Fussing over Fusing

[madjack]

Jim, look at it thisaway...
...with a charger, you have to run shore power to a breaker box with breakers of course. From there to the charger and other 110vac circuits. from the charger to the battery to a fuse block to your 12 vdc circuits...you may wish(need) to add various switches for switching the various parts in and out of the system as well.

With a converter you run 120vac into one side, run battery power into the other side and the wiring for both 120vac and 12vdc outlets/appliances into the back..any switching is done by the internal circuitry of the conveter...EVERYTHING goes into one place for a much neater/simpler install.

For the novice, a converter is probably the better way to go. The pricing of a WFCO(12A) versus a Deltrans(5A) and its component setup are very close to each other.

The only real advatage to using the Deltrans setup is that it is "componentized", meaning that if a single item goes bad, you only haveta replace that item...however the WFCO and the Deltrans are both designed to give lots of duty inna fairly rugged environment...there is also the "geek" factor of doing it yourself for the Deltrans to consider.....
madjack

[kayakrguy]

Novice? ME?? Ummmmm that looks pretty advanced from here!


Ok, since geek is obviously not in play here, I think I will go with the WFCO (what a name for a company--sounds weird, actually) converter. Now, their website has the breakers for sale....don't the converters come with breakers/fuses or do you custom order and pay extra for those?

Jim

[madjack]

Unfortunately, breakers and fuses are extra...personally I would also add a GFIC equipped extension cord to the mix as well
madjack

[kayakrguy]

Steve,

I appears that you're using the generator instead of an inverter for those times you want AC but are not at a AC power source--correct? Whaddya use for a generator? I assume it is a bit noisy (thinking about neighbors here)

Jim

[kayakrguy]

MJ, are you recommending the GFCI cord for the hookup to the campground power supply or for the cabin? I intend for two 120 v receptaclesin the cabin in parallel, with the first one a GFCI. Which leads me to a different question....what protects the converter--a fuse? Breaker? where is it located?

Thanks,

Jim

[Sonetpro]

The breakers are standard type, Available at any hardware store/home center. The first breaker protects the converter. I have 2 120V recepticles just like you mentioned you were going to do. One GFCI with another recepticle downstream.
On the 12V side I have 3 fuse positions
1 goes to a 12V power point in the galley
1 goes to an inverter for the TV and stereo.
1 goes to a 6 fuse position boat fuse panel where I run all my 5 amp lighting circuits.

I tried to run the A/C off a inverter. It did it, but the amp draw was too much for me. I got a Kipor 1000 watt generator it will run everything. It's pretty quiet, If we are in the tear with the A/C on we can't hear it. The only time it is run is when the air is on or the coffee maker is on. You wouldn't believe how much power a coffee maker uses. ( don't even try a 12V it's useless)

[kayakrguy]

Steve...

Yeah, I believe you about coffee pot--many do 1000 watts +, especially if they are FAST! Can you run the Converter off the Kipor--or does the Kipor have a 12v outlet as well as 120 volt?

Jim

[kayakrguy]

Hi guys,

Reading another thread here I read what I think was strong advice to use a supplemental fuse panel with the Best Converter. The purpose was to keep loads on individual fuses rather than grouping them together. This certainly has a saftety value, done properly.

I will have a total of 9 dc loads.....this includes 4 LED lights in the cabin, 2 porch lights (incandescent to start) 1 LED light bar in the hatch (maybe a flourescent if I can't get and LED light bar) and 2 12 volt receptacles and a fantastic vent.

With a 6 postition boat dc fuse panel along with the dc fuse panels on the Converter, I could individually fuse each load. Why would I want to do this? MY reason (not necessarily anyone else's) is that I want to avoid making connections inside the ceiling, which is where I am running my wire. I want all connections accessible at the fuse panel or the load (All my lights have self-contained switches)

I do not want to have to solve any future electrical problems by having to fish through the ceiling or worse, open it up....

The individual loads would be quite small...requiring no more than 10 amp fuses at the most--further, the fan has its own internal fuse--4 amp, I think.

What do you all think of this set up?

What would you recommend for fusing at the converter for the supplemental panel?

Thanks for hyour help...again!!

Jim

[Sonetpro]

Jim,
That's the way I did it. I didn't want to lose all lights if one fuse blew. With the sub panel, If I have a problem with the overhead lights I will still have the reading light's. I didn't want a problem on one circuit to shut down all my lighting.

[kayakrguy]

what do you use for harness/wire to connect the the battery to the converter....nothing is shown on the website...and I'm pretty sure it isn't a 'through the air connection' <g>

Thanks,

Jim

[Sonetpro]

what do you use for harness/wire to connect the the battery to the converter....nothing is shown on the website...and I'm pretty sure it isn't a 'through the air connection' <g>

Thanks,

Jim

I ran 8 guage to the battery and the sub panel. 10 should be fine though.

[Tripmaker]

Hey guys,

I came in here looking for information on converters/chargers and this thread answered all my questions. kayakrguy asked all the same questions I was going to pose.

I was considering an inverter for a coffee maker but was convinced from another thread that there are better ways to make coffee. See this thread. http://tnttt.com/viewto ... t=inverter

Looks like kayakrguy & I are still at about the same stage of construction.

Jim

[kayakrguy]

[
Jim[/quote]
I ran 8 guage to the battery and the sub panel. 10 should be fine though.[/quote]

Steve and all--I'm waiting for the converter to come, so I don't have anything to eyeball yet--so these ?'s may sound weird...

First, I assume that the #8 wire referred to above connects to screw terminals on the DC side of the converter...?

And the # 8 wire at the battery--use a regular battery post clamp?...or...???

And being slow on the uppick, this question just occurred to me last night.... When the converter is not drawing any AC, that means the DC power must come from the battery....through the converter??
That seems counter-intuitive to me....but then the whole converter thing is pretty amazing--

Thanks,

Jim

[Sonetpro]

Jim it will come with 18" wires for the DC. You will need to solder them to your wires.
The converter is automatic. If you don't have AC it will run everything off the battery. When you hook up AC it will sense the voltage of the battery and charge it if necesary. It will charge and supply load to the circuits at the same time.

[Tripmaker]

This may have been asked and I missed it but....can the WFCO charger/converter be used without a battery as a stand alone converter? I'm not sure that I will need a battery as most places we go will have shore power. I know I could find a cheaper converter but using the WFCO will make installing a battery later easier if I decide to do so.