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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2016 9:58:47 GMT
There's yet more bad advice going on now in a battery isolator thread. Geo mis-quoting the BSS and Billy happily agreeing with him. So if a sharp-eyed BSS inspector fails the boat will either of them say sorry? Speaking of which Tony. Are there any BSS conditions I should watch out for when I install a switch between an inverter and generator in the engine room so I can share the same existing 240v circuit.
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Post by tonyqj on Nov 3, 2016 10:22:01 GMT
There's yet more bad advice going on now in a battery isolator thread. Geo mis-quoting the BSS and Billy happily agreeing with him. So if a sharp-eyed BSS inspector fails the boat will either of them say sorry? Speaking of which Tony. Are there any BSS conditions I should watch out for when I install a switch between an inverter and generator in the engine room so I can share the same existing 240v circuit. Nope, only that you can't have both connected at the same time Do ensure therefore that it's a switch designed for that purpose because it must be break-before-make. In other words it must disconnect the one supply prior to connecting the other. A good way of doing that could be to have a contactor that's powered by the generator, so when the genny is running the contactor closes and connects the genny power. When the genny is off the contactor drops out and connects the inverter. But you don't have to do it that way, you do it really cheaply by making it manual. Have the genny feed terminate at a socket. Have the inverter feed terminate at a socket. Have the 240V boat supply fed by a plug. Plug it into whichever one you choose.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2016 10:40:12 GMT
Speaking of which Tony. Are there any BSS conditions I should watch out for when I install a switch between an inverter and generator in the engine room so I can share the same existing 240v circuit. Nope, only that you can't have both connected at the same time Do ensure therefore that it's a switch designed for that purpose because it must be break-before-make. In other words it must disconnect the one supply prior to connecting the other. A good way of doing that could be to have a contactor that's powered by the generator, so when the genny is running the contactor closes and connects the genny power. When the genny is off the contactor drops out and connects the inverter. But you don't have to do it that way, you do it really cheaply by making it manual. Have the genny feed terminate at a socket. Have the inverter feed terminate at a socket. Have the 240V boat supply fed by a plug. Plug it into whichever one you choose. Brilliant. Thanks Tony. I think the simple solution is good for me as I rarely use the genny.
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Post by Telemachus on Nov 3, 2016 10:55:26 GMT
Speaking of which Tony. Are there any BSS conditions I should watch out for when I install a switch between an inverter and generator in the engine room so I can share the same existing 240v circuit. Nope, only that you can't have both connected at the same time Do ensure therefore that it's a switch designed for that purpose because it must be break-before-make. In other words it must disconnect the one supply prior to connecting the other. A good way of doing that could be to have a contactor that's powered by the generator, so when the genny is running the contactor closes and connects the genny power. When the genny is off the contactor drops out and connects the inverter. But you don't have to do it that way, you do it really cheaply by making it manual. Have the genny feed terminate at a socket. Have the inverter feed terminate at a socket. Have the 240V boat supply fed by a plug. Plug it into whichever one you choose. I'm sure this will be fine. I'll just mention that one has to be careful with the loading on a 13A plug/socket if the same idea were used to switch between shore power and an inverter. The shore supply is 16A and thus could overload the plug/socket. Of course it is highly unlikely that a normal genny or inverter could exceed 13A.
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Post by Telemachus on Nov 3, 2016 10:56:17 GMT
There's yet more bad advice going on now in a battery isolator thread. Geo mis-quoting the BSS and Billy happily agreeing with him. So if a sharp-eyed BSS inspector fails the boat will either of them say sorry? With those two now in charge of electrical technical advice on CWDF, what could possibly go wrong?
