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this philosophy about doing it things
properly and that's exerted chartres
about 98% 99% of inverter installs are
done not to code and you heard me right
if I see I might see one inverter
installed properly a year one maybe when
I see one I like shaking the ends of the
owner I'm like oh my god this is a big
deal
we won there's no real prize you have an
inverter that's properly install it's a
miracle
congratulations someone read the manual
it's incredible by the way all the
informations in the manual but the
manuals this thick and so what happens
is people don't follow the code they're
MacGyver's they're so happy with
themselves let's get it done there's no
bigger sense of accomplishment of just
getting busy right and an inverter is
one of those things that is an epic
failure on boats because it's just so
hard and it's hard that's why the
manuals so hard and this is why I try to
emphasize that things have to be done to
code ok on LAN it's criminal not to do
things to code on the water it's up to
your discretion
whatever floats your boat my world is
making the what happens on the water as
safe as on land and then when I mean
that I mean it's a minimum I was in
Calgary doing a presentation two-day
presentation in January and an field
desginer there was reminding he's like
you know Jeff he says the code is
actually the minimum you know that right
and I'm like going I was like mine warp
I'm like you're right in the boating
world it's this ideal ah you know I
don't do the code but I kind of shoot
for it and if I kind of make it halfway
god I did a good job on land it's the
minimum you do it to a minimum and then
it gets better
so people laugh at me all the time
they're like Jeff you're the fuse guy
you're so crazy
you love fuses imagine your home without
a breaker panel right that would be
called a literally
you see this all the time it'd be a
grow-op that's what they do they're like
I don't need the breaker panel that's
someone else's problem if ever we get a
short the house is catching on fire we
don't have insurance we'll run to
another the other hall so making things
to code is very important the other
thing I want to emphasize is this
concept of geeking out if you want to
research more I've got probably about 30
articles on inverter installations on
our website and we have all this stuff
from Pacific yachting and Northwest
literally as PDFs as html's on our
website when we started this business 11
years ago I was very daunted about the
challenges that we were facing and I
decided to limit my scope I said if I
really want to be good at something I
think the only way of doing it is
expertise through repetition you can't
imagine your way through all these
problems I don't have the ability I'm
not a supercomputer all the lessons that
I'm going to share with you today are
lessons that we learn from other
people's mistakes or our own mistakes
that's how we learnt and that repetition
that constantly seeing other people's
problems and our own problems is what
created the codes and what is what I'm
sharing with you today on how do you go
about installing an inverter choosing an
inverter and installing one on your boat
so why would you install inverter on
your boat by the way a lot of pride here
I don't know if people know in the room
but an inverter was actually invented
from actually on the west coast like
literally in the world that's why all
the inverter companies are from here it
was a sailor that was in Costa Rica and
actually invented an inverter on his own
on the beach
and there was this rich person that was
sailing at a mega yacht and saw that
there was lights on shore but no power
no shore power nothing is how's this
possible how could you have all of these
amenities of land-based living in the
middle of nowhere
and the two of them started a company
you know the money side and the brain
side and this is why all these products
of inverter chargers are actually from
the Pacific Northwest here in Washington
and then it trickled over here
by designers all those companies
actually this the inverter Chargers were
invented here in the world so it's sort
of a big deal we wrote an article about
that and Pacific yachting something to
be proud about but if you've got an
inverter on your boat you're basically
converting DC power battery power which
we have on our boats and you're creating
AC so what are the different things
you're gonna do with that right you
might they okay I'm gonna run a
microwave I might run a coffee machine
like for example I have a real not a
Nespresso a real expresso machine on my
cell phone
I know guilty I love my coffee again and
said it's a probably a West Coast thing
I just I love it it draws a hundred and
forty amps but it only does that for
about thirty seconds right so what kind
of load are you gonna be running or a
Nespresso machine that's really popular
a lot of boat owners are saying Jeff I
want a Nespresso on my boat how do I do
that
right you do that when an inverter
what's the minimum battery bank size and
we talked a little bit earlier that as
the larger your inverter gets the larger
the battery bank has to get or you do
lithium and it doesn't matter what you
throw at it the voltage is gonna stay
the same it's just gonna steady-state
and the other thing that you need to
think about is okay I've got an inverter
am I going to be connected into my 12
volt batteries or my 24 volt some boats
have both right but generally you choose
the larger battery bank like a 50 60
footer is gonna be the tipping point
where some boats are gonna have a 24
