Show power vs. equipment on board

peterjaw

peterjaw

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Good day, guys,
I live in Taiwan and most of the yachts here are imported from Europe.
The city power provided here is AC 110v or 220v, 60Hz, including the power outlets in
marinas.

Here comes an issue, the 60Hz AC seems causes some problem to the equipment on board,especially those with motors, compressors.

I have some questions about this issue.

1. Is it possible to ask the yacht manufacturer to install all equipment that accept both 50Hz and 60Hz ?

2. For those yachts are already imported, how can they solve this issue?

Any suggestion and/or advise is welcome. Thank you very much.
 
Most sail boats are geared to running most, if not all equipment, from the 12v supply. AC power normally just used for charging batteries if no solar. So, maybe the main query is - would a 220v 60 Hz charger run OK on 50 & 60Hz.

My only experience with 60Hz on UK 50Hz supply is that motors run more slowly, (IIRC) 5/6 normal speed.
 
110 V require thicker cables to carry the same energy as a 220 V installation so if you are going to use 110 V that would be a consideration,
1000 W @ 220 V is 4.5 A
1000 W @ 110 V is 9 A

Lots of stuff today can run on 220/110 V and 50/60Hz.
So the question is what kind of equipment do you expect to have installed that runs of AC power and is sensitive to the frequency?
Aircondition might be an appliance that is sensitive to Hz & V
 
Thank you very much for responding.

The failures are majorly happening to air condition. The motor and compressor just stopped working. The technician can't figure out the main cause, so we guess if this is related to the frequency (50 Hz vs. 60 Hz), cause if the motor or compressor is
designed to run on 50 Hz and we send 60 Hz, it will run 20% faster and may cause problem.

Most boat owners in our marina just hook up the shore power outlet and use the air condition, and many of them have
experiences about aircon failure. On the other hand, there is a boat from the USA does not have similar issue at all. So we
"guess" if the AC frequency is the key.

ps. English is my second langue so I maybe not able to describe situation that precisely.
 
peterjaw said:
Thank you very much for responding.

The failures are majorly happening to air condition. The motor and compressor just stopped working. The technician can't figure out the main cause, so we guess if this is related to the frequency (50 Hz vs. 60 Hz), cause if the motor or compressor is
designed to run on 50 Hz and we send 60 Hz, it will run 20% faster and may cause problem.

Most boat owners in our marina just hook up the shore power outlet and use the air condition, and many of them have
experiences about aircon failure. On the other hand, there is a boat from the USA does not have similar issue at all. So we
"guess" if the AC frequency is the key.

ps. English is my second langue so I maybe not able to describe situation that precisely.
Click to expand...
Your english is great and your analysis is correct too! Running at 60hz will mean increased torque and overheating of the windings and bearings.
 
peterjaw said:
By the way, we thought when hooking onto the shore power outlet in marina all equipment and appliances are powered directly, is that correct?
Click to expand...
For the AC equipment in most cases yes. If there is an isolation transformer then it's not purely direct but the frequency doesn't change. The solutions I can think of are replacement motors for the failing equipment or very large battery chargers and Inverters to power the AC equipment but that is rather expensive and inefficient. or an equally expensive frequency converter like this: link
 
peterjaw said:
Actually, this is also my question. Won't there be any issue when exporting European boats/yachts to the USA?
How do they deal with it?
Click to expand...

On the majority of European production boats, aircon is an option and the actual equipment fitted would be specified to suit the requirements of the destination country.
 
Boats for export are built to the regulations of that market. It's not just the flavour of AC power that changes. There are many variations in electrical installation regulations.
 
Thank you very much, guys.

According to the responses above, I should consider to import my next boat from the USA or at least the boats for USA market. Taiwan's system is the same as in the USA.
 
peterjaw said:
Thank you very much for responding.

The failures are majorly happening to air condition. The motor and compressor just stopped working. The technician can't figure out the main cause, so we guess if this is related to the frequency (50 Hz vs. 60 Hz), cause if the motor or compressor is
designed to run on 50 Hz and we send 60 Hz, it will run 20% faster and may cause problem.

Most boat owners in our marina just hook up the shore power outlet and use the air condition, and many of them have
experiences about aircon failure. On the other hand, there is a boat from the USA does not have similar issue at all. So we
"guess" if the AC frequency is the key.

ps. English is my second langue so I maybe not able to describe situation that precisely.
Click to expand...
I think you will find that with aircon it is the compressor that fails. In most cases the motor will run OK on 60Hz but the extra 20% RPM destroys the compressor.
 
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