installing generator

[Borvaprops]

Hey guys, I just scored a nice little portable 4 stroke generator that peaks at 2kw. I would like to make this a non portable unit and mount on my engine room will route exhaust outside. Can anyone point me on the right direction as of what steps I should take to add this to my a/c system? I'm not looking to use this gen to charge my battery bank would only use for some a/c I have on board in case my battery bank gets low. I currently have an inverter on my 2 6V bank and this does the trick the gen would be for a back up system only.

Thanks in advance

[motion300]

most people safely use these units up on the deck. I do not think they should be installed nonportable in the bildge. Dry exhaust right? A pigtail to your shorepower plug is the deal

[jonlgauthier]

Lots of portable gensets like that need to be slightly modified - the neutral "floats" compared to ground. Make sure that if it's not, you do it yourself. ABYC electrical recommendations call for neutral to be tied to ground at a single point - at the power source: on land for a shorepower connection, at the inverter (lots have an internal auto transfer switch to do this), or at the generator.

To be safe, if you have a shorepower connection, I'd install a small three-pole transfer switch to handle switching from shorepower to genset. Relying on remembering to unplug something just isn't safe in the long run

[Deadeye]

On the 'other' side of the genny, are you planning to install a flame arrestor and a bilge blower ?

Otherwise, the shorepower pigtail might indeed be ticket (esp as a backup) if you can turn off the battery charger and h/w tank.