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Post by tonyqj on Nov 3, 2016 10:58:25 GMT
Nope, only that you can't have both connected at the same time Do ensure therefore that it's a switch designed for that purpose because it must be break-before-make. In other words it must disconnect the one supply prior to connecting the other. A good way of doing that could be to have a contactor that's powered by the generator, so when the genny is running the contactor closes and connects the genny power. When the genny is off the contactor drops out and connects the inverter. But you don't have to do it that way, you do it really cheaply by making it manual. Have the genny feed terminate at a socket. Have the inverter feed terminate at a socket. Have the 240V boat supply fed by a plug. Plug it into whichever one you choose. I'm sure this will be fine. I'll just mention that one has to be careful with the loading on a 13A plug/socket if the same idea were used to switch between shore power and an inverter. The shore supply is 16A and thus could overload the plug/socket. Of course it is highly unlikely that a normal genny or inverter could exceed 13A. Yep. I would have suggested using the 16A plugs & sockets had this been the case. But Thanks for pointing it out for others who read this and hadn't appreciated the difference.
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Post by tonyqj on Nov 3, 2016 10:59:40 GMT
There's yet more bad advice going on now in a battery isolator thread. Geo mis-quoting the BSS and Billy happily agreeing with him. So if a sharp-eyed BSS inspector fails the boat will either of them say sorry? With those two now in charge of electrical technical advice on CWDF, what could possibly go wrong? I'm sure it will all go swimmingly On the other hand, I feel confident that TonyB will jump in and correct them.
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Post by Telemachus on Nov 3, 2016 11:00:23 GMT
With those two now in charge of electrical technical advice on CWDF, what could possibly go wrong? I'm sure it will all go swimmingly On the other hand, I feel confident that TonyB will jump in and correct them. I sort of rather hope he doesn't. Is that cruel?
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Post by tonyqj on Nov 3, 2016 11:04:25 GMT
I'm sure it will all go swimmingly On the other hand, I feel confident that TonyB will jump in and correct them. I sort of rather hope he doesn't. Is that cruel? I know exactly what you mean. I felt sorry for the OP who was asking the question and was sorely tempted to correct the bad advice but resisted the temptation in the end because there's nothing stopping him from coming here and getting good advice.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2016 11:37:07 GMT
[quote timestamp="1478168521" Of course it is highly unlikely that a normal genny or inverter could exceed 13A. Not sure about "highly unlikely". I guess it depends if you are thinking portable gennies or built in units. 13a is about 3kw. One of my built in generators is 6kw which is over 13a. Its not a narrow boat to be fair but you do get generators of more than 3kw maximum output installed in narrow boats now and then I'm not an electrical expert. My generator/inverter/shore selector is a Sterling 3 way changeover switch. It seems to be suitable but as I did not fit it I actually don't know for sure if it is the right thing.
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Post by Telemachus on Nov 3, 2016 12:07:33 GMT
[quote timestamp="1478168521" Of course it is highly unlikely that a normal genny or inverter could exceed 13A. Not sure about "highly unlikely". I guess it depends if you are thinking portable gennies or built in units. 13a is about 3kw. One of my built in generators is 6kw which is over 13a. Its not a narrow boat to be fair but you do get generators of more than 3kw maximum output installed in narrow boats now and then I'm not an electrical expert. My generator/inverter/shore selector is a Sterling 3 way changeover switch. It seems to be suitable but as I did not fit it I actually don't know for sure if it is the right thing. Yes I was thinking portable units. A substantial built in genny such as you have would hopefully be connected "properly" via a switch.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2016 12:12:11 GMT
Not always though. I know someone who has installed 3 different built in generator setups of between 6-10kw and he uses a plug and socket changeover. Pretty sure he is using 16 amp stuff though.
A proper switch seems a better option but done right I guess the plug system is probably OK.
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Post by tonyqj on Nov 3, 2016 12:15:07 GMT
Not always though. I know someone who has installed 3 different built in generator setups of between 6-10kw and he uses a plug and socket changeover. Pretty sure he is using 16 amp stuff though. A proper switch seems a better option but done right I guess the plug system is probably OK. Not too many 50A 230V plugs and sockets around.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2016 12:18:31 GMT
True.
So probably not very clever then!
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Post by tonyqj on Nov 3, 2016 12:20:14 GMT
True. So probably not very clever then! Nope. It would in fact be the ideal place to use a decent, industrial contactor.
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