no shore power to save starting the gunny
Dave

 

[PaulRainbow]

From the invertor the kettle wifes hair dryer etc
I have 4 x 125 ah batteries as domestic onl and 2 x2 125ah starter batteries

If the inverter circuit is 100% stand alone. I would connect the inverter to a small enclosure, housing an RCD and MCB or a RCBO.

Bear in mind, for every 1000v of 240v you pull through the inverter, 100a @12v will be drawn from the batteries. So, a 3kw kettle would draw 300a from the batteries, your batteries would effectively be flat in less than an hour (not that you would boil the kettle for a hour. Wifes hair dryer could draw 200a plus, so might pay to use that on shore power.

Also consider, if you draw a lot of power through the inverter the battery charger, on the shore power, will ramp up to replace it, using some of the shore power, so you won't gain as much as it might appear.

Might be a good time to think about some solar ?

 

[rogerthebodger]

Different outlets on a pontoon are NOT aways from different phases

On my pontoon all 4 outlets are on the same place so no issue running different appliance's from 2 separate outlets

I run my water heater and washing machine from 2 different outlets o the same power pole

 

[PaulRainbow]

Different outlets on a pontoon are NOT aways from different phases

On my pontoon all 4 outlets are on the same place so no issue running different appliance's from 2 separate outlets

I run my water heater and washing machine from 2 different outlets o the same power pole

The proper and correct way to use 2 sockets on a pontoon is to have a split electrical system, where one inlet runs certain circuits and the other runs everything else, both systems being 100% separate.

 

[Newbroom]

I don't intend to use two outlets of shore power or even know if two would be availabe unfortuntly my pensions will not run to replacing the present charger invertor at the moment
Will see how we get on
Thanks for your help all

 

[Pete7]

Sorry guys you have misunderstood what I meant
I would keep the two completely separate
The shore power supplying the the boats ring mains and the investor suppling a independent socket in the galley
Both my charger and investor are relatively new and wher purchased to deal with a completely different environment
Dave

Dave, sounds like what we currently do. 2kW Inverter supplies two sockets at the galley which are completely separate from the rest of the yachts shore power sockets. I fitted red sockets so there is no mistake were the power is coming from. Though in use, we rarely use shore power. Protection via an RCBO in a small consumer unit next to the inverter.

Pete