volt battery bank we did a boat that
came out of Tacoma the owner came over
here for work and we installed a 24 volt
4000 watt inverter charger on his boat
right makes sense
big boat 24 volt and it's a hundred amp
charger at 24 volts or 200 amps at 12
volts
so you have to ask yourself if you're
thinking about getting an inverter
what's your purpose with that inverter
what type of loans and you're like what
I got to think about my loans I just
want an inverter well unfortunately if
you want to do cost containment you
don't need to buy something you don't
actually gonna use so you as an owner
are fingering okay am I gonna do a
microwave computer charging TV a blender
a vacuum what is it that you're gonna be
running off that inverter because the
reality is that certain things don't
take a large inverter I have people come
to me I had in order to say Jeff I want
a five kilowatt inverter I'm like that's
great all right what are you gonna do
with this
I'm gonna run a laptop and maybe
recharge a power tool
I like okay fine maybe you don't value
money possible you want the best I'll go
down that journey with you but in case
you're like most of us you probably only
need a 300 watt inverter your loads are
not that big and you don't need 5000 now
if you want to brag about it okay that's
a reason maybe not what most of us would
do but sighs your inverter for the loads
you're gonna run you know maybe a
thousand watt is plenty maybe it's two
thousand watt or generally sometimes
people will say three thousand watt is
they start running concurrently loans
meaning I want to run a microwave and I
want to run a blender at the same time
right running multiple loads at the same
time you can stack inverters
I've had some boats we did a Prevot
coach they have 8,000 watts of inverters
to 4k double use stack together no
problem anything's doable it's only
money that's only money anything is
doable but most of us are gonna fall
within the land of reasonable and we're
gonna go with it probably a 300 watt
inverter there probably a 3000 watt
inverter for the most part
no a what yeah so a lot this is a very
important good question
what's a watt a watt is an instantaneous
power draw now what is now it sort of
km/h it's not a quantity it's
instantaneous the speed it's an
instantaneous draw at a given moment it
is not at all a quantity in terms like
an amp hour or a watt hour so what hour
and a half hour are different than amps
and watts amps are now it's the rate at
which something is doing it's like speed
right kilometers per hour app is
actually another word you could describe
it and I'm gonna geek out just for a
second here please stay awake everyone
its coulombs per second
okay well let's come back nobody get
scared okay but an amp is really speed
like when we think about speed we're
like what is that well that's miles per
hour kilometers per hour meters per
second right amps is that it's coulombs
per second so what hours quantity watts
is instantaneous power drop what is it
now in the moment so you could go you
know an expresso machine a hairdryer
some people have inductive stovetops
whatever it is right anything's possible
but you got to contain because there's
the more the bigger the unit the more
it's gonna cost now here's the tip when
you're installing or choosing an
inverter charger please please remember
this that there is a big distinction
between what are called inductive loads
and resistive loads okay this is I know
you're like Jeff please don't bore me
like it's just a load yeah let's just go
down with me here a resistive love is a
toaster a light bulb not an LED light
right things that literally are a
resistor unfortunately our life on land
is full of inductive loads inductive
loads our motors battery chargers laptop
chargers Nespresso machine expresso
machine microwaves all vacuum power
tools all inductive so when you're
thinking about buying an inverter
charger or an inverter on your
and you're looking at a price of a
modified sine wave inverter know that
your modified Vincent in sine wave
inverter is going to have a terrible
kind running inductive loads I get on
boats for multiple reasons
sometimes it's tenacity of an owner I
had an owner with a 47 88 bought an
espresso machine ran another boat blew
up an espresso makes terrible machines
when BAC returned it came back blew up
again this is ridiculous
it's insulting right doesn't Nespresso
do any quality control third time well
does an espresso blow up three machines
in a row what's the common denominator
here perhaps my bow come on board sure
enough he's running a Nespresso machine
which is an inductive load on a modified
sine wave inverter the solution is not
more Nespresso machines they're always
going to blow up he needs a true sine
wave inverter
I have never installed a modified sine
wave inverter in my life never I don't
think I ever will I'll probably put my
hand up and say go see someone else I'm
not gonna bother in the past yes in 2019
95 a lot of voters had won it made sense
it was a really good price point and a
lot of you do nothing wrong with that
that in the back in the day made sense
but nowadays that you can buy a quality
inverter for 50 cents a watt and maybe
spend a dollar watt on a really good one
there is no justification to put an
inverter on your boat that is only gonna
run a toaster in a lightbulb
they're gonna do it do it properly get a
true sine wave inverter so
the other great thing about an inverter
and I have a 2000 watt inverter on my
boat not because I want a 2000 watt
inverter I want a 2000 watt inverter for
