View Transcript

Hide Transcript

Transcript is auto-generated.

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