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PETER
KENNEDY YACHT SERVICES Marine Electrical Systems |
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| Introduction to inverters | |
Inverters run from your batteries and electronically convert the low voltage DC into higher voltage AC power to run appliances and other loads. Chargers do the reverse, converting AC voltage into a lower DC voltage to charge batteries. Many devices combine the two functions into one unit, resulting in a saving of weight and cost. |
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| Some smaller inverters are portable but most bigger units are designed to be hard wired. Many contain an AC transfer switch which allows shore power to be transferred through the inverter to the loads when it is available, and when it isn't the inverter can produce its own AC power from the batteries. This provides for a seamless transition from shore power to ships power. Without a transfer switch the inverter powered devices need to be separate from the shore power devices. Larger inverters need to be located adjacent to battery banks and have large battery cables because of the high currents involved. |
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Some inverters produce a pure sine wave identical to that of shore power, others produce what they call a "modified sine wave" which is really a square wave whose characteristics can change with the applied load. The latter, although it sounds less attractive, has a number of advantages, including greater efficiency, higher surge load, and less expense. Especially with larger inverters it becomes important to be able to monitor batteries accurately as these inverters have the capability of drawing large amounts of power from the batteries in a short time. |
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Peter Kennedy Yacht Services Located in Annapolis MD USA
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