the 100 amp charger because you can buy
inverter chargers and if you can invert
you can charge because the we talked
about this Chargers used to be called
converters what's the opposite of a
converter an inverter
now that word died for good reasons
because converters would kill batteries
so they kill that word and they forgot
it
now they call them chargers so now
they're called inverter chargers right
it's just marketing what we define
something to be is our choice so now
they're calling varnish our Jers and
you'll notice that if you get a 3000
watt inverter you can get yourself a
pretty big 150 amp charger so it's a
good way to get yourself a big battery
charger to recharge your big battery
bank that's why most people end up
having inverter chargers because you get
one thing two purposes and it's a great
way to recharge multiple battery banks
right this big large battery bags that
we see on boats alright so here's an
example of what's called a high
frequency inverter this is a XC meaning
inverter charger thousand watt and this
will be half the price of a low
frequency inverter and you're going
chaff oh my god now I got to choose
between a high frequency and low
frequency I'm gonna hell am I gonna
choose that well what happens is on the
the low frequencies for people that use
their inverter where it's a must it's
not a nice to have but they're more
heavy-duty so people that have all the
refrigeration is AC only right there's
motors that their refrigerators are just
run on AC and let's be honest most of us
can't live without a refrigerator I mean
it's pretty essential so if you have
loads that must be run off your inverter
then it makes sense to have a low
frequency expensive
inverter versus a cost-effective high
frequency inverter right and so it
depends on the application I was talking
to a boater just earlier and I said well
you know what you don't even need an
inverter you're putting one in but
you're only gonna do light duty and if
you don't have it big deal right
then go with a high frequency half the
price inverter which is something like
that like the San tracks XC 1000 right
rather than getting an expensive low
frequency inverter which would be double
the price so the good news is there's
choice depending on what you're doing
with your boat first thing if you've
never heard of the brand and the price
is too good to be true walk away
Marine certified inverters do this thing
which is called bonding the neutral to
ground
only when inverting if you value money
and you value not being electrocuted
if someone's swimming around your boat
mind you those two things don't resonate
that sure can an entire inverter will do
just fine but if you value other
people's health and you value underwater
metals never ever ever ever buy a non
marine inverters non-marine inverters
have a permanent tie between the neutral
and the ground
and you will pay dearly for that cost
that choice I promise you that pay
dearly so he needs to be marine
certified the other thing too is look
for an inverter and this is another good
one
I have owners that are changing modified
sine-wave inverters that work perfectly
fine on their boat for a true sine wave
inverter for no other reason then now
they're getting 30% of inefficiencies
are removed a modified sine wave
inverter will cost you thirty five
percent on conversion thirty five
percent for conversion costs a true sine
wave inverter will cost you five points
right imagine changing your dollars from
Canadian to us and they're not the banks
not charging you two points on each side
of the transaction they're charging you
thirty five percent on the transaction
that hurts
they're only charging you if you got a
choice between charging at thirty five
percent or five percent
I have owners that are changing inverter
chargers that are modified sine-wave the
only reason is
they're using so much inverters that it
makes sense to actually reduce and lose
that 30% of inefficiencies so that's a
really big one high efficiencies the
other thing too is make sure that your
inverter doesn't have a little high idle
Am draw some inverters will draw 5 amps
for do nothing they're just waiting for
you to put a big load and that waiting
is costing you a lot of power on your
boat built-in Chargers we talked about
that and the ability to have a remote
panel every inverter charger even though
they don't come with one has to have a
remote panel you have to have the
ability of disabling your inverter
enabling your inverter enabling and
disabling your battery charger remotely
it's very important very very important
I've got a huge video on that and I go
into lengths and why that's important
I'm not gonna talk about it today but
trust me you need the ability of being
able to disable your inverter at the
remote panel again if you value money
very very essential here's a picture of
what a typical inverter install looks
like this is called a conceptual diagram
I had to come up I didn't come up with
the word I had to research it I was like
I want to show something that describes
what I want to say but you can't really
build anything from it I don't want it
to be too complicated but I wanted to
show the concept of what we're doing you
can actually see there's an inverter
here this is called an AC panel
non-inverted loads as you can see it's
got a hot water or charger then this
goes down to an inverter this does what
can be solved either inverter loads or
AC pass-through loads and down here
you're gonna have maybe a fridge AC
outlets and a microwave that is a
typical inverter install I could be
working on a 120 foot boat that's what
