Best inverter for the buck

[prroots]

There are lots of products that make false claims but it does not make them any more true. A disreputable water heater maker claims they are "marine" but they are sooooo far off NFPA & ABYC standards that it is laughable. They still claim "marine" just as many inverter and battery charger makers do when they do not meet acceptable "marine" standards..

The inverter I mentioned earlier, the Xantrex ProWatt SW series is UL458 and is true sine wave. They are quite reasonably priced. I use one on our boat and have not had any issues but it is Xantrex. I bought it because it met UL458 and was the most reasonably priced sine wave inverter that did so. Yes sometimes even I will take a gamble on the "X" brand... Ours powers dedicated outlets only...

ProWatt SW Data Sheet

ProWatt SW $342.06

Thanks. Based upon your recommendation, I've started to investigate the Xantrex Prowatt SW2000 inverter and so far it looks interesting. I had not given Xantrex much attention heretofore due to all the negative feedback. BTW, the Samlex SSW-1500-12A that I've been favoring also claims to meet UL458.
Pete

 

[prroots]

Pete,

What you are proposing "can" work. It would not be a way I'd wire it but so long as both sources can't "bump" each other it can be safe.

The problem is that this can still allow two AC "sources" to be on at the same time, on the same boat, which is generally frowned upon.

If you are doing as you draw, which is a little incomplete but I see where you're going, you don't need to break the neutral of the inverter with a double pole breaker. My earlier post was incorrect as I was thinking of the AC trans switch before the main breaker. If the transfer switch is before the main breaker it needs to break both hot & neutral but yours is after so you only need to break inverter hot.

Thanks. I believe that how I've wired the switch is the most natural way given the fact that I'm only concerned with switching sources to the AC outlets, not the entire AC system. Having said that it offers me two advantages, one significant and one minor as follows:

1. The inverter can never drain the battery by being connected to battery charger or water heater
2. A cost savings in switches, breakers, and cable since I'm dealing with a 15A circuit not 30A

As far as installation difficulty I see little if any difference between breaking the cable going to the AC panel vs breaking the cable(s) leaving the AC outlet circuit breaker.

In 95% of the cases, the shore power cord will be disconnected when the inverter is run, so I'm not too concerned about two different AC sources being live at the same time. I've only thought of one instance where this might happen and that is our desire to run some onboard AC device while the marina's shore power has been temporarily interrupted.

Having said that, you did mention you would not wire it this way. Can you explain the advantages of switching the sources prior to the AC panel? I can certainly do that if the advantages outweighed the ones I listed. Thanks again for defending my concept; it sure saved me a lot of grief. When someone replies without an understanding of my concept, I hate to let it stand since others may take it seriously. In that sense, your postings have been invaluable.
Pete

 

[prroots]

I just completed a preliminary comparison between the Samlex SSW-1500-12A and the Xantrex Prowatt SW2000. The Samlex specifications and owner's guide is more complete so I will have to call Xantrex to get a few questions answered. For example, Xantrex does not quote THD (total harmonic distortion) and they make no reference to whether neutral and ground are internally connected and if not, what would be the consequence of connecting them externally. Overall the specifications are almost identical. Here are some differences and similarities:

1. The Xantrex is about 50% heavier and a bit larger
2. The Samlex includes a remote LCD display/control panel whereas one must purchase a remote on/off switch from Xantrex (without display capability)
3. The Xantrex is rated for 1800 continuous while the Samlex is rated for 1500. The 1800 is a nice number because it provides the full 15A output at 120VAC.
4. Both units offer 3000 watts surge capability
5. The Xantrex fan is temp controlled whereas the Samlex is load controlled. I like temp control because it takes into account ventilation and ambient temperature whereas load control does not
6. Both units provide GFCI protection on the AC outputs
7. Both units claim to meet UL458
8. The discounted prices are essentially identical once you add in the optional remote control panel to the Xantrex

Unfortunately, my comparison did not take into account the reputation of the two companies. I would appreciate any information that might compare the two companies on that basis.
Pete

 

[Maine Sail]

Thanks. I believe that how I've wired the switch is the most natural way given the fact that I'm only concerned with switching sources to the AC outlets, not the entire AC system. Having said that it offers me two advantages, one significant and one minor as follows:

1. The inverter can never drain the battery by being connected to battery charger or water heater
2. A cost savings in switches, breakers, and cable since I'm dealing with a 15A circuit not 30A

As far as installation difficulty I see little if any difference between breaking the cable going to the AC panel vs breaking the cable(s) leaving the AC outlet circuit breaker.

