Re-wire "entertainment" and have inverter power Line 1 AC Outlets

[flightlead404]

I want to reconfigure my "Entertainment" breaker. Currently it turns on both the cockpit radio circuits and also turns on the inverter (which was apparently installed strictly to drive the Bose subwoofer, which I removed).

Ideally "Entertainment" would only enable the cockpit radio, or potentially both that and a car radio type device that I'll put in where the Bose system was. I want to have a separate inverter circuit such that when I throw the breaker it powers the Line 1 AC circuits.

1) Yes I know I'll have output limitations but running a coffee grinder or some laptops is my requirement, not microwaves or hair dryers
2) I think Hunter may have had an option to have a similar arrangement, but I can't find circuit details on that
3) How would I go about wiring the AC outlet side especially to avoid issues when connected to shore power also?

Thanks

 

[jeepbluetj]

Fancy: If you want the outlets to be powered from shore power when available and inverter when shore power is not available the magic search words are inverter with automatic transfer switch. These are quite common on inverter/chargers, some stand-alone inverters have the feature too. These would generally be >= 1kw sized inverters that would wire directly to the battery (with a big fuse) and would be turned on with a remote. There are also stand-alone automatic transfer switches. (Common for solar and/or RV applications)

Less Fancy: A manual transfer switch. Something like a Blue Seas 6337. (These are eye-poppingly expensive)

Simplest: If you have a small inverter now that you wish to wire to a series of outlets, you can just do that. Remove the AC line from the AC breakers and connect to the inverter. Problems here is it's pretty dang hacky, the only way to power those outlets will be the inverter, and an inadvertent overload of the inverter would be easy.

Under no circumstances should there ever be a way to allow the inverter's output to be connected to shore power. This would be a very bad thing. It's why gen/shore switches are a special thing and are rather expensive.

 

[jviss]

1) Yes I know I'll have output limitations but running a coffee grinder or some laptops is my requirement, not microwaves or hair dryers

Depends on the inverter, and how much battery you have, and how many amps your alternator can deliver. I run the engine when powering big AC loads, as they can flatten the house batteries in a hurry. Can you give more details on the house bank, alternator, and inverter?

2) I think Hunter may have had an option to have a similar arrangement, but I can't find circuit details on that

Someone here can certainly tell you.

3) How would I go about wiring the AC outlet side especially to avoid issues when connected to shore power also?

You need some kind of interlock on the panel, or automatic transfer switch.

 

[kbgunn]

Our AC panels were set up to have a generator option. There is a manual lock-out and a "Parallel" breaker on the AC panel to prevent cross connecting the two AC sources. If you have removed the generator or never had one (I'm only inferring this from the nature of the question) you could connect the inverter AC output to the generator AC input on the panel. The lock-out would prevent accidentally cross connecting the two sources.

If you have a generator and you are adding the inverter as a third AC source, then it's a little more complicated. A manual or automatic bus transfer switch on the AC panel generator input would be my suggestion rather than relying on procedural controls to prevent cross connecting generator and inverter AC output into the panel.

 

[flightlead404]

"automatic transfer switch" Is the phrase I was looking for I think. I have and will keep the factory generator.