they have it's just a bigger one I can
be working on a 27 foot Catalina that's
what it looks like just bigger panels
bigger inverters but it's pretty much
much of the same thing by the way I have
about 15 of these conceptual diagrams on
our website so if you're ever thinking
about doing a project and you're like
how does it work that is my little
conceptual diagrams for all these
different things
so if you're installing an inverter here
are the things you need to figure out
what AC loads are you gonna be running
on your inverter right what are you
gonna be running is gonna be outlets a
microwave icemaker right
refrigerator and trust me you do not
want and cannot have a hot water heater
running off your inverter
it's like generating heat from burning
bills it's doable definitely doable but
something that most of us cannot afford
to do your batteries will drain so
quickly it's just it's just can't happen
so you can't around a hot water heater
AC hot water heater from your inverter
can't run most of us unless we do a
large lithium battery bank air
conditioning can't run it or a battery
charger I see literally battery chargers
that are powered from the inverter so
the batteries create through the
inverter AC so that's a draw the AC
power is a battery charger to recharge
the batteries then nothing
I don't understand why my battery
charger when my inverters plugged in
draws my batteries down to zero I'm like
that is the opposite of the definitive
The Da Vinci infinity machine it's the
very opposite it's a vicious cycle
you'll never go anywhere so if your
battery charger works off your inverter
it's an added step that you need to
every time you load on the inverter
you're like Oh remember my inverter is
on disable battery charger you shouldn't
have to do that right that means that
someone didn't think about the install
they just did it and now you as the user
have to constantly make these
adjustments you don't want to do that as
a boat owner you want your life to be
easy there's enough things to worry
about for navigation and enjoyment on
the water and weather and anchoring and
everything else provisioning than to
worry about where your dip switches are
on your panel when you turn on your
inverter the AC wiring
you're gonna need unfortunately this is
very important an AC circuit breaker at
the panel I see this all the time by the
way 20 percent of you have this your
inverter is believe it or not directly
wired from shore power direct without a
breaker right to the inverter direct if
you did this on land it would be
criminal you could be sue someone died
you lose everything I mean it be done
your shirt your house they come after
you for everything
it's absolutely insane and people do it
all the time why because people don't
read the manual it's right in the manual
but the manual is about this thick it's
too thick to read like why do the
desginers write so much for so little
and they just get it done
the only thing - that's missed on
probably 90% of all inverter installs
and you're like what 90% is separating
the neutral bus on an inverter that is
not easy and hence never done inverter
neutrals are never never ever separated
I see this all the time where it
actually creeps up journey is actually
marina's in the states or some in Canada
where they actually have LCI or GFCIs
and their breaker constantly trips
and the breakers are constantly tripping
they're like oh my god why am i break
your trip constant tripping that
generally is because they have an
inverter installed and then didn't
separate the neutrals and then it's a
journey through hell to solve that
problem and then back and then you're
like oh my god it would have been so
easily avoided if someone that installed
my inverter had separated my neutrals so
you have to have two neutrals not
inverter neutrals and inverter neutrals
and this is my point here never connect
your inverter charger between a seashore
power without a circuit protection and
by the way 20% of you have that which is
disconcerning but true this is what good
AC wiring looks like yes I've seen
inverters wired with all black all white
green people like a wires a wire why
does it the colors matter what matters
because unfortunately to you or to
previous order what I've seen is people
say well I'll remember
everything's context-driven black wire
is here means hot black wire here means
neutral black wire here means ground
because I connected it to the grounding
post the neutral posts and the ah post
the problem is when you remove that
inverter now you're looking at three
black wires you're like which one goes
where hence why the code actually has
different colors for different wires and
the codes there to make it safe for you
and for someone else later on so if
you're a inverter has the wrong color
wires just tread lightly when you swap
it out we almost lost a technician for
that and only honestly it's because it
was the smartest one that went there if
it would have happened to me I would
have died for sure I would have been
electrocuted because I'm not that smart
and only because one of my technicians
spotted an anomaly and he was able to
speak but otherwise he would be dead
they wired everything with AC wiring DC
wiring and AC wiring was all AC wiring
and they wired the AC input into the DC
output and vice versa it was craziness
we got a call from West marine they had
gone through three inverter chargers
three times at one point where he's like
okay this is not the inverter charger
it's the install the owner didn't
realize that they were actually putting
AC in on the DC out and vice versa
