Xantrex AC hook up??

[SanDiegoChip]

We have a 2000 watt charger inverter.
The older one (blue and white).
We are getting closer to getting our Xanterx charger\inverter to be operational.
The battery connections are done.

I am having a problem understanding the AC side of it.
I called Xantrex support and he explained this to me but I still seem confused.
Our goal is to have the charger charge the batteries of course.
When leaving the doc (shore power) have the inverter start up. Or turn it on if we want it to supply AC to the boats electrical outlets..

I think it goes like this.

We install two 15 amp brakers. One for each side of the boats AC?
That would be the AC IN Imput on the Xantrex?

From the AC on the boats AC panel?

Then where would the Xantrex out be?
I could call Blue Sea Systems and get a recomendation on breakes if I knew what I was talking about or was at leat close.

If I am not clear it is because I am not clear about this
See I am confused.
Thanks,
Chip

[sailingdog]

Part of the issue is that this diagram shows that you do not have any AC panel, other than what comes out of the inverter, which is usually not the case on most boats. Unless this is how you plan to set up your boat, you might want to look at the other diagrams a bit more.

Most boats have a shore power panel that the inverter is connected to, rather than running all the AC-based equipment through the inverter.

[Borvaprops]

Take a look at this link, hope it helps

Regards

www.donrowe.com/user_guides/.../freedom_sw_2000_installation.pdf

[SanDiegoChip]

Yes you are correct!
Here is option two. It is a little clearer but enough.

[Borvaprops]

you need a 30A breaker at your main AC panel than the output will have 120V when inverter is ON. That output can than be directed to whatever AC loads you're planing on using. You can install can buy a small AC manel (sub panel) with a few breakers and direct your AC load to whatever you want

[SanDiegoChip]

OK I think I understand the first part.
Connect the charger\inverter to a 30 amp breaker on the main AC panel.
This will supply AC to the charger and probably is how the inver senses the AC gets cut off from shore power.
So the AC into the charger I get if that is correct.

The inverter out to the AC out to the loads (AC plus) on the boat is yet not clear.
Why 3 breakers?
We have 4 or 5 AC outlets on each side of the boat.

Where would the wires from the breakers go? Back to the main AC panel?
Thanks,
Chip

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoChip

OK I think I understand the first part.
Connect the charger\inverter to a 30 amp breaker on the main AC panel.
This will supply AC to the charger and probably is how the inver senses the AC gets cut off from shore power.
So the AC into the charger I get if that is correct.

The inverter out to the AC out to the loads (AC plus) on the boat is yet not clear.
Why 3 breakers?
We have 4 or 5 AC outlets on each side of the boat.

You would probably want to have the outlets setup in several circuits, so that you don't have to power up all of them at any given time. You might have a circuit for the port side of the main cabin, a second for the starboard side of the main cabin and then a third for the v-berth cabin. You can daisy chain multiple outlets in parallel, as is normally done in household wiring. I would highly recommend using a GFI outlet as the first outlet in each circuit or adding a GFI protection device to each circuit.

Where would the wires from the breakers go? Back to the main AC panel?
Thanks,
Chip

Which wires from which breakers? The ones from the inverter sub-panel go to inverter-powered devices and outlets inside the boat. The ones on the shorepower Main AC panel would go to shore power based items, like the AC-powered side of the hot water heater, outlets and other devices that you might want to use ONLY WHEN attached to SHOREPOWER. Often, these are high load items that you'd likely not want to run on the inverter due to how quickly they'd deplete the battery bank.

I also have some AC outlets setup that are wired to the Shorepower Main AC panel, so that I can use power tools without having to turn on the inverter when connected to shorepower.

[SanDiegoChip]

Am I understanding correctly, probably not?
We could not hook the existing 110 volt outlets on the boat to the inverter and also have them work when connected to shore power on shore power 110?
We would need to add more 110 volt outlets to the boat for use with the inverter?
I cannot think of anything else but the hot water heater that we would not want to run off the inverter. Frankly I cannot even think of why we would use the inverter. Ok I got a couple items.
In the head we use a water pick and an electric tooth brush for dental care.
At anchor we would still want to use these items. The tooth brush is charged and then battery operated.
But I was hoping for convenience sake we could just leave the dock and for instance if there was a 110 lamp on we could still have the lamp remain on without shore power. Yes it would go crashing when we healed over under sail, but still.
We will be living on this boat for many years. Luckily my wife does not use a hair dryer or other styling electrical products.
We would like to use a toaster. No microwave, no blenders just a toaster.
I thought that was how these inverters were advertised or that is my impression.
Why is nothing simple, always choice to be made, wine wine.

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoChip

Am I understanding correctly, probably not?
We could not hook the existing 110 volt outlets on the boat to the inverter and also have them work when connected to shore power on shore power 110?

Yes, you could do this, but most boats I have worked on and sailed on have some outlets that are inverter powered and others hooked up directly to the AC shorepower.

We would need to add more 110 volt outlets to the boat for use with the inverter?

Not necessarily, but typically this is done to make the system more foolproof and convenient.

I cannot think of anything else but the hot water heater that we would not want to run off the inverter. Frankly I cannot even think of why we would use the inverter. Ok I got a couple items.
In the head we use a water pick and an electric tooth brush for dental care.
At anchor we would still want to use these items. The tooth brush is charged and then battery operated.
But I was hoping for convenience sake we could just leave the dock and for instance if there was a 110 lamp on we could still have the lamp remain on without shore power. Yes it would go crashing when we healed over under sail, but still.

Yes, but this could likely leave you with dead batteries in many cases...and that could be a very serious problem. Having separate shorepower and inverter outlets reduces the risk of you accidentally leaving an 110 VAC appliance on and killing the batteries with it.

We will be living on this boat for many years. Luckily my wife does not use a hair dryer or other styling electrical products.
We would like to use a toaster. No microwave, no blenders just a toaster.
I thought that was how these inverters were advertised or that is my impression.
Why is nothing simple, always choice to be made, wine wine.

Toasters are relatively high-load appliances, and you can toast bread on a stove top toaster quite well and use NO electricity.

[rmeador]

I see no reason not to just connect the inverter to the existing outlets. That's what I've done on my boat. That way, if shore power is disconnected or there is a power failure on shore, everything instantly switches over to the inverter. My inverter passes shore power through when it is available, and it's an inverter/charger so it's always on anyways (something SD cited as a reason for separate outlets for shore power). It's much more convenient both for installation and for use. Just don't forget to turn off any AC loads you don't need when you disconnect from shore!