Hardwiring a portable inverter

[jr438234606]

The loads on my boat's eletrical system are nearly all 12V DC. I do have a few small devices that require AC power, and they are generally low wattage. I have AC plugs located throughout the boat.

I already own a small, portable, 700W inverter. It has two AC plugs on one end. It is hard-wired to the battery. It would be very convenient if the power it provided was tied into the boat's AC wiring. All of the inverters I have found that are setup to be hard-wired are overkill for my needs in terms of wattage. On the other hand, none of the inverters in that wattage range I need (400 - 700 watt) are setup to be hard-wired.

My question is this: Is there anything inherently wrong with hard-wiring a portable inverter?

The manual does not explicitly say you cannot do it. I do have an AC power selector switch (Ship/Shore). I actually hooked it up through the switch as a test and it certainly seems to work fine. Has anyone done this?

[sailingdog]

The problem with hard-wiring a small AC inverter is that you can accidentally plug in the AC-powered battery charger and then burn off all your electricity charging your batteries from your batteries and kill your batteries rather quickly. By having it not hardwired, it kind of forces you to think about what you're doing.

[essman]

One way you can easily accomplish the inverter powering the boat's AC outlets is to make you an extension cord with a male AC plug on each end. Plug into the inverter with one end and into one of the boat's AC outlets with the other. You can then pick up the AC power with your appliance at the nearest outlet.
Just heed what sailingdog had to say and pull the circuit breaker on large loads you don't want to power with the inverter such as the battery charger.

[ebs001]

Essman suggestion of a male/male extension cord is illegal because of the very real potention to create an electrical hazard of exposed live blades of the plug. You may know but the other guy(your wife child or best friend) may not and death may be the result.

[sailingdog]

I'd highly recommend you not do anything like use a bastardized power cord with two male ends...that's a good way to get a Darwin Award...all it takes is you forgetting once...and zap.....

Generallly, anything that increases confusion and makes it easier to get killed is a bad idea... a really bad idea.

[donradclife]

Hooking up a portable inverter through the ship/shore switch should work, as long as you don't have a genset or other source for ship power--if you try to power the sockets with two power sources without syncronising them, the results can be spectacularly bad. Forgetting to turn off the battery charger or hot water heater will be bad, but not spectacular.

[camaraderie]

I agree with Don. You have a shore/ship switch and that is all that you should need. Just keep your battery switch on house when at anchor and the worst that can happen is you'll drain the house and have to start the engine and charge 'em up.