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Jon S avatar image
Jon S asked

Boat setup so there are no issues with shore power 50hz or 60hz

I just purchased a Catamaran that is setup on 220 50hz. Aircon, water maker, hot water heaters are all 220 50hz. I have the following:

*Magnum inverter/charger model MS2712E (2700W inverter at 12V)
* Silentwind 400w wind gen connected to a Wind Controller - 12v Max Current Wind 40A/Solar 20A
Max DC output 2x10A
* 2 Victron MPPT 150/85-Tr SmartSolar charge controllers
* 4 LG315W pannels
* Batteries - 4 Lifeline AGM 210Ah


I plan to upgrade to 1200ah or 1800ah lithium batteries.


Based on what I have read it appears there is no way to convert 60hz to 50hz with these devices.

I was thinking of replacing my inverter with 1 Victron (maybe 2 stacked) inverter(s) and run all AC loads through them and add a separate charger or 2 that run off shore power or genset. The idea would be never run all Aircon at same time unless plugged in to shore power or the genset is running. I know there will be losses with AC to DC to AC. What I don’t know is what impact this setup can have to batter life if you assume never discharge bellow mfg recommendations.

Is the above a bad idea?

shorepower
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2 Answers
Paul B avatar image
Paul B answered ·

If you install a Multi or a quattro unit and set it to be 230v 50Hz then when 230v 50Hz is connected the passthrough will be 230 and 50Hz and it will charge your battery.

If the 230v 50Hz is disconected then the inverter will supply 230v 50Hz by using the Battery


then if the AC input becomes 230v 60 Hz the inverter will sync to the 60Hz and the Passthrough will be 230v 60Hz to the whole boat and the Battery will be charged.

Now as soon as the 230V 60Hz mains power is diconected then the inverter will take over at 230V 50Hz by using the battery thus the boat will go back to the default 50Hz setting in the inverter


If you do the reverse ie set the inverter to be 230v 60Hz then the same applys as above but when the AC in is not connected then it will be suppliying 230 v 60Hz by using the battery



Same applies if you have the 120 volt Multi or Quattro version as well

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JohnC avatar image
JohnC answered ·

Hi Jon. Good you've separated the Hz.

If you're just using your batts like a UPS, then no real issue if your batt charge/discharge/storage parameters are being observed.

But never run your charge>discharge through the batts. Always use the same terminals for both. Wiring convenience may intrude, but running through wire is ok, through batts a big nono. No exceptions that I'm aware of would justify that.

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Jon S avatar image Jon S commented ·

Hi John,

Thanks for the response. I am trying to learn but get mixed signals from internet. So is the design the battery chargers connect to the positive and negative bus bar that come off the batteries? This is same location the inverter would connect, is that correct?

Thanks in advance,


Jon

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Jon S avatar image Jon S commented ·

Hi Paul,


Thanks for the response. You have confirmed my understanding that you cannot convert 60hz to 50hz or vise versa.

What I want to know is if my last paragraph is a good idea or not. Maybe I didn’t state it correctly. I want to know if I used 2 inverters and 2 chargers (2 chargers for redundancy and I will have 1800ah of lithium batteries). Shore power and the genset will only power the chargers. All house AC loads will go through the inverters. What I don’t know is what, if any, negative impact this could have on the batteries if connected to shore power for, say 2 weeks, and air conditioning is running full time.


The batteries would be connected on one side of a Lynx Ion 1000 shunt. The load and charge would be connected to the other side of the shunt. This will ensure all amps in and out from all sources are tracked by the shunt.

My understanding is that if connected to shore power and the Air Conditioner is on, the Aircon would be pulling current and the chargers would be on (most likely) since they are connected on the same side of the shunt current could flow to the Air Conditioner and left over current to the batteries VS full Aircon drawing from batteries and full charge current going into batteries.

I hope that makes sense. Is it correct?


Jon

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