In 95% of the cases, the shore power cord will be disconnected when the inverter is run, so I'm not too concerned about two different AC sources being live at the same time. I've only thought of one instance where this might happen and that is our desire to run some onboard AC device while the marina's shore power has been temporarily interrupted.

Having said that, you did mention you would not wire it this way. Can you explain the advantages of switching the sources prior to the AC panel? When someone replies without an understanding of my concept, I hate to let it stand since others may take it seriously. In that sense, your postings have been invaluable.
Pete

It all boils down to "fault potential" wiring the AC transfer switch (ACTS) before the AC panel 100% prevents two AC sources being powered at the same time. Yours does not do this and you can easily energize shore and the inverter to power the outlets at the same time..

The green safety ground is tied to everything as a safe and direct path to Earth to utilize the OCP features on the boat. It should never be broken. In the event of an internal AC fault, in an AC device, to ground, like a battery charger for example the consequences can be bad and is why we have two paths to earth back through shore or direct to the ships earth buss. With a hot neutral inversion on the shore side it may energize the ground circuit long enough to potentially damage the neutral side of your inverter, if it is on, before the OCP trips.

In the event of a dropped neutral on the dock, this happens a LOT more often than people would ever guess, the green safety ground tries to become your new neutral. If the inverter is on it may get damaged as it is not suffering from an inversion..

If both "sources", shore/inverter were on when this happened the inverter could be damaged before your OCP has a chance to fault. With the inverter off, as it would be with the ACTS before the AC panel there should be no damage

These are but some of the reasons we don't generally wire as you've shown. As I said it "can" work and as long as you never power from shore and inverter you'll be okay. Still not optimal or preferred but "can" work. You leave yourself open to "fault" potential wiring this way and that is why it is not "preferred" to break anything but the AC panel feed....

I can certainly do that if the advantages outweighed the ones I listed. Thanks again for defending my concept; it sure saved me a lot of grief.

I'm not necessarily "defending" your concept. I would not personally wire in that fashion. Yes it "technically" works but is not optimal, for safety reasons.

I was merely defending the fact that your ACTS isolates hot/neutral. The problem still remains in the event of an AC fault to ground/earth and the fact that you have the on-board "potential" for two AC sources. As I mentioned early on the ability to have two on-board sources is generally frowned upon....

 

[Maine Sail]

Xantrex does not quote THD (total harmonic distortion) and they make no reference to whether neutral and ground are internally connected and if not, what would be the consequence of connecting them externally.

The ProWatt has the white neutral/earth bonded inside the unit. Apparently the Samlex does not, based on your statement earlier. This strikes me oddly as to how they meet UL458?

If the unit is not designed to have earth/neutral bonded internally DO NOT do this externally... If you were to ever burn a marina and this was discovered you may put yourself on the hook..

A recent case in Washington state involved a boat where the builder, Tollycraft, used incorrectly rated breakers for the application. The boat burned the marina. After a fire investigation, and investigation by Carling Technologies who manufactured the breakers, the insurance company denied coverage. This was based on the fact that the devices were being used "incorrectly" for the application.

The insurance company deferred to the boat builder who was now "out of business". The millions in damages fell to the boat owner, despite him never touching the electrical system...:neutral: I suspect this will be a long length court battle. 55% of boat fires are ELECTRICAL in nature.

When you wire outside of "accepted" safety standards, namely ABYC, you open yourself up to a lot of potential liability. Food for thought.

 

[Bill Roosa]

The latest diagram from mitiempo has the transfer switch BEFORE the AC panel. So you can re-use all the panel CBs. The AC panel just sees the power coming from the same wires so no need to change things on the panel. Pete's original diagram had the TS AFTER the panel. In that configuration there are several more circuits to separate the two sources. These extra circuits need CB protection.
Again the need for a 4 pole TS is to allow you to control the power to the HWH and batt charger. On SP you want the HWH and battery charger and AC outlets powered while on inverter power you only want the AC outlets powered. To do that BEFORE the AC panel requires 4 poles (see below). Main Sail pointed out that if you are comfortable with remembering to have the CBs in the right position you can get by with a 2 pole TS and I agree but have a brother-in-law who is not as bright as the average bear.
I believe I read in the regs that when you have a source of power you HAVE to switch both hot and neutral. Pete feels comfortable with the “as wired in a house” configuration and is only protecting the hot side of the circuit. You would not need to protect the neutral on the individual branch circuits provided the main CB did that for all those circuits. By putting the TS after the panel you have to duplicate the protection instead of just using the existing main CB.

