Adding an Inverter

[BlackoutATX]

I just bought an Airhead Super Pump to blow up various things, including a monster island, for the lake house. It arrived today and holy crap is this thing awesome. It absolutely blows away my little 12v one I keep on the boat. So of course now I want to bring it on the boat with me. But it is 120. So now I'm looking at adding an inverter to the boat. This thing pulls a little over 900W so it will have to be a large one. Has anyone wired one directly to the battery? If so how did you do it and where did you end up mounting it? I was thinking next to the amps would be a good spot. Also, what model did you go with? The one below has my eye.

http://www.amazon.com/BESTEK-1000w-I...1%7C7067176011

[ChrisSnow]

I would seriously advise against 120v on a boat.(our kind of boats anyway)

12v and salt water hurts enough!

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[BlackoutATX]

I would seriously advise against 120v on a boat.(our kind of boats anyway)

12v and salt water hurts enough!

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Why do you say that? What's wrong with running an inverter?

[ChrisSnow]

Why do you say that? What's wrong with running an inverter?

Would you take a hairdryer in the bath with you?

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[BlackoutATX]

Would you take a hairdryer in the bath with you?

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Well of course not haha. But I don't see how mounting the inverter in a compartment would be much of a problem. I also would be using it only for the pump. It wouldn't be on very much at all. I have an extra blue sea switch and port plug I was thinking about using to wire it up. This way I wouldn't need to touch the actual inverter to turn it on/off.

[ChrisSnow]

Well of course not haha. But I don't see how mounting the inverter in a compartment would be much of a problem. I also would be using it only for the pump. It wouldn't be on very much at all. I have an extra blue sea switch and port plug I was thinking about using to wire it up. This way I wouldn't need to touch the actual inverter to turn it on/off.

Basically in my opinion it would be extremely unsafe, and the risk of an accident far too great,

it's not so much just the inverter but the mains cabling, the pump itself etc. being electrocuted gets much more likely when water is involved!

also, inverters really don't get along with motors, due to the start up currents involved you need a much bigger inverter than you think.

stick to 12V!

[bsreid]

The new Malibu m235 has a built in 115v inverter
You can see here all the power and switches are available in the forward walk through. image.jpg

[BlackoutATX]

Basically in my opinion it would be extremely unsafe, and the risk of an accident far too great,

it's not so much just the inverter but the mains cabling, the pump itself etc. being electrocuted gets much more likely when water is involved!

also, inverters really don't get along with motors, due to the start up currents involved you need a much bigger inverter than you think.

stick to 12V!

Fair enough. If I end up doing it I will definitely need to be extra careful. The hose on this pump is pretty long, so it's not like the pump itself would be sitting on the swim platform or anything.

I emailed airhead a few days ago asking what the peak startup W is on this pump. Haven't heard back. In the end it just might not be worth it. But man it would be nice to have this pump out there. Especially for this island.

[BlackoutATX]

The new Malibu m235 has a built in 115v inverter
You can see here all the power and switches are available in the forward walk through. [ATTACH]42931[/ATTACH]

Interesting. I wonder what W they are? If 120 was added properly, it would be really nice to have. There are many other reason I could think of to have it out there. I have used smaller inverters on boats before to power my laptop. But never one of this size.

[IDBoating]

Whatever you decide to do, I strongly advise you to use a GFCI breaker or outlet on the 120VAC side for all of the reasons ChrisNow raised. A fuse or standard breaker is not enough, all it does is limit current to something that is still more than enough to kill you. A GFCI actually measures the current flowing in the hot and neutral wires and if they become unequal (meaning current is flowing through something/someone else), it trips.

[IDBoating]

Also, watch your current. 10 amps of 120VAC - not all that much - will require roughly 100 amps of 12VDC going into your inverter. Can your batteries handle that? Can your alternator? For how long?

900 watts is (roughly) 75 amps continuous. Double that for motor surge current at startup. Now look up the wire gauge required to handle 150 amps DC.

This isn't a casual project. There are some big numbers involved.

[ChrisSnow]

At least you lot can only be trusted with 120V [emoji14] we use 240V and 415v.

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[IDBoating]

I've got some equipment that runs on two or three phase power. Now we're talking serious infrastructure. Probably have to couple that genset directly to the engine!

[BlackoutATX]

Adding an Inverter

I have plenty of battery to run this setup. But you guys have convinced me to give this project the big middle finger. I have ordered the strongest 12v pump airhead makes. We will see how it performs. Thanks again for the help!

[chpthril]

1st, I would suggest an actual marine DC to AC converter rather than one you might find in a car, truck or RV. I did one a couple years ago. Wired through the main battery switch so its not hot all the time, proper circuit protection.