I would have died if I went on that call
for sure there's no way I would have
spotted that again this is a recap of
what the AC looks like notice how we've
got an AC generator over here right a
shore power going through a source
selector going to a panel and then going
down through the inverter and this is
essential this is so hard to understand
honestly I have this question on YouTube
I get this question and emails SBY ass I
give this question asking me like 20
times a week Jeff does my inverter need
to be on for AC pass-through meaning if
I don't have my inverter on my AC
outlets won't work when I'm connected to
shore power the answer is no unfortunate
e right they decided to make this device
smart and this device will sense even if
you enable the inverter on but it senses
Shore power it says I know you told me
to be on but what you meant to say is if
you don't if I don't have AC coming in
you want me to create AC because it says
to itself well why would you want me to
be an inverter and turning myself on
if I have AC coming in I'm just gonna
let it through and so when you're
connected to shore power you do not have
to have your inverter enabled for AC
outlets microwave fridges to work even
though the inverter is part of the
circuit that is called AC pass-through
okay and that's a very important concept
did you have a question the galvanic
isolator is a way to protect your
underwater metals from straight DC
currents I'm not talking about it's just
sort of there but it's not related
inverter I have a whole thing on just
inverted galvanic Isolators and
isolation transformers I got a video
about a 2 on our website you can go on
all of these things you can go on our
website let's say ok I want to geek out
inverters and they're going to show you
all the videos all the articles all this
stuff on how to do it so I've got a
whole section just on galvanic Isolators
as well
so inverters inverters are not ignition
protected if you have a gasoline engine
or engines black and white you cannot
have an inverter charger in your boat is
this concerning but Chargers are
ignition protected but inverter Chargers
are not and having an inverter charger
in your salon or in your cabin and
having huge holes between your gasoline
engine room and your salon does not make
the inverter charger install safe and I
know that it sounds maybe ridiculous to
some of us but I swear to you there is
so many boats that our gasoline engines
that have huge holes that were done
after the boat left the factory massive
hole saws were punctured between the
vapor proof gasoline engine room that
the Builder went to unbelievable cost to
make vapor proof drill massive holes to
run cables new pipes
not filled with anything and the
inverters on the other side of the
bulkhead at least 50% of all gasoline
boats are just waiting to explode
not all BAC loaves only some of them
like the AC fridge AC outlets microwave
your charger would not be connected to
the inverter yeah
why not
yeah so what do the question is Jeff
well how do you decide what loads I'm
gonna be running on the inverter
remember its convenience right you see
this on big boats
they'll have 120 volt loads or 220 that
are non inverted or loads only and
they'll have a section actually the
building's gonna make a section they'll
put a paddle inverter loads only and
those inverter loans only and this is
where it's confusing it's not just
inverter its Shore power or inverter if
the inverter is enabled so it doesn't
mean that your microwave won't only work
on inverter here it means that your
microwave will work on Shore power and
if the inverter is enabled as well so
you have two sources of power right
confusing isn't it it's crazy I know so
what it means it's provides convenience
so what you're doing is you're saying
okay I can have my AC fridge working off
shore power or sometimes if my inverter
is enabled can be inverter as well so it
gives you two sources of power for these
devices here always mount in a dry
location good ventilation they get warm
right you can't put it in a completely
tight enclosure with they're gonna
overheat they're gonna stop working I
see that ALP and all the time in this
summer you know it's under some settee
no ventilation the inverter is working
hard or the Chargers working hard
the fans are working but they're venting
air but there's got nowhere to go the
inverter will actually stop working in
this summer here's the DC side of the
inverter this is very important an
inverter has to be especially an
inverter charger this is critical black
and white and by the way at least 75% of
us don't have this has to have a service
disconnect switch most of you won't
again it's in the manual and it needs to
absolutely be fused at an unwitting the
battery switch you're off your house
battery switch on and off cannot be part
of your inverter service disconnect
cannot black and white
if you don't do it this way your boat is
full of magic this is the crazy part
where you turn off your battery switch
and your panel is still powered think
about this you turn off your water main
and your tap still have water coming out
of them if that doesn't freak you Oh hop
out and you don't think your house is
haunted
how can your water main be off and you
have water in your taps can't that's the
whole purpose of a water main is to
disconnect water to your home your taps
can't run if your main water main is
disconnected and off so you can never
ever ever ever ever have an inverter
connected here ever inverter Chargers
can never be connected here they've got
to be on their own dedicated circuit on
the 12-volt side if you're curious I
