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Stumble · 10-11-2013, 08:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Panope

A good point.

If I mount the inverter on the galley bulkhead, It will be about a 5 foot run to the battery switch panel - so 10 feet round trip. Not to bad.

While I was looking at wire size charts, I got to thinking about the inverter's power rating. Most have a "surge" rating of double the normal rating. Does one size the wire for the surge or for the normal rating?

Steve

It depends, if you like fires then the normal rating, if not then the surge

.

The efficiency of the inverter is also directly related to the size of the wire, so the minimum size charts should be considered just that minimum. Bigger is better.

Panope · 10-11-2013, 14:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Then put a smoke alarm in with it.

.........and the spiral of complexity continues.

Someday boats will be built by making the hull as a giant printed circuit board.

Steve

Panope · 25-11-2013, 19:48

Just a follow up/wrap up report.

I got one of these: Go Power! GP-SW300 Power Inverter.

It is smaller than I had hoped for and it does have a fan. The good news is that the fan only comes on when the unit gets hot - and I could not get it to come on at all in the hour or so I played around "loading" it up. So its great for running the radio - in silence.

The thing is also pretty miserly with power. It only consumes .2 amps (12vdc) when "on" and with no load so this unit will be left "on" a lot of the time. It will replace a crappy little portable inverter whose fan ran constantly and and sounded like a cat 5 hurricane.

The Go Power is capable of running my cordless tool battery charger, vacuum and other small things like the soldering iron.

Another plus about this particular size (300w) is that I was able to provide power and circuit protection via the nearby D.C. panel and a 40 amp breaker in an unused spot. This allows me to put some of my paranoia about fire to rest as I am able to remove all power to the unit when not in use (instead of a larger inverter's requirement to be wired directly to the house bank).

If I ever need more power for larger intermittent loads, I am free to get the noisiest and cheapest (modified sine) around.

I appreciate the help given in this thread. The key piece of info was the part about the fan not coming on when operating at a small percentage of maximum power.

Steve

mitiempo · 28-11-2013, 18:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I got this one:

Xantrex PROwatt SW 1000 Power Inverter

The charger I have from them is rather crummy. It frequently goes offline from "overheating" and just randomly blinks on and off. So if you're in the states and can handle returning it the unit if it's a dud, go for it.

There's also no remote (or I don't have one if there is one), which kind of sucks because I have it mounted in the battery compartment and I'd like to be able to turn it on and off so the SSB doesn't get noisy.

The front panel is not removable on that inverter. As posted though the simple on/off remote panel is only $25 and is in the lower right corner of the page you linked to at Defender.