I mounted mine (32' sedan) in the wine celler, on the front side of the engine room firewall. I cannot be installed in the engine compartment. Since the batteries are directly behind (I used one 8d battery for my house system), the run is short. You will probably need 1/0 or 2/0 feeders to the inverter - check the manual. You MUST fuse these, as close to the battery as possible!!! - A shorted cable will cause a fire (think 'welder')...

Hopefully, you saved the generator's transfer switch - it's the easiest way to transfer to the inverter. There's lots of other ways (i still have the generator, so I did a hybrid setup), but for you, a transfer switch will get the job done quickly...

At rated output, 1000 watts, your inverter will draw about 100 amps. Of course, at the surge rating of 4000 watts, the draw will be around 400 amps. You need to decide how much of the surge rating you will actually use: quite a lot for starting motors, but almost none for resistive loads like stoves. Then, you can fuse accordingly, from 150 Amps to 400 amps, your choice.

Once you have decided on the fuse, you can select the dc wire, which will need to be rated differently depending whether any of it is in the engine room or not. The wire will need to be anywhere from 2 AWG to 4/0,, per the chart. Refer to the abyc chart on my web site. http://www.geocities.com...t_codes/ABYC_codes.html

When you have chosen the wire size, calculate its resistance from the ohms/1000' column, you will have a couple of feet, and check the manufacturer's info. They will spec a maximum resistance in the leads, or a maximum voltage drop, or some such.

On the 120 V side, you might consider putting the whole boat on it. If the unit has a battery charger, then it has a transfer switch already. You can wire the dock power to the "120 volt in" and the boat's ac panel to the "120 volt out". This will put a load of more than 1000 watts on the built-in transfer switch when operating everything from shore power, but it should be OK because it is less than the inverter's surge rating.

You can pull 15 amps ac (1500 watts) from a plug, but if you want to put the whole boat on it, that won't be enough and you will need to hardwire, which is probably better anyway.

If you only want certain breakers to be fed from the inverter, then you will need to do some wiring on your ac panel.

It would be a big help to have model numbers and such. I could probably be more specific with more information.

Where do I run the ground from the back of the inverter? Also: I have a battery charger in place. How can i run this to my main power grid and not have it go to my charger?

Third: If I ground this to my hull, will this cause electrolisis? Sorry guys, but when it comes to electricity I could use some help. :)

Grounding
For safety purposes, the chassis of the inverter/charger must be connected to your AC ground system. The chassis ground bonding lug is located on the bottom of the unit. This connector can accept two wires, the first is used to connect the unit to AC ground, the second can be used to connect other AC equipment to ground.
Use bare copper insulated wire, solid or stranded. Strip one end and use a screwdriver to secure it to the chassis ground
bonding lug. This wire will connect to the ground in your AC electrical system, typically the vehicle chassis. Make sure the
connection is clean and tight.


10. If installing in a system which includes an existing battery charger or converter, make sure these do not operate
from the inverter output AC power. This sets up a power loop which, due to inefficiencies, will quickly drain the batteries.

All I want it for are wall sockets. The TV, DVD and perhaps an occasional light or fan...

So my big quastions now are:
1. I need to tie into a good ground. If I mount this booger under my wet bar (Port side mide ship saloon area)(37 sedan) where can I ground it?
2. Tie input power lines where the main power hits the main switches. (Near the lower station wheel) That then would share any shore power. But I'm guessing that I can't wire the power output to the same switch because it would then run the battery charger for my starting batteries. So do I need to split wire both the port and starboard outlets at the panel? Come to think of it I think my charger is also connected to my starboard outlet switch. I have it plugged into the bulkhead plug in the engine room.

So the idea is to get power to teh entire boat but isolate the battery charger....

Thanks Roger. The reason I am avoiding using my gen set hook ups are that I want the unit to charge when I go to shore power. If I switch over to gen set then it breaks from the shore power hook ups and won't allow my inverter to work as a charger.

Not a bad idea.


Hmmm... question: By having the power of one side of the boat always running through the modified sine wave inverter does that mean that the inverter will always be on and always changing the waves to modified sine waves? Or if I turn it off would the power simply pass through from the shore power?

The transfer switch built in to the inverter/charger will, when shorepower is available, connect the shorepower straight thru, turn off the inverter, and turn on the power supply. That is what is so appealing about these units.



The sine wave inverter is preferred for sensitive loads. The modified sinewave is awful, some 47% harmonic distortion, and you should try each load to see what it will put up with. Things with motors, especially, get hotter than designed. Stoves could care less.

Your 600 watt inverter does not have a transfer switch built-in, so you will need one, or will need to plug it in and out or something.

The battery charger, water heater, air conditioning, and other not-for-battery loads should be connected to the shorepower before the inverter. Never connect an inverter output to anything but loads.

In principle, I don't see a reason why you couldn't have both inverters on at the same time, but I have never tried it. I currently have a small sinewave inverter that I can plug in to dc for sensitive loads, and put away when not needed. I have an inverter designed in, with a manual switch to select modes. Haven't bought it yet, for $everal reason$.

The inverter we a talking about here comes with wires for the input, so you can just use those ( if they are with it). If you use new wires, do follow the required sizes per the ABYC chart, and use red hot and yellow return. Jeff's extra outlets would be a great way to go if you don't need to run a lot of stuff -- and it would be easy to use both inverters, the sine wave one for the TV, perhaps.