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I'm looking for a universal inverter/charger solution for my boat so that I can handle any shore power source I can run into around the world. It thus needs to accept 120V and 240V AC at 50Hz or 60Hz, and be able to convert it all to the boats 120V 60Hz AC.
I have not been able to find a single Victron product that would do that. Is there a combination that would?
Very simple: use a charger with wide input voltage range, and an inverter to your required voltage. this way you also have galvanic isolation (when wired up properly).
limit: only available in 12 V and 24 V:
https://www.victronenergy.com/chargers/centaur-charger-12v-24v
I like @Boekel's answer, and am using a similar solution.
But I also wanted something similar to what you're doing and Victron provides a pretty slick solution in the form of their Isolation Transformers. That may get you closer to what you're looking for. They're not too spendy and would provide greater power output and automatic input V/Hz detection.
My plan is to install one of those ahead of my inverter, and using it if input voltage is not inverter spec voltage.
Of course, I just reread the isolation transformer's manual and I'm not 100% certain it'll switch between voltages?
It seems like it would/should, with the "auto" model -since the output voltage is preset (120 OR 240) within settings and the input "can be" 120 or 240 and is auto selected based on detected voltage.
Yes the Autotransformer looks promissing. The documentation is very light though. The manual is more akin to a brochure and I couldn't find installation instructions!
Most of the diagrams I've seen put the Autotransformer downstream of the Inverter while I would need to put it upstream to ensure 120V at 60Hz is sent to the boat's onboard AC. Also documentation is not clear whether it can convert the frequency to 60Hz from 50Hz.