I’m kinda confused as the solution I’m suggesting is identical (I stole it from the TS manufacturer and it looks very similar to mitiempo’s diagram) and requires less hardware than the TS installed after the AC panel approach no matter how you slice it.

 

[prroots]

It all boils down to "fault potential" wiring the AC transfer switch (ACTS) before the AC panel 100% prevents two AC sources being powered at the same time. Yours does not do this and you can easily energize shore and the inverter to power the outlets at the same time.. While they are "isolated" on the hot/neutral they are not isolated on the safety ground. In the event of a fault......:cussing:

The green safety ground is tied to everything as a safe and direct path to Earth to utilize the OCP features on the boat. In the event of an internal AC fault, in an AC device, to ground, like a battery charger for example the consequences can be bad. With a fault like this it can energize the ground circuit long enough to blow your inverter or zap a lineman working on the dock power that they assumed the power was off. This can all happen before the OCP trips.

In the event of a dropped neutral on the dock, this happens a LOT more often than people would ever guess, the green safety ground tries to become your new neutral.

If both "sources", shore/inverter were on when this happened poof goes your inverter even before your OCP has a chance to fault.

The LAST event where you'd want to use your inverter is when you lose dock power for a short time. For safety, with your system, the boat should be 100% UNPLUGGED before you ever fire up the inverter.

These are but some of the reasons we don't generally wire as you've shown. As I said it "can" work and as long as you NEVER power from shore and inverter you'll be okay. Still not optimal or preferred but "can" work. You leave yourself open to "fault" potential wiring this way and that is why it is not "preferred" to break anything but the AC panel feed....




I'm not necessarily "defending" your concept. I would not personally wire in that fashion. Yes it "technically" works but is not optimal, for safety reasons.

I was merely defending the fact that your ACTS isolates hot/neutral. The problem still remains in the event of an AC fault to ground/earth and the fact that you have the on-board "potential" for two AC sources. As I mentioned early on the ability to have two on-board sources is generally frowned upon....

Thanks. It will take me awhile to fully absorb the significance of your points. My initial reaction is that a fault of the ACTS could have the same negative consequences whether located before or after the AC panel assuming of course that the breakers were closed and shore power was connected.

By 'defending my concept' I simply meant that you were clarifying how it was designed to work as opposed to endorsing it
Pete

 

[Maine Sail]

Thanks. It will take me awhile to fully absorb the significance of your points. My initial reaction is that a fault of the ACTS could have the same negative consequences whether located before or after the AC panel assuming of course that the breakers were closed and shore power was connected.

By 'defending my concept' I simply meant that you were clarifying how it was designed to work as opposed to endorsing it
Pete

Before the AC panel it can't because at that point in the system it is EITHER SHORE or INVERTER for the entire AC system.

With yours you can still have SHORE AND INVERTER on the same "AC system" both running at the same time. Yes, you are "isolating" the hot/neutral of the outlet circuit but not the safety grounds so in the event of a fault that involves the protective earth and the inverter and shore on at the same time.................... With the ACTS before the AC panel there is no worry about two AC sources being on at once because it can't physically happen.

 

[prroots]

Before the AC panel it can't because at that point in the system it is EITHER SHORE or INVERTER for the entire AC system.

With yours you can still have SHORE AND INVERTER on the same "AC system" both running at the same time. Yes, you are "isolating" the hot/neutral of the outlet circuit but not the safety grounds so in the event of a fault that involves the protective earth and the inverter and shore on at the same time.................... With the ACTS before the AC panel there is no worry about two AC sources being on at once because it can't physically happen.

Thanks. I accept your arguments about fault potential at face value and am willing to occasionally drain my batteries by inadvertently feeding water heater and/or battery charger from the inverter if it provides reduced fault potential. With that in mind I have redrawn my schematic; this time I used a ruler

This design eliminates the one 15A breaker I needed before and the Sterling transfer switch I selected is capable of handling 32A so that should do fine. Comments welcome
Pete

 

[Stu Jackson]

Inverter wiring & Safety

1. Thanks. I believe that how I've wired the switch is the most natural way given the fact that I'm only concerned with switching sources to the AC outlets, not the entire AC system.

2. As far as installation difficulty I see little if any difference between breaking the cable going to the AC panel vs breaking the cable(s) leaving the AC outlet circuit breaker.