talked about in one of my videos I'll
take questions at the end but it could
be like a two three minute rabbit hole
so sort of geeky inverter mounting
locations right if it can be in engine
rooms that are diesel right you see it
all the time it can be in a diesel
engine room you see it all the time all
the time right this is a Grand Banks
Grand Banks 36 actually this is an
inverter I installed in 2008 I'm really
proud of it I don't do work anymore I
just talk I love this picture the good
old days yeah all right installation
tips fusing you're gonna need to make
sure and this is disconcerning because
most people assume that if uses a fuse
and a fuse is not a fuse you're going to
need what's called the Class C fuse and
a lot of people what happens is they
have an inverter it's maybe a 2000 watt
and someone changes it for 3000 watt but
they don't choose that they don't change
the fuse or worse they had a 3000 watt
now they get a 2000 watt inverter and
they didn't change the fuse that's very
serious
so the fuse has to be matched to the
inverter and who tells you that the
manual the manual says that
always carry a spare inverter fuse think
about this your inverter is not this on
most of us this sort of device that's
not important
because on most of our boats it's also
an inverter charger if you lose your
inverter charger on your boat your
cruising is not almost done but pretty
much near done that means when you
connect the shore power you can't charge
your batteries if you have an AC only
fridge you can't run your AC your fridge
anymore
like I get call out all the time guy
comes up to the office I'm like Jason
good morning today you're flying to
Campbell River here's an inverter here's
some tools you're going on a flow plane
and you're going to campbell river
because we have a boater that has lost
the inverter charger and right now
they're in a motel for the next two days
because they can't use their boat
without any inverter charger so if you
ever blow a fuse on your boat an
inverter fuse this views here which is a
Class C fuse you will not find in refuge
Cove you will not find that at a
chandlery on the water you need to be in
this city in a place where there's like
camel river of course right you might
find it in Victoria Sydney but as you go
further and further know north you're
not going to find this fuse in blind
channel at the resort they're not gonna
have this sitting on the shelf so you
blow that fuse you lose your inverter
charger you lose your trip so very
important to carry a spare inverter
charger on board uh you know where we
put it we put them on zip ties right
beside the cable like literally we're
gonna zip tie them right beside the
inverter charger fuse so if you look for
it it's right there because if I put it
somewhere on the boat you're gonna one
day forget about it you're gonna bring
it home you're like I've never used this
fuse before why do I carry all this
stuff bring it home and then one day
you're gonna see the light oh why did I
take those fuses off the boat so we
always have tie them where they're
needed
so a recap the fuse goes right here at
the beginning of the circuit the on/off
battery switch for the inverter charger
which is called the inverter service
disconnect goes in between the fuse and
the device and if ever and ever you are
gonna play with an AC circuit on your
boat a GFCI for instance it's burnt or
it's failed your gut instinct would be
first let me disconnect my shore power
plug from the pedestal you're gonna coil
it up and you're gonna bring it on board
because you're not going to just leave
it disconnected because you could have a
fellow boarder and thinks oh my god you
forgot your cord I'm gonna replug it in
for you right
it's called lockout tags right on lamb
that's what electricians do they
actually literally put a lock
they put I'm working on this do not
reenergize a circuit now you might think
you're really smart and this is where it
gets really dangerous and you're gonna
go sweetheart I got this I've got a GFCI
tester I've got a multimeter and I have
a magic wand that senses polarity change
the Hertz I've tried all three on the
outlets I sense nothing on the hot and
neutral I put my LED tester in the GFCI
doesn't work and I even put my little
wand meter that I bought at a Home Depot
for $5.00 and there's no electricity
outlet you're like sweetheart I got this
now what you don't realize is there's a
feature on inverters pretty much all
inverters have them called load sense
and low sense is enabled by default and
it says if I don't sense a load bigger
than less than 50 Watts don't turn
yourself on but if you sense a more than
a 50 watt load why don't you do it the
owner of favor and automatically turn
yourself on so what the inverter is
doing is it's actually pulsing do I
sense 50 watts
and your LED tester your multimeter and
your magic wand
they don't sense it they don't cause a
50 watt load so you take off your GFCI
you're like hey I did three things baby
like I'm good
this is no problem no-pros needed I got
this you touch the hot you touch the
neutral on your GFCI the inner goes oh
there's a 50 watt load here turns on the
inverter you get electrocuted that's a
feature on all inverse hence inverter
service disconnect you absolutely need
to have an inverter service disconnect
switch so if you ever play with your AC
on your boat and you feel like you got a
lot of of auto two things you have to do
disconnect your short power cord bring
it on board coil it put it away make
sure your brother our friend is not
there to help you reconnect it go down
