Inverter stupid question

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Kommy000
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 8:45 pm

Inverter stupid question

Post by Kommy000 »

This is somewhat a stupid question but does Freedom 32 come with a built in inverter to run AC stuff when not at the dock?
My last boat I added 1500w inverter myself right to the battery bank.
If it has to be added, any recommendations on how to run it. My battery bank is in aft bunk section and most inverters I see come with 2' cable and it is always recommended to have it as close as possible to the battery bank.
I would like to have my inverter as close as possible to a seating area or nav table so I can plugin my go pros and laptops to charge otherwise I have to run an extension cord through the galley all the way from aft bunk if I wire the inverter where the batteries at.
Can I just get real thick cable and run it 12 feet to the batteries from the nav table and have it in plain site to plugin my appliances to charge? Again, don't need much, was going to buy a $150 inverter from Amazon. I know there are inverters available to plugin into cigarette lighters that I got all over the boat but I don't want to do that since they are usually wired with pretty thin wires and I don't want to have any issues if I decide to run a power drill if I'm working on something or a finishing sander.

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drcscruggs
Posts: 81
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:06 pm
Location: Galveston, Texas

Re: Inverter stupid question

Post by drcscruggs »

FWIW,
I have a F32 and I don't think it was a standard feature. If you have one then it was probably added. I like your thoughts and feel that you are thinking correctly. I am in Galveston Texas. Where are you? Best. Charles

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Castaway
Posts: 286
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2008 8:40 pm
Location: Lerwick, Shetland Isles

Re: Inverter stupid question

Post by Castaway »

Interesting conflict here; low voltage cables will inherently lose more power than high voltage; that's why transmission lines run at thousands of volts. However, higher voltages are inherently more dangerous to living beings; you might get burnt by a 12 v short, but not electrocuted. But if you are having high voltages somewhere on the boat, you might as well use the heavy duty cable for that rather than the low voltage, so long as it is reasonably well protected. The inverter will run more efficiently with higher DC voltage (i.e. nearer to the battery bank), and you will never notice the fall in AC voltage from a decent extension cable half the length of the boat. On Castaway, even with a 3mm dia. cable we get at least half a volt drop over about 8m of cable, and that's with a fairly light current draw. When we used the SSB radio, it was more than 1V.
Regards,
Gerald
Gerald Freshwater,
s/y 'Castaway', (UK F35 cat ketch, centreboard, 1987)
Lerwick Boating Club
Shetland Isles, Scotland

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