3. In 95% of the cases, the shore power cord will be disconnected when the inverter is run, so I'm not too concerned about two different AC sources being live at the same time.

4. Having said that, you did mention you would not wire it this way. Can you explain the advantages of switching the sources prior to the AC panel? I can certainly do that if the advantages outweighed the ones I listed. Thanks again for defending my concept; it sure saved me a lot of grief. When someone replies without an understanding of my concept, I hate to let it stand since others may take it seriously. In that sense, your postings have been invaluable.

Pete,

At the risk of
1. Your entire concept is based on simply not wanting to worry about switching the charger or hw heater off before you energize your inverter. See #5, "Operationally" below. Others have mentioned the extra breakers you'd need. Why bother?

2. Installation difficulty should have nothing to do with safety. Why not do it right? And when we say "right" we mean never EVER having the two sources ON at the same time. Maine Sail explained it in Reply #104 quite well.

3. 95% of the time? Really? Remember the thread from cruisersforum where she said she once forgot and blew up her inverter? I think I copied it earlier right here on this thread.

4. Maine Sail is a professional boat electrician and well respected contributor to this and many other boards, as are many other respondents to this thread. If Maine Sail said "I wouldn't wire it this way", I'd take a deep breath and think really hard about it. What you're trying to do is to avoid throwing two simple breakers, the charger and hw heater to off before you engage your inverter, AT THE RISK of frying your inverter, right? But at the same time, your "design" will REQUIRE you to remember to turn the inverter off before you engage shorepower or else you'll fry your brand new inverter, which to me is a crazy risk, and a very expensive one at that for someone who is trying to save some dough. Again, remember that lady's post: she had two inverters! And because of her wiring, which is kinda similar to yours operationally, she fried her first one. Why, oh why, would you want to do that?

5. While it's been mentioned before, wiring the inverter transfer switch to run the entire panel, operationally, is NO different than your scheme BECAUSE you still have to remember to turn something off. In this case, your inverter, which could fry. If you wire the transfer switch ahead of the panel (simple DPDT, like the Sterling), all you have to remember to turn off the charger and hw heater. Operationally, I never have the A.C. shorepower, hw heater and/or the charger on unless I am using them, so for starters they are always OFF. I also turn my A.C. main breaker off, it's usually off anyway, 'cuz I rarely leave my boat plugged in when I'm not there.

It sure seems simpler and SAFER to run your boat that way than it would be to risk a fried brand new inverter and potential other issues discussed previously.

Again, good luck and be safe.

Stu

PS - Haven't reviewed your new wiring diagram.

 

[prroots]

Pete,

At the risk of
1. Your entire concept is based on simply not wanting to worry about switching the charger or hw heater off before you energize your inverter. See #5, "Operationally" below. Others have mentioned the extra breakers you'd need. Why bother?

2. Installation difficulty should have nothing to do with safety. Why not do it right? And when we say "right" we mean never EVER having the two sources ON at the same time. Maine Sail explained it in Reply #104 quite well.

3. 95% of the time? Really? Remember the thread from cruisersforum where she said she once forgot and blew up her inverter? I think I copied it earlier right here on this thread.

4. Maine Sail is a professional boat electrician and well respected contributor to this and many other boards, as are many other respondents to this thread. If Maine Sail said "I wouldn't wire it this way", I'd take a deep breath and think really hard about it. What you're trying to do is to avoid throwing two simple breakers, the charger and hw heater to off before you engage your inverter, AT THE RISK of frying your inverter, right? But at the same time, your "design" will REQUIRE you to remember to turn the inverter off before you engage shorepower or else you'll fry your brand new inverter, which to me is a crazy risk, and a very expensive one at that for someone who is trying to save some dough. Again, remember that lady's post: she had two inverters! And because of her wiring, which is kinda similar to yours operationally, she fried her first one. Why, oh why, would you want to do that?

5. While it's been mentioned before, wiring the inverter transfer switch to run the entire panel, operationally, is NO different than your scheme BECAUSE you still have to remember to turn something off. In this case, your inverter, which could fry. If you wire the transfer switch ahead of the panel (simple DPDT, like the Sterling), all you have to remember to turn off the charger and hw heater. Operationally, I never have the A.C. shorepower, hw heater and/or the charger on unless I am using them, so for starters they are always OFF. I also turn my A.C. main breaker off, it's usually off anyway, 'cuz I rarely leave my boat plugged in when I'm not there.

It sure seems simpler and SAFER to run your boat that way than it would be to risk a fried brand new inverter and potential other issues discussed previously.

Again, good luck and be safe.

Stu

PS - Haven't reviewed your new wiring diagram.

You seem to to always miss the point. Maine Sail has noted that my original design will work fine and the inverter and shore power should never be connected together unless something fails. Besides that you should have at least read my previous post where I accept Maine Sail's arguments about fault potential. Why just confuse the issue especially since Maine Sail has such a talent for explaining things clearly.
Pete

 

[Stu Jackson]

Pete,

The only point many of us have been making for you is your safety.

I believe this has been exhausted. I am a firm believer of sharing options and reasons. Many of us have done so on your behalf.

I also have a favorite phrase: "Your boat, your choice."

Good luck, and be safe. Let us know how it works for you.

 

[Maine Sail]

Thanks. I accept your arguments about fault potential at face value and am willing to occasionally drain my batteries by inadvertently feeding water heater and/or battery charger from the inverter if it provides reduced fault potential. With that in mind I have redrawn my schematic; this time I used a ruler

This design eliminates the one 15A breaker I needed before and the Sterling transfer switch I selected is capable of handling 32A so that should do fine. Comments welcome
Pete

Pete,

Unless your inverter has an integral breaker on the HOT 120V leg then you will probably still want a breaker. As it is drawn you are using the AC main breaker in the AC panel, which can be fine, but this requires your inverter wiring to be the same gauge. Eg: You can't protect 14GA wire with a 30A breaker...:neutral: Another example is that the ProWatt SW 2000 has a max draw if about 19A AC. You don't size for "max continuous" which is about 15A you always size for "max" amperage the device can support. Xantrex claims 19.2A or a 20A breaker and 12GA wire.

This means you can wire A ProWatt SW 2000 safely with 12GA wire to the ACTS switch. Here lies the issue. You should not protect a 12GA wire with a 30A breaker, which is very likely what your panel has. If it is 50A service this is even worse.. 12GA wire should be protected with a 20A breaker not a 30A or 50A.

The inverter AC wiring to the ACTS should be sized to handle the full output of the inverter which in this case is below what a 30A or 50A main AC breaker should protect. A 2000W inverter can do about 19 - 20A. If you run 10GA wire then your fine with the 30A breaker, the breaker is only protecting the wiring anyway, but if you run smaller than that you'll want an additional breaker in the hot leg of the inverter. If you have 50A service you'll be much better off with a 20A breaker & 12GA wire..

This diagram is the ABYC accepted diagram for what you want to do..

 

[prroots]

Pete,

Unless your inverter has an integral breaker on the HOT 120V leg then you will still need a breaker.

Thanks. I'll revise with the single pole 15A breaker added.
Pete

 

[Stu Jackson]

That's the same diagram we provided to Pete on page 4 of this thread as well as from Brian over on this topic on cruisersforum.

 

[Maine Sail]

That's the same diagram we provided to Pete on page 4 of this thread as well as from Brian over on this topic on cruisersforum.

Yes, it is one of the ABYC diagrams and I simply copied it rather than scan it myself...

 

[Maine Sail]

Thanks. I'll revise with the single pole 15A breaker added.
Pete

Let the breaker be dependent upon the inverter, but most importantly, the wire you choose. You may want a 20A if going with a 2kW inverter.

 

[mitiempo]

The latest diagram from mitiempo has the transfer switch BEFORE the AC panel. So you can re-use all the panel CBs. The AC panel just sees the power coming from the same wires so no need to change things on the panel. Pete's original diagram had the TS AFTER the panel. In that configuration there are several more circuits to separate the two sources. These extra circuits need CB protection.
Again the need for a 4 pole TS is to allow you to control the power to the HWH and batt charger. On SP you want the HWH and battery charger and AC outlets powered while on inverter power you only want the AC outlets powered. To do that BEFORE the AC panel requires 4 poles (see below). Main Sail pointed out that if you are comfortable with remembering to have the CBs in the right position you can get by with a 2 pole TS and I agree but have a brother-in-law who is not as bright as the average bear.
I believe I read in the regs that when you have a source of power you HAVE to switch both hot and neutral. Pete feels comfortable with the “as wired in a house” configuration and is only protecting the hot side of the circuit. You would not need to protect the neutral on the individual branch circuits provided the main CB did that for all those circuits. By putting the TS after the panel you have to duplicate the protection instead of just using the existing main CB.