to your engine room beside your inverter
find the inverter service disconnect
disconnect it and make sure if you have
an automatic generator start which most
of us don't is not enabled disable those
three things and then start working on
your AC system here's an owner I know
this is not a joke by the way
this is not a cgi this is a Class t fuse
holder and they replace the fuse and
this is what I'm calling a fuse
reinvented they decided to replace the
fuse the fuse was probably tripping it's
a hassle and so they replaced it with a
jumper cable now that's actually not the
worst part this engine here is all dc-
right this is all hot if ever a wrench
touch this to the engine block that
would be a dead short so they actually
have no protection because you can see
there's actually a fuse block here that
would go a cover to protect it they even
left the washer from the Class C fuse
that was in between you know in the
future if they decide to ever go back to
a fuse instead of a wire maybe and they
actually it further inverter they were
actually putting a wire because the fuse
tripped and you know it's kind of a
nuisance so they went for a wire
so this master DC Connect is very
essential we label them right all the
time
inverter you'll never touch that switch
ever ever unless you're working on your
AC system because if you turn it off
your charger won't work as well
right because if you isolate your
inverter charger from DC you can't make
AC but you can't make DC as well so this
is where it goes wire size this is
disconcerning most of you are gonna have
an inverter that eventually got replaced
and somebody replaced the inverter and
replace it with a much bigger inverter
because they wanted a bigger one but
they hoped kind of eyes in the sand and
I have a dog and we go to the vet she
literally like an ostrich puts her head
behind my back and the vets calling her
name and she figures if the vet can't
see me I can't see them they can't see
me
and most inverters are all the cabling
is sized for a purpose if you have a
2000 watt inverter Chargers probably
wired with 2 watt wire if it's a 3000
it's probably wired with 4 OTT don't
assume unfortunately that and we see
this all the time that if you go from a
2000 watt the wiring on that boat was
made to handle a 3000 watt or 4000 or
5000 watt inverter right so make sure
that the wire size is a function of
amperage and voltage drop also follow
the wire codes right red for positive
yellow for DC and this is by the way 95%
of all inverter installs don't have that
the chassis ground cable is going to be
most on most inverters right now engage
10 wire again because they didn't read
the manual but it should be one size
smaller than a larger cable feeding the
device and I am not joking that 99% of
you have this wrong on your boat the
chassis ground wire on your inverter is
probably a gauge 10 wire because most
people that work on boats are household
electricians and they do not understand
DC and they look at the AC wire they're
like oh it's 10 gauge 10 gauge is
sufficient they don't realize that an
inverter is two sources of power it's AC
in and also a
see out in DC in DC out and the chassis
ground has to be one size smaller than
the largest wire size feeding the
inverter unfortunately again in the
manual not done and all these things
don't matter sort of like a shoulder on
a highway I've never needed one because
I've never had a blow-out but if the
shoulder on a highway was only one foot
wide it's not a shoulder you need to be
able to put a vehicle on the shoulder so
other cars can pass your ground chassis
ground cables got to be able to handle
all the amperage on a fault if it's a
tenth of the size required it's not a
wire anymore it's a fuse you'll blow up
the wire the wire will melt and instead
of being a path of return it's going to
be simply a fuse and you'll the fault is
gonna cause a fire on your boat hence
why it needs to be one size smaller and
then the largest DC cable this is too
OTT cabling you can see multi strand
right okay so this is really important
we're kind of getting close to the end
here I'm going to open the Florida
questions after this this is very
important if you have an inverter on
your boat and you value money listen to
these words very very carefully most
inverters have two different things on
them we talked about an inverter and a
charger 95% of your inverter Chargers
you have the ability of disabling the
inverter function and keeping the
charger function on this is super super
important in the wintertime right now
there's very likely going to be a
brownout
you're gonna lose shore power at the
dock
something will happen you're gonna be
drawing too much power for whatever
reason there's gonna be a power surge
and if your inverter is enabled and you
lose shore power all those heaters on
your boat are going to be powered from
your
you're a battery bank I don't care how
big it is even if it was my dream
battery bank and I get to do my dream
battery bank sometimes and they're a
huge we'll only power those heaters for
two hours three hours four hours and
after that you will find yourself with a
battery bank that is completely empty
left uncharged and not resting this is
torture by the way for a week two weeks
three weeks a month until you come back
on that boat and you realize that you
lost shore power and that means that
your battery bank will be gone forever
my grandmother went on the other side
three times but she was only gone five
minutes they brought her back I cannot
bring back a battery bag that went out
the other side for three weeks or a
