We have a sailboat equipped with a multi plus compact 12/2000/80 inverter charger, 4 200 AH Victron Lifepo4 batteries, a Victron Smart BMS and 650 watts of solar panels. Currently our inverter feeds only our onboard AC outlets but we are using very little of our solar power that is available during the day since we have few energy consumers installed on our boat (dc watermaker, dc refrigeration, no freezer, low draw autopilot etc). We asked our Marine electrician if we could connect our AC water heater to the inverter for occasional use during the day while solar power is high. There are similar questions mostly about automating the process, I don't want the process to be automated, I just want to be able to switch on the water heater at the panel with the inverter operating and an excess of solar power available. After an hour or two and before the batteries are significantly depleted, I would switch off the water heater.
Our marine electrician is concerned that the inverter will be strained with a load like the 1500 watt water heater and it will lead to premature failure of the inverter. Is the Victron 12/2000/80 adequate for running a 1500 watt water heater by manually switching it on and off when there is excess solar available and will it lead to premature failure of the inverter?
Thanks!