I’m kinda confused as the solution I’m suggesting is identical (I stole it from the TS manufacturer and it looks very similar to mitiempo’s diagram) and requires less hardware than the TS installed after the AC panel approach no matter how you slice it.

Bill

The diagram I posted came from Blue Seas (model#9009) and I used it to show how a 2 pole transfer switch is wired and what it does. Whether it is before the panel or after as in Pete''s case makes no difference. When it is in the inverter position the hot and neutral from the panel is isolated and the only path is from the inverter to the outlets - no connection to the panel except the common ground. Pete is installing a breaker in the hot after the switch. This could be a 2 pole breaker for both hot and neutral - I would do this - but as Maine posted, if the wiring is properly done and shore power unplugged when the inverter is in use there will not be a problem.

You state that if the switch is after the panel there are several more circuits to separate the
2 sources. There is only one circuit and it is the hot and neutral that feed all the outlets on the boat. The switch accomplishes this without any chance of feedback to the panel through the hot and neutral. The circuit for all the outlets will get circuit breaker protection from the CB Pete is installing after the switch. There are not extra circuits - just one circuit for all the outlets. The reason a 2 pole breaker is used as the main switch in a panel is in case of reverse polarity - where dock power is concerned you never know how it may be wired. In the case of the inverter, as long as it is wired properly when installed it will not change.

The hot water heater and battery charger are isolated by the 2 pole switch as are any other circuits on the AC panel. When the 2 pole switch is in the inverter position the only path for hot and neutral is from the inverter to the outlets - the main panel is isolated.

You state that to install the switch before the AC panel you need 4 poles - you only need 2 poles as there are only 2 wires being switched (hot and neutral from 2 sources with hot and neutral out) - see the Blue Seas diagram I showed for a 2 pole wiring diagram - it shows the 2 pole switch before the panel as it should be wired. It is a 2 source in/one source out switch It is not any different than 2 double pole breakers with a sliding lockout that only allows one to be connected at any time, another alternative if the switch is being installed before the main panel.

 

[prroots]

Pete,

Unless your inverter has an integral breaker on the HOT 120V leg then you will probably still want a breaker. As it is drawn you are using the AC main breaker in the AC panel, which can be fine, but this requires your inverter wiring to be the same gauge. Eg: You can't protect 14GA wire with a 30A breaker...:neutral: Another example is that the ProWatt SW 2000 has a max draw if about 19A AC. You don't size for "max continuous" which is about 15A you always size for "max" amperage the device can support. Xantrex claims 19.2A or a 20A breaker and 12GA wire.

This means you can wire A ProWatt SW 2000 safely with 12GA wire to the ACTS switch. Here lies the issue. You should not protect a 12GA wire with a 30A breaker, which is very likely what your panel has. If it is 50A service this is even worse.. 12GA wire should be protected with a 20A breaker not a 30A or 50A.

The inverter AC wiring to the ACTS should be sized to handle the full output of the inverter which in this case is below what a 30A or 50A main AC breaker should protect. A 2000W inverter can do about 19 - 20A. If you run 10GA wire then your fine with the 30A breaker, the breaker is only protecting the wiring anyway, but if you run smaller than that you'll want an additional breaker in the hot leg of the inverter. If you have 50A service you'll be much better off with a 20A breaker & 12GA wire..

Thanks. I've had time to study this post. First off my main breaker is 30A which is distributed to:

• AC outlets: 15A breaker
• Water heater: 15A breaker
• Battery charger: 10A breaker

Why do I need to concern myself with the wire gauge since after the 30A breaker we have a 15A breaker supplying the AC outlets? Maybe you're allowing for the possibility that all the above breakers are closed which would then exceed the 30A. If so, seems the simplest solution is to match the wire gauge supplying the AC panel from shore and thereby, avoid the necessity of adding another breaker. Another issue is whether my 15A breaker will trip when supplying the maximum of 19.2A? If so, the limiting factor would be my 15A breaker not the inverter itself.
Pete

 

[Bill Roosa]

mitiempo
I suggest you look at Pete's diagram again. He has clearly added some CBs to the inverter side and panel that are not needed in a normal TS before the panel setup.
For the last time, you only need the 4 pole TS if you want to switch out the HWH and other shore power only loads. A 2 pole will work fine provided you mind the CBs for those loads.
Pete: You clearly are invested in your solution. You have an abundance of info to assist you. I don't mind helping but I also do not wish to be a bother.

Good luck and post some pictures of the final solution.