Victron charger interferes with Macbook

[wiekeith]

Originally Posted by Symphony

It would be helpful if you post the solution or fix you eventually find, Weikeith. thank you

Of course. I have today tried a ferrite and two types of mains suppressor, but to no avail...

[AbenF]

I don't know if it applies here, but something to keep in mind is that portable inverters are quite different than built-in ones, like an inverter-charger. When an inverter-charger that is designed for mobile use is disconnected from shore power, a relay connects neutral and ground, replacing the connection that is normally established at the mains source. Therefore, neutral is in common with your boat's ground and DC negative, as it should be. With a portable inverter, you'll often (or always?) find that there is significant voltage between neutral and ground on the inverter's output. You'll likely also find significant voltage between the inverter's ground output and the battery's negative terminal, which you'd assume would be common. A system-tied, grounded inverter is definitely the way to go.

[wiekeith]

Originally Posted by wiekeith

...As I understand it, with the Victron turned off the shore power is connected directly to the boat's mains ring via a relay in the Victron unit...

That statement I made is completely untrue, therefore I was not connected to the Marina shore-power with the Viltron switched off. With that knowledge I connected the Mac directly to the marina power outlet via a short (1') lead. Now this is where it gets a bit more confusing: the tingling I was experiencing when the Mac was on charge was still evident, but my phone was no longer affected by it. It would appear that there is an issue with the shore-power, the effect of which seems to be greater inside the boat?

Really don't know where to go from here, other than trying different marina outlets.

[wiekeith]

Originally Posted by smac999

is this a charger, or charger inverter?

if it was a charger / inverter and you turned the unit off. non of your plugs would still be working, even at the dock. as power will go from the shore plug through the victron to your AC panel. on shore power, the power simply passes through the victron and should not be effected by it...

Originally Posted by wiekeith

It's a charger/inverter. However, I definitely have power to the sockets with it turned off, and the interference disappears.

Apologies smac999, you were absolutely correct, I was mistaken...

[smac999]

Originally Posted by wiekeith

Apologies smac999, you were absolutely correct, I was mistaken...

it is a function I don't like on the victron. on the magnums if you turn off the charger and inverter. the power still passes through to the plugs from shore.

on the victron if you turn off the charger, you lose all power to plugs too.

those rarely an issue as most people don't turn the charger off

[wiekeith]

I appreciate this thread is now dead, but I did promise to post the eventual outcome.

To briefly recap:

• When charging my MBP whilst on shore-power I get a tingling sensation if I touch the MBP, and my phone goes berserk if in close proximity.
• When disconnected from shore-power, and running the inverter of my fixed on-board charger/inverter I get the same problem
• When using a portable 12v inverter I do not have the problem
• When away from marina (local coffee shop) I do not have the problem.

I tried charging my MBP on another boat at the marina and had the same problem (the owner did not know what make charger he had on board, and I didn’t like to go rummaging) so the issue is not specific to my boat.

I tried charging my MBP by connecting directly to the shore-power outlet at the marina and found the interference to be far less - there was no interference to my phone, but I could still feel some tingling.

I bought a mains tester plug that checks for various misconfigurations, such as missing earth, cross connections etc., and all was good both on shore-power and when disconnected from shore-power and using onboard inverter.

I bought a third-party 12v charger with Magsafe2 plug (pics attached), as others had suggested, and it works fine with no interference problems, it also has the benefit of two USB charge sockets, so I can charge other devices at the same time.

So, I have found a solution, but it’s just a work-around really, I still have no idea what the real problem is when charging my MBP from the on-board mains.

Thanks for all the responses.

[Symphony]

This is very interesting. If you charge the MBP with the new AC to DC charger there are no problems, even in the marina.
If you charge the MBP with the original Apple AC to DC charger, there are sometimes two problems: weak AC current in the case of the MVP, and RF interference.

Somehow then, the Apple charger is allowing AC current flow between the Charger and your laptop. If the charger was only allowing DC voltage to flow from the charger to your laptop you would not feel any tingling, and you would not have any RF interference. Right?

[wiekeith]

Originally Posted by Symphony

This is very interesting. If you charge the MBP with the new AC to DC charger there are no problems, even in the marina.
If you charge the MBP with the original Apple AC to DC charger, there are sometimes two problems: weak AC current in the case of the MVP, and RF interference.

Yes, however, the new charger is DC to DC

Somehow then, the Apple charger is allowing AC current flow between the Charger and your laptop. If the charger was only allowing DC voltage to flow from the charger to your laptop you would not feel any tingling, and you would not have any RF interference. Right?

Yes, that's correct.

Interestingly though, if I use a portable DC to AC inverter, along with the MBP mains charger, there are no problems. The only difference I can think of is that the inverter's AC is floating - the earth is not bonded to the boat's system. But, as has been pointed out in an earlier response, that gets a bit confusing when you consider that the MBP mains adaptor doesn't use the earth.

I'm sure there's something staring me in the face there - maybe I can't see the wood for the trees?

[Wood]

Check the polarity on the 110V from the inverter