Inverter question

[eastont]

We have just acquired an ice maker for our boat. It is 120 volt so unless we are plugging into shore power it will be plugged into the inverter.
Here's my question: Can I leave it plugged in while I am underway? We are planning a 2 week holiday and getting shore power will be a rarity. And my wife prefers to have ice in all her cold drinks.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Inverter question

What boat, what engine, how big is the charging system and how big is the battery bank. If the charging system and battery bank is large enough of course you can leave it plugged in. If not, the battery bank will not be able to keep up with demand.

 

[eastont]

Re: Inverter question

Sorry, the boat is a Carver Santego twin 4.3 and there are 2 brand new 6 volt house batteries and one brand new 12 volt starting battery

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Inverter question

You need to reply with the current capacity of the charging system and the load and what percent time it will be on to really calculate if this is feasable or not.

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Inverter question

For basic operation, you should be able to have it plugged in whenever the engines are running so the inverter is getting constant power. If you run the icemaker/inverter with the engines off, you run a real good possibility of killing your batteries.

Once the icemaker is cold and full of ice, turning off the power to it shouldn't have much effect. In the morning, when you fire the engines, simply hook it back in and wait for more ice.

Your Carver doesn't have a genset?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Inverter question

We also don't knowthe current draw of the ice maker or any other items the battery bank must power. This is NOT just about the ice maker but every item fed by the battery bank.