Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Return of Inverter


The inverter arrived back from Victron on Friday. I didn't immediately reconnect it to Syncopation's electrics because I want to change the electrical layout slightly. I have a feeling the inverter failure was due to frequently overloading it. Between then the oven and induction hob in the galley are capable of drawing about 11kW if everything was turned on at once. We've been careful in using them (never more than one zone on full and never more than two zones at once) the inverter has shut down due to overload a few times. I suspect we normally push the 3kW (2.5 kW continuous) inverter to its limit. In retrospect there should have been two or even three inverters in parallel to handle the load. My plan is therefore to cut the oven and hob out of the inverter circuit altogether and have the 5.5 Kw Travelpower generator drive them directly. We'll probably have to get a small electric kettle for evening cups of tea but that's a much cheaper option than buying new inverters at £1700 a pop.

No comments: