Using grill and inverter kills my house battery

[CruisingElvinRay]

I did a video of backing into my single-handed. Might be helpful.

https://youtu.be/L00r_UCIq1k?si=-wgBHSDt3flydXsF


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[RT25_LouLou]

Thanks, @CruisingElvinRay very helpful. I'm a subscriber. I'll look for some more single handing content.

 

[Tippetknot]

Loulou, With a very high current draw (like the grill) I would expect a substantial voltage drop in the connections and wire between the battery and the inverter. At 200 amps (2400 watts) even 0.01 ohms of line/terminal resistance ( not much) would result in a voltage drop of 2 volts. 12-2=10. So ten volts at the inverter input, enough to set off the alarm in many inverters. You might try carefully cleaning all the terminals and running heavier wire, that should help. The reason things look normal after you remove the heavy load is that the IR drop is then gone.


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[mlanger]

I would never try and run a 2400W grill, or anything else, on batteries. Our inverter is a 2000W unit so check the rating of yours.

I don’t use the inverter for anything other than a really low power unit without the engine running.

I'm with you 100% on this. I've been traveling on the Great Loop and for the past 2 weeks or so I haven't been plugged into shore power at all. The engine charges the batteries to full when I cruise, the solar helps keep them charged when I'm parked during the day. I keep my inverter turned off until I need it. Even then, I only use it to make a cup of coffee in the morning and occasionally heat something in the microwave for less than 5 minutes. When I know I'm not going to cruise the next day, I don't use the microwave at all. Just low power draw devices and only when I need to. I've been able to go four nights without shore power or engine power that way. But yes, starting the engine is always an option when power gets low.

I cannot imagine running something as power hungry as an electric grill on battery power.

 

[DDean]

All that said, something like a Bluetti 200 V2 with 2k WH and a 2600w continuous supply, coupled with solar dedicated to recharge it after each use of the grill, might support the electric grill without touching the boats batteries. Plus it has a million other uses on the boat including recharging all the banks.

Plug shore power into the Bluetti or other power bank that has sufficient wattage to support the grill - cook - recharge the power bank with solar or via 12v during motoring.

Any reason why that wouldn’t work? I’m contemplating what cockpit cooking options are possible on our R27NW and given that the propane BBQ doesn’t have permanent rails to mount to, I’m thinking the Bluetti V2 might support the grill but would probably easily support an induction (but I much prefer a grill!)

 

[Submariner]

All that said, something like a Bluetti 200 V2 with 2k AH and a 2600w continuous supply, coupled with solar dedicated to recharge it after each use of the grill, might support the electric grill without touching the boats batteries. Plus it has a million other uses on the boat including recharging all the banks.

Plug shore power into the Bluetti or other power bank that has sufficient wattage to support the grill - cook - recharge the power bank with solar or via 12v during motoring.

Any reason why that wouldn’t work? I’m contemplating what cockpit cooking options are possible on our R27NW and given that the propane BBQ doesn’t have permanent rails to mount to, I’m thinking the Bluetti V2 might support the grill but would probably easily support an induction (but I much prefer a grill!)

The electric grill is 1300 watts. It'll go through 50amp-hours (at 12 volts) to cook a couple of hamburgers for lunch in less than 20 minutes.
You can do this with LFP. The Bluetti plugged into the shore power connection as you illustrated would work. You may only get a couple meals out of it before the Bluetti runs out of juice. The coffee maker and microwave are high wattage loads also, but they only run for a few minutes. BBQ'ing is substantially longer.

The Bluettie unit you're describing is 2073 watt-hours. To put in perspective of 12volt, that's 160 amp-hours and can deliver 2,600 watts continuously. It'll definitely power the grill.

We have LFP on Channel Surfing and could run the electric grill, and still opted to leave the electric grill at home in the garage. For BBQ'ing, we use the propane stove with a griddle top. (LaZIna has a griddle pan she uses, or an aluminum rectangle, look like a cookie sheet, but it's heavier and has the ridges to grill food such as steak and such).

 

[DDean]

The electric grill is 1300 watts. It'll go through 50amp-hours (at 12 volts) to cook a couple of hamburgers for lunch in less than 20 minutes.
You can do this with LFP. The Bluetti plugged into the shore power connection as you illustrated would work. You may only get a couple meals out of it before the Bluetti runs out of juice. The coffee maker and microwave are high wattage loads also, but they only run for a few minutes. BBQ'ing is substantially longer.

The Bluettie unit you're describing is 2073 watt-hours. To put in perspective of 12volt, that's 160 amp-hours and can deliver 2,600 watts continuously. It'll definitely power the grill.

We have LFP on Channel Surfing and could run the electric grill, and still opted to leave the electric grill at home in the garage. For BBQ'ing, we use the propane stove with a griddle top. (LaZIna has a griddle pan she uses, or an aluminum rectangle, look like a cookie sheet, but it's heavier and has the ridges to grill food such as steak and such).

Agree that its a lot of power just to cook a few feet away from the galley. That’s probably where we will come out too: that if we are on the hook that the pain of replacing that 50AH or so via solar or via the alternator will be larger than the benefit of using the cockpit grill instead the galley.

We will probably end up doing what you and LaZina did , as usual.

Aside that Bluetti looks awesome - a huge power “upgrade”. Can power high loads. Charges super fast. Small size for the capacity. Plug shore power into it.

 

[serendipity]

We keep our 2023 R27OB on a mooring in Marion MA, and do not use the electric grill unless we are in a powered slip. We remove the electric grill, store it under the cockpit, and replace it with a 1/2 inch Starboard “lid” on which we put our Magma grill.

The “lid” covers the live well in which we put our trash bags until we go ashore: we don’t fish from the boat. The Magma is stored under the cockpit when not in use.

If I feel too lazy to set by up the gas grill, I use the oven in the cabin. We have have not noticed an appreciable increase in cabin heat even in Summer.

I think I spent about $45 and a bit time to create the Starboard lid. We also bought a 3rd 10# propane tank (~ $50) for the BBQ which fits in the propane locker. This works nicely for us.

 

[serendipity]

We keep our 2023 R27OB on a mooring in Marion MA, and do not use the electric grill unless we are in a powered slip. We remove the electric grill, store it under the cockpit, and replace it with a 1/2 inch Starboard “lid” on which we put our Magma grill.

The “lid” covers the live well in which we put our trash bags until we go ashore: we don’t fish from the boat. The Magma is stored under the cockpit when not in use.

If I feel too lazy to set by up the gas grill, I use the oven in the cabin. We have have not noticed an appreciable increase in cabin heat even in Summer.

I think I spent about $45 and a bit time to create the Starboard lid. We also bought a 3rd 10# propane tank (~ $50) for the BBQ which fits in the propane locker. This works nicely for us.

 

[Michael11]

I looked around TugNuts and couldn't find an answer so I'll ask it here. Looking for some help.

When we are at anchor, turning on the inverter to use the grill within 10 minutes of cooking we get the low battery alarm and the house battery shows it's at one bar. Once we turn off the grill and inverter - the house battery shows 4 out of 5 bars and looks charged. All stats look good. Powers the 12V just fine. I'm lost?

Background - before departure, all battery levels are high and normal. Charging perfectly fine on shore power and solar. Under other cruising conditions, not using the inverter, the house battery stays strong and runs all 12V items with no problems.

It's a 2021 R25 OB with only 117 hours on it - batteries "should" be fine.

Thanks,
Ray

It sounds like the inverter and grill are drawing more power than your house battery can handle at once, causing the voltage drop. Even if the batteries seem fine, the inverter might be stressing the system. I’d recommend checking the inverter’s wattage and comparing it to your battery’s capacity to see if they’re compatible. You might also want to consider adding a larger or second battery to handle the load better.

 

[jobowker]

Thanks everyone. This is all incredibly helpful. I'm new to this and I can say this type of forum is so valuable - thanks to @RangerTugs for setting it up and thanks to everyone who participates.

Key takeaways:
I can run the motor and use the inverter to help with battery usage & Buy a Victron battery monitor. I'll do both of these. I'll also do a better job of understanding the load on the appliance/items I'm using.

Other options:
Buy a small Honda generator to support these uses - tying this into my electrical system might be a challenge or I'm using extension cords for everything.
Buy a Magna gas grill - great idea but not sure having two grills is in my future.
When these batteries reach their useful life upgrade to Lithium Batteries!

I'll keep you posted on how this all works out.
Thanks,
Ray

For the record, as long as you have a shorepower connection, a little Honda is easy. You use a single, short, heavy gauge extension cord with a shorepower whip on the end and plug it into your shorepower outlet. Then fire up the generator and the boat acts like it's on shorepower.

 

[kurtwitte]

For the record, as long as you have a shorepower connection, a little Honda is easy. You use a single, short, heavy gauge extension cord with a shorepower whip on the end and plug it into your shorepower outlet. Then fire up the generator and the boat acts like it's on shorepower.

Yep, thats what I ma gunna do on my 27. Do not understand why the engineers at fluid motion would design a boat this way. I guess they must think that anybody who used that grill will always be docked and connected to shore power, LOL. would have been really simple to use a gas grill since the 2 propane tanks are within a foot of the grill location.