AC Isolation of factory installed inverter for solar panel.

[Skeeter]

After a hull/boat survey. The issue was whether the Inverter for the Solar Panel should be isolated to low AC appliances. The surveyor said that all appliances are linked to the inverter. My understanding is that the Solar Panel should be able to run the fridge when under power, however, the microwave is on this same circuit which would draw more amps then the inverter could supply. What is the recommendation as to what you can or can not power with the solar panel and what should be turned off while underway.

 

[BradOwens]

On our boat the inverter draws from the batteries, not directly off the solar panel. I suspect your boat is the same. Our microwave draws a lot of power, and will drain the batteries faster than the solar panel can recharge them, so we only use it with the engine running. As far as I know, unless you have the electric range option, the only thing that would draw too much amperage for the inverter to handle would be an air conditioner, or running two or more 110 volt appliances at the same time. And we never turn on the breaker for the water heater when not connected to shore power.

 

[Red Raven]

Its not totally clear here what the complaint is. The solar panel really just charges the batteries so it shouldn't be part of the issue. But, I suspect the issue more focused on the inverter capacity and the fact that the inverter is tied to the complete AC panel when switched in (at least on the R27). The factory inverter has nowhere near the capacity to power all the AC Items on the panel. It is left to the owner to make sure to only switch in the AC items as needed when running off the inverter. For example, turning on the water heater and any other breaker while switched to the inverter would likely blow your inverter (or if you are lucky the inverter external fuse). One appliance at a time on the inverter is a good rule.

Configuring the boat to isolate the inverter to run only the appliances it could handle would either require a much bigger inverter or a more complicated switching scheme. It's all a trade off. Hopefully the survey was just pointing out something to be aware of and not a real problem.

 

[Chimo]

I believe Red Raven has it right. Being very new to our R25 I asked the rep at the recent Vancouver boat show if I had understood it correctly. The answer, turn all your breakers off on the ac panel before going to inverter. The 2017 has a 2000W unit that should then handle any single item (like the cook top, water heater or the microwave) without tripping. That was my major concern but as long as I follow the above I should be OK. If I did use the microwave briefly I must remember to turn it off before turning on anything else at the breaker panel.

I recognize that the draw on the batteries will be very high so I do not intend to use either of the units other than the microwave sparingly on the inverter. I will settle for my little one cup water heater for morning coffee and stuff like that. Hope then for sunshine to put a little something back into the batteries and/or run the fridge.