Inverter install Tutorial?

R

Rodd

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Jan 22, 2008
150
Pearson 424 East Hampton,NY
Maine-

A suggestion for Compass Marine would be a DIY install of a Magnum inverter/charger. If the snow falls heavily down east this winter, maybe you might have time for this?

Thanks.

Rodd
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
22,986
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Ron's right. There are a number of different ways to do the installation, depending on how you want/need to arrange the AC side. All the rest is proper crimping of the wires which Maine Sail has already documented.
 
R

Rodd

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Jan 22, 2008
150
Pearson 424 East Hampton,NY
My concerns

1. I have 2 30 amp cords coming in.
2. should the wiring from the 110 inlet go directly to the 110 in on the inverter, or go to a main breaker on my electric panel first, then to the inverter, then to a sub panel which would feed the outlets.
3. Do I need to rewire with 10 gauge rather than 12 gauge since I now have a 2000 watt inverter instead of a 1000 watt unit?


I guess I can pose these questions to the guys at Magnum, but I thought the group might benefit from a tutorial on this just as Maine has done with the Sterling Battery Charger. One could have also read the manual on that too!

Rodd
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
22,986
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Rodd, your questions are exactly what I meant in my earlier post.

Into the inverter implies you have an automatic transfer switch there. So, yes. But then you have to decide how you want to wire your boat downstream. That's why the manuals have options.

Your boat, your choice.
 
I

IStream

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Nov 14, 2013
200
Catalina 50 Seattle
Don, the 110 input is so the inverter can automatically pick up the AC load if the shorepower fails (and you've configured the Magnum to do so). If shorepower is present, it'll pass through.

Rodd, if you take the AC to the panel breaker before the inverter, you or someone else can turn off the panel breaker and mistakenly think that none of the outlets or wiring are hot. However, the inverter will still be supplying AC automatically (if configured to do so in the event of shorepower loss) and constitute an electrocution hazard if you're working on the AC.

If you take the AC directly to the inverter (via a breaker at the shorepower hookup for emergency cutoff), then take the output of the inverter to the breaker on your panel, turning off the panel breaker will have the expected effect of killing the AC on all wiring and outlets downstream of the panel.
 
R

Rodd

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Jan 22, 2008
150
Pearson 424 East Hampton,NY
Thanks IStream- this explains exactly what I was wondering about.

Rodd
 
Bill Roosa

Bill Roosa

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Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
So if you wire it as a pass through and you have your water heater and AC on while running off shore power what happens if you loose shore power? the water heater alone will suck up most of the inverter capacity not to mention what it will do to the batteries in short order. This is why you have a MANUAL transfer switch. the power to those high amp appliances is disabled when you switch from shore to sea power. I don't know of an automatic transfer switch that will do that for you. Also requires rewiring your AC panel to isolate those high amp appliance to one buss and everything else to a second buss.
FWIW
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,701
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Rodd,

It is on my list.. To cover it all is a lot. It is one of my peeves though as the vast majority of inverters are either poorly, unsafely or incorrectly installed.. I have a few installs in the spring and hope to collect the missing images I still need...
 
I

IStream

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Nov 14, 2013
200
Catalina 50 Seattle
Maine Sail said:
Rodd,

It is on my list.. To cover it all is a lot. It is one of my peeves though as the vast majority of inverters are either poorly, unsafely or incorrectly installed.. I have a few installs in the spring and hope to collect the missing images I still need...
Click to expand
Looking forward to it, RC.
 
M

mitiempo

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Sep 28, 2008
922
Canadian Sailcraft CS27 Victoria B.C.
There must be a breaker before the inverter.

One way is to go from the double pole main breaker to the inverter and then back to the rest of the circuits on the panel. This means that any high draw items (eg water heater) will be running on inverter power if the shorepower fails.

The better way is to go from a breaker on the panel to the inverter with the inverter output to a sub panel with only the outlets on it. This way there is no danger of draining the battery bank if shorepower fails or if you mistakenly leave the water heater on while away from the dock.

I would rewire with 10 gauge wire.

Keep the battery wiring short and use 2/0 (larger if the run is very long) for both feed wires and chassis ground. Fuse the positive close to the battery post.

Look at getting the Magnum remote panel - it is a good one. If you do not have a battery monitor the remote panel can be a good monitor with an additional add-on.
 
seadaddler

seadaddler

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Dec 19, 2006
5,818
Hunter 36 Punta Gorda
Auto Transfer

I am in NY and not home and can't help with the manual but I do know when I loose shore power the inverter does not go to battery power unless I push the inverter button on my remote for the inverter charger and same thing for the
charger part of the inverter and I do have I believe 2 auto transfers on my boat
so if I turn on Gen or if when on shore power and at the same time I had the inverter powering say maybe TV,this is the way Hunter does it.
My charger does auto to charge batteries when ever shore power is added and wish I could disconnect that but was told can't.
I do know the manual did have 2 or 3 ways to hook up the inverter/Charger and mine is a 2000/Freedom and the remote panel controls all functions of the inverter/charger and even if I have inverter power on will not work the heater or AC but will power everything else like all outlets and microwave and all those have there own breaker like microwave and outlets.
Nick
 
R

Rodd

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Jan 22, 2008
150
Pearson 424 East Hampton,NY
Thanks Maine and IStream

Maine, looking forward to that tutorial, for sure!

Rodd
 
Ron20324

Ron20324

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Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
You don't really say what you want to work off the inverter. If you have two shore 30's, then you probably have air conditioning working off a "hi-load" breaker panel? If it were mine, I'd wire the water heater off the same AC breaker panel as the AirC. This would wire to your SP 30. The other SP 30, wire to the inverter, then a second breaker panel for AC outlets and battery charger. This way, the Air and W.H. would not drain the batts if you lose shore power.
 
I

IStream

.
Nov 14, 2013
200
Catalina 50 Seattle
mitiempo said:
...
Look at getting the Magnum remote panel - it is a good one. If you do not have a battery monitor the remote panel can be a good monitor with an additional add-on.
Click to expand
I second this. The Magnum remotes make life much easier and are a breeze to connect to the inverter/charger. They make both a basic and and advanced version. I've got their basic ME-RC unit, which is pretty advanced (custom charge profiles, etc). They also make an "advanced" ME-ARC unit with some additional features that I've never felt I needed.
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,701
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
With the Magnum you keep the inverter in OFF mode not in STANDBY when you are not there.. It wil not boot to ON after a loss of power..

That said I council all my customers to never leave an inverter in standby/search mode as it burns more current to do so. Invert when you need AC otherwise turn inverter mode to OFF....
 
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