Electrical gremlins

Here is the informative reply from the ProMariner technical support reply to my question about how to disable the inverter when disconnected from shore power.

Mr. Bonnett,
How is the AC shore power wired into your boat? Does the AC shore come into the Combi and then out to the AC circuit breaker panel? It the AC goes into the Combi first, then the only way to keep the combi from coming on when shore power is lost would be to disconnect the combi batteries. Either remove the in-line fuses or disconnect the wires ar the batteries. Of course, the combi would not be able to charger the batteries when you did have shore power.
If the AC shore power is wired directly to the boat breaker panel and then to the combi you would just have to turn the combi rocker switch to "off".
Regards,

Bruce Giard
Direct: 603-766-7603
Technical Support: 1-800-824-0524

I will check how my boat is wired.
Bob
 
If you have an inverter/charger wired to auto transfer switch it will auto transfer when shore power in not present. The remote panel switch on the inverter/charger will do 3 operations (POWER ON) turns both inverter and charger on , (AUTO STAND-BY) will keep inverter off unless senses a load of more then 20W (.2 amps), (POWER OFF) turns both charger and inverter off.

The way Fluid Motion wires the inverter/charger is called (SPLIT BUS). The shore power comes into the boat thru the ELCI then to the breaker panel rotary switch. When the rotary switch is selected on the breaker panel is now powered. The breaker panel is wire in a split Bus. Higher amp draw items are only powered thru the shore power /generator. Outlets, microwave are powered thru the inverter, shore power and generator . The power to inverter comes from the rotary switch. That power goes to the transfer switch and back to, outlet breaker, microwave, accessory breakers, this also powers the charger. Shore power loss, anything plugged into the outlets, accessories, or if microwave is powered on would get its power from the inverter and charger would be off. Fluid Motion boats are wired as per Promariner recommendations. The issue with this is anytime shore power is lost, any draw from the outlets, microwave, accessories will deplete your house batteries. If you shut the inverter battery switch off the inverter/charger battery, engine and thruster will not get charged. If you turn the inverter off none of the batteries get charged. The only way to safely use this system and not worry about depleting your batteries voltages with a loss of shore power or ELCI trip is have all breakers associated with the inverter in the off position when you are not on board. Now your inverter/charger will charge the batteries while shore power is available and if there is a power loss or ELCI trip there will be no charger but also no draw from the inverter ( inverter in auto stand-by). For this reason I elected to have separate charger/inverter and also elected to wire the inverter without the auto transfer switch. This method allows me to charge the batteries with the inverter battery switch off, or leave the battery inverter switch on but turn the inverter off. Turn the battery charger off and turn inverter on. It also allows me to power manage all of the 120V circuits while under way or on the hook ( I did not use the split Bus I wired complete panel. There are pro's and con's to both systems. The key is understanding the full function of what the system you have and how it is wired.
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Brian, your explanation is correct depending on year of boat, boat electrical configuration, and how the electrician of the day wired it. I have the promariner combi with auto transfer and no generator and no selector switch for shore, generator, Inverter. Therefore my operation is different as may be others.
 
knotflying":2oz7ctxa said:
Brian, your explanation is correct depending on year of boat, boat electrical configuration, and how the electrician of the day wired it. I have the promariner combi with auto transfer and no generator and no selector switch for shore, generator, Inverter. Therefore my operation is different as may be others.
Click to expand...

You are right there are many differences in the wiring configurations and installs within the Ranger/Cutwater product line. The key is understanding the full function of what system you have and how it is wired. We talked about this during the SWF rendezvous. It seemed there were several different configurations between Tug and Cut owners present.
 
Brian and Curt,
Thought I would let you know where the gremlins were hiding....and hope to assist others with similar issues.

The gremlins were in the shore power pedestal breaker. Was acting like a loose connection, sometimes working sometimes not. The marina tech finally found the problem on the third attempt to solve it. He first replaced the receptical, then said it tested good, then replaced the breaker.

Thanks to both of you for your good advice.

Bob and Jann
Red Rover, Red Rover
 
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