month that battery bank is done there's
nothing you can do about it there's no
hope if you leave a battery bank
uncharged deep discharge like a life
event for a month or three weeks that
battery bank is gone come back on board
wipe the tears away never forget to
leave your inverter on in the middle of
the winter change the battery bank and
learn from your mistakes happens every
week happens all the time I get two or
three calls a week people lose their
battery banks because they left the
inverter enabled on the remote panel you
can have the charger enabled and the
inverter disabled and have all your AC
loads only pass through very very
important never ever ever ever ever turn
your inverter off at the AC panel you're
gonna have a label on your AC panel is
gonna say inverter that circuit breaker
is not inverter it's inverter charger if
you shut off that inverter you're not
sending power to the charger function of
your inverter charger your charger will
stop working you lose your battery bank
that is a circuit breaker only okay so
if you're on AC panel you see an
inverter breaker never ever ever turn
that off
don't touch it don't look at it keep it
on forever forever and ever and ever
it's a circuit breaker it is not a
switch also some of us are in marinas
where we have limited shore power like
for example deep Cove Marina Yacht Club
has only 50 knapped some Chargers are
100 app they'll blow the breaker
you have the ability of adjusting the AC
breaker size coming through your
inverter or limiting the charger
function you could have a hundred amp
charger and say I want in the wintertime
from float maintenance to only be 20
apps you can throttle back either their
breaker size like software or the
charger software inside an inverter
charger on the low frequency more
expensive inverter chargers that's
something you might want to do too
because in the wintertime you're gonna
have a lot of loads you're gonna have
heaters the Yuma fires and if your
charger kicks on and it might trip the
breaker trip the breaker then you lose
your AC shore power your inverter kicks
on runs your loans for three hours lose
the battery bank and again bring a box
of Kleenex on board wipe the tears away
some of those battery bags are three
four five six seven eight thousand
dollars that's just parts and then you
got to do the labor to take them out of
the boat so you got a lot of time to cry
on the way in and on the way out
here's a really the biggest issue here
right is that inverter Chargers never or
rarely fail at the dock when not being
used I'm not gonna get an inverter
charge of how many times other than a
big short how many times am I getting an
inverter charger fail unless there's a
sudden surge in they lose shore power
and all their lows are huge that
inverter thing under normal use no
blackouts I probably do 10 maybe 15
Chargers in the wintertime
how many chargers fail in the summertime
50 60 70 80 they fail under use when
there's these big loads that are applied
right there using the inverter Chargers
so if your inverter charger is 20 years
old you have a trawler and your inverter
charger is a big part of your boat
you've got to ask yourself how many
pieces of electronic equipment are in
your life that are over 20 years old and
how important is it is it a gadget or is
it a crucial component of your boat and
I tell people I'm like at one point if
you've ever no horizon with your boat
that's longer than this summer five
years 10 years and that inverter is
crucial what is going to be the
implication of losing that inverter
charger when you're voting in the Browns
outside Vancouver Island Alaska so you
can't expect your inverter charger to
work forever because they only die
generally away from shore power remote
shore power there's these remote
monitoring capabilities that's kind of
geeky and I'm going to open the floor to
questions we've got about 10 minutes or
five minutes before the other presenter
comes in any questions on inverter
chargers yes
oh yeah absolutely yeah yeah the
software you actually go in literally
through the remote panel like madam
Magnum does it master Ville Victor on
zan tracks you'll actually go right
through the role panel and you'll go
custom charts profile and you'll be able
to say I want bulk to be this I want
float to be that I want my absorption
timer to be this oh yeah you can do that
Victor on cells that software you can do
that through Victor on yeah yeah it's
not hard other questions on inverter
Chargers people are still awake
alright oh yeah go ahead
yeah you could yeah the question is how
knowing that it's really important not
to discharge your battery below a
certain discharge floor are there
devices that you can put on your boat
that it will allow you to give you an
alarm when you get to a certain
threshold and a battery monitor can have
that threshold alarm an inverter charger
can't unless the inverter charger is
connected to a battery monitor function
like a BMK with an inverter magnum or
link 2000 for example with zan tracks
you can actually set a threshold alarm
say by Oh time my batteries get to 50%
I want you alarm I know I have more
capacity but alarm at 50% and you can
even sent a battery monitor I don't care
that I have another 50% show my
discharge floor to be 0 to be 50% so
your usable ranges from 100 to 50 don't
show me the rest the stuff I can't use
don't even bother showing me so you can
do that you ask more questions well I
want to thank UI we're on time Wow
holy cow thank you everyone for being
here I really appreciate if you've got
further questions I'm upstairs thank you
Electrical