question

Les Rollins avatar image
Les Rollins asked

Isolation transformer

Hi

I'm going to be upgrading my system on the boat. I currently have a victron multiplus inverter charger 12 / 1600 / 70 which I would like to upgrade to a victron multiplus inverter charger 12 / 3000 / 120 apart from the battery cables to the inverter charger would I need to upgrade the shore line cable from the plug to the inverter. I've also been told that if I add a victron isolation transformer 3600w this will help to smooth out the electricity coming from my kipor 6.5kv generator. At the moment the washing machine sometimes plays up due to what I've been told dirty electric from the kipor generator. Thanks

Isolation Tranformer
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4 Answers
Alistair Warburton avatar image
Alistair Warburton answered ·

The shore cable is what it is... Without knowing the current you require and what size it is now it is impossible to say. NEED to change it, NO the charger has a maximum AC current setting, specifically to mitigate this issue, so you can simply set it to the maximum your cable is rated for, at the expense of charge time of course.

Transformer... Unless the dirty AC is high frequency harmonic distortion a transformer probably will not help. A new AVR would though and that would likely be far cheaper and would also fix the high frequency stuff, if it is there.

Dirty AC could be related to poor speed control, so an engine issue, but most modern kit is fine anywhere between 48 an 62 Hz. An exeption may be a washing machine speed control board. The cheap ones tend to use the AC for timing of the phase cut and dont like the frequency changing quickly.

Al

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Les Rollins avatar image
Les Rollins answered ·

Thanks Al the washing machine is an hoover dynamic next model number DXOA 610AHFN 80 1600 w which I presume is it's peak while heating the water. Sometimes it will gi through a programme with no problem and other times it is a pain just recently it sometimes trips the 12 / 1600 / 70 inverter charger. Is there a specific AVR I would require if I upgraded to a 12 / 3000 / 120 inverter charger sorry about my lack of knowledge with electrics

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Les Rollins avatar image
Les Rollins answered ·

As far as I'm aware the current is set at 16 amp

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Alistair Warburton avatar image
Alistair Warburton answered ·

The AVR is in the generator, it manages the output voltage which would otherwise change dramatically with speed and load. In short you need the one for your generator, or perhaps a compatible, better one, if the unit you have is known to be unstable.

Changing the AVR has nothing to do with inverter choice, but it may fix the dirty AC, it rather depend on what is making it dirty, bad AVR or bad speed control.

I guess bad brushes on the slip-rings, assuming it isnt brushless, could also be a thing but hey tend to fail fairly quickly after going bad.

A 1600 for a washing machine is skinny to say the least, especially on a 12V system if it only trips sometimes I think yu re doing well.

Motors, generally, take 4-5 time the full load current to start. A washing machine is a special case and is likely not that bad, being inverter driven internally, but the start load will still be high.

It si probably tripping when the heaters are on and it tries to tumble, not a supprise really.

It probably trips when the water is cool and you just had to cram that last jumper into the wash.

Just a small point... If you increese the battery voltge you can keep the cables switches and protection, which are sized by current, and the inverter will probably be cheaper because its DC side will be lower current for the sme output power.

I just went to 48V for those reasons.


Al

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