Please help me with advice on charger/inverter

[sailorboy1]

I went through the same recess 7 months ago and decided on the ProMarier 2000PS pure sine wave charger inverter

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Tillsbury

....The inverter is mostly for things like running a microwave for a few minutes, don’t mind having the engine on, wouldn’t run down too much battery for the short time it’s on.

I'll second what SMAC999 said about the battery bank being too small. It's not about the AH capacity in this case, it's that you'll get really bad voltage drop at the batteries under load on such a small bank, most likely causing the inverter to shut off.

I know this because I had exactly this problem with a 1500 Watt inverter on a brand new 210 AH battery bank. In practice, I could not draw more than about 1KW from the batteries, even when fully charged, without the low voltage alarm going off on the inverter, and after about 30 seconds, the inverter would shut off. I'd only used a few of those AH before that happened.

[john61ct]

I thought OP indicated the inverter side would be supported by bigger loads being run off the genny, in which case the bank becomes just a buffer.

Running something like aircon off battery storage is rarely practical, IMO foolish to set that as a design goal,

unless you've got tons of money, it's a very small well-insulated space and your big boat has extra weight carrying capacity.

[Tillsbury]

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. I think I'll go with a smaller inverter /charger, but victron to keep the quality up. There's a 1600w that should be enough for the microwave and that's enough for now. I'd rather not get the generator yet as it will likely be three years or so until we really need it, and when I do I'd rather have a new one than a three year old one that's been ignored all that time.

[jeff356]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I went through the same recess 7 months ago and decided on the ProMarier 2000PS pure sine wave charger inverter

Went through options and am leaning to the ProMariner 2000PS also but am wondering if you are still happy with your choice.

Also was looking through materials to see if there was a battery temperature option for charging.

Jeff

[smac999]

The promariner has huge flaw that you can not turn the inverter off. It does not have a charger only mode. Very important for boats left plugged into a dock.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by jeff356

Went through options and am leaning to the ProMariner 2000PS also but am wondering if you are still happy with your choice.

Also was looking through materials to see if there was a battery temperature option for charging.

We have the ProMariner 2000PS. Works well enough. I don't remember a temp sensor option being available, but that could be a memory fault.

Our remote says "quasi" -- stupid move on PM's part, and I assume the Sterling remote may be similarly labeled. Not a functional issue, but to me, it speaks to PM's competence.

As smac says, there's no bypassing the inverter function with the charger still on; it's all or nothing. There's a way to wire around it it with an AC bypass to the serviced circuits, but we didn't do that. And that would be a physical switch, anyway. Our dock power is reasonably stable, and our inverter only services circuits with a few small appliances on standby (clocks, mostly) when we're not there anyway, so haven't (yet?) seen the need.

-Chris

[dutch-barge]

The advantage of the Victron is ....control...
Victron allows you to do remote control and monitoring
With a boat over 4,000 miles away, it is nice to get an email informing me that the shore power was off. Victron provide 4 different kind of remote monitoring units now. I use the Venus CGGX, and also have it tied to my solar panels, door alarm, fire alarm and tanks. So I can see all on one display ( no need for a fuel or water display now...saving panel space). And it lets me remotely turn on the heat...so the boat is warm when I arrive on a cold day
Plus they have a 5 year warranty.

[LoudMusic]

I can't give you advice on specific brands or models, but I know what features I like. I like charts and graphs, and I like having fine control. I'm not a "straight out of the box" equipment user, nor am I a "set it and forget it" person.

When dealing with power I think it's very important to know what your systems are doing and have control over them. Definitely consider that while shopping. And I certainly wouldn't cheap out on any of that equipment.

[dutch-barge]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

I can't give you advice on specific brands or models, but I know what features I like. I like charts and graphs, and I like having fine control. I'm not a "straight out of the box" equipment user, nor am I a "set it and forget it" person.

When dealing with power I think it's very important to know what your systems are doing and have control over them. Definitely consider that while shopping. And I certainly wouldn't cheap out on any of that equipment.

One reason why I use Victron...I can adjust pretty much everything, and I can even do so remotely !
Plus they provide the arm.victronenergy.com website access for free.
I added their Venus CCGX and now have remote burger alarm, fire alarm and temp alarm, bilge alarm ( and more ) for free
most other 'monitoring systems' charge a monthly fee. So within a year I had recovered the price for the monitoring unit

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by dutch-barge

One reason why I use Victron...I can adjust pretty much everything, and I can even do so remotely !
Plus they provide the arm.victronenergy.com website access for free.
I added their Venus CCGX and now have remote burger alarm, fire alarm and temp alarm, bilge alarm ( and more ) for free
most other 'monitoring systems' charge a monthly fee. So within a year I had recovered the price for the monitoring unit

I've really enjoyed my Victron 100/50 MPPT. My boat had a Magnum inverter/charger on board when I bought it so I didn't feel compelled to replace such a nice charger but I did get the very nice remote for it. If/when it fails I'm definitely going to expand my blue box collection. I also want to replace my BVM with a Victron, and get them all online.

[dutch-barge]

The fun with Victron. compared to others , which was my main reason to go with them, is 5 year warranty, they open source their software PLUS they don't charge a MONTHLY fee for their monitoring system/ website/alerts.
think abut it even at $19.95 ...( most are $39.95) a month that adds up quickly !!

[john61ct]

I do not believe they open source the software running their devices.

But yes, they are very open - more so than anyone in marine electrickery - in documenting their signaling and comms protocols, allowing even encouraging FOSS developers to interface with their devices.

[dutch-barge]

Originally Posted by john61ct

I do not believe they open source the software running their devices.

But yes, they are very open - more so than anyone in marine electrickery - in documenting their signaling and comms protocols, allowing even encouraging FOSS developers to interface with their devices.

JOHN61CT. I should have been more accurate, sorry. They open source the software for their control units. Venus CCGX, Color CCGX etc. There isa pretty busy discussion list going on with that. And you see how users have adapted the units to their needs. I have seen one company, who incorporates them, with their own add-on software, with their recycle Lithium battery systems they produce.
I have not found any other manufacturer do so.

[john61ct]

Cool I didn't realize they'd gone that far!

Wonder how many updates get pushed back to the core source from the community?