A/C on generator??

firecadet613 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 28, 2014 1:57 pm

That hum put me right to sleep. Did you just buy your 268.

noexcuses · **Posted:** Fri Feb 28, 2014 2:34 pm

jaykris wrote:

noexcuses wrote:

If you already have a generator why not use it? The AC power draw is going to require a rather large inverter and battery bank that is going require a signifcant amount of time to recharge.

Only because of the noise at night. Probably would sleep better with no gen burning. Its HOT :twisted:

here in Ga....

But you are most probably right, not going to be worth the bother.

Jay

I understand, my boat came off of Lake Lanier and whoever had the boat before me ran the heck out of the generator. I typically don't run the generator at night while I'm sleeping, the nights up here are usually cool enough with a fan and the wife is afraid of CO poisoning.

jaykris · **Joined:** Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:33 am **Posts:** 22

firecadet613 wrote:

That hum put me right to sleep. Did you just buy your 268.

Bought it in October from a neighbor. I live in a small neighborhood of 7 homes on Lake Lanier, it came with the dock
that I was going to have to build anyway, we just swapped deeds on docks......all is well.

Jay

Family knot · **Posted:** Sat Mar 01, 2014 3:53 pm

ric wrote:

Marine AC units use water from the lake/ocean that you're in for heat conversion. Cooling the unit with water is vastly more efficient than cooling it with air like on a car or in your house with the big unit outside. That whole big thing outside your house or a big radiator in the front of your car is replaced by a tiny fluid/water heat exchanger the size of a cup. There's a little pump that circulates the water and spits it out the side of the boat. It makes the A/C unit very small, efficient, and quiet. The whole thing is not much bigger than a shoe box. They run of 120v AC power so when you're plugged into the dock it runs off normal power. When out to sea you need to kick on the generator to supply the 120v power to run the unit. It's so you can be anchored out somewhere camping for the weekend and not run the engine to use the AC.

I personally installed a battery bank on my boat with a 12v to 120v power inverter. Lasts overnight so I can sleep in peace and quiet.

Ric,

How big is your invertor? How many batteries do you have? So, you are capable of running your AC off your batteries? Did you place your invertor as close as possible to batteries? How many plugs on your invertor? How long are the runs to your outlets/etc?

Thanks

ric · **Posted:** Sat Mar 01, 2014 4:51 pm

2000w surge, 1000w RMS pure sine inverter 3ft from two 240ah 6v batteries. Lasts 4-8 hours depending on how aggressive I get with the settings. In a larger boat like yours I would go at least 4, if not 6 240ah 6v batteries. The inverter has two plugs which currently the AC unit plugs into, for now until I get the transfer switch.

On a setup like your boat, it's quite easy to do since you're already wired. Purchase a quality automatic transfer switch. Shore power lead plugs into the switch instead of the breaker panel. Inverter plugs into the transfer switch. Onboard charger plugs into the transfer switch. Transfer switch plugs into the boat's 120v main panel like shorepower did.

When you plug into shore power it automatically routes shore 120v to the breaker panel and battery charger. When you're on the hook and switch on the inverter (get a remote battery switch installed in cabin) it routes 120v from the inverter to the breaker panel (and not the charger).

If you have an onboard genset I think you need two transfer switches so it all works seamlessly. The company can help you with wiring it all. 240aH 6v batteries weigh 65lb each so keep that in mind for placement. You need sets of 2 for 12v. So 2 batteries = 240aH 12v. 4 batteries = 480ah 12v. 6 batteries = 720aH of power. With 720aH of power available my A/C unit, in my sized boat, would last running 10 hours non-stop.. or real world? About 40 hours of normal A/C use. I timed my unit with normal settings to run about 15 minutes of compressor time per hour at 80 degrees ambient outside air at night. Your mileage may vary. I carry a Honda eu2000i onboard for extended stays. As long as it's cold in the cabin for me to pass out without sweating/freezing I'm a very happy camper.

Transfer switch:
http://gpelectric.com/products/transfer-switches

Electronic remote battery bank control that you can flip on/off with a switch:
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... id=1508894

acguy · **Posted:** Sat Mar 01, 2014 10:52 pm

You will be hard pressed to run his A/C unit off of a 1000W RMS inverter. Not worth it if you already have the genny. I find most night's out on the lake there is a breeze.

Family knot · **Posted:** Sun Mar 02, 2014 8:39 am

acguy wrote:

You will be hard pressed to run his A/C unit off of a 1000W RMS inverter. Not worth it if you already have the genny. I find most night's out on the lake there is a breeze.

My boat does not have a gen set.

It currently has 3 batteries. My friend has a 298 and added two additional batteries for a total of 5. My old boat had 3 batteries and a battery toggle switch, so I could choose which battery I was overnighting on.

Does my new 2000 298 FW have a battery toggle switch? If I were thinking of trying to run AC a little off batteries, what battery configuration would you recommend?

I plan to add a cockpit fridge and have been told I should get another house battery anyway.

Thanks

acguy · **Posted:** Sun Mar 02, 2014 9:10 am

I currently have 3 house batteries and 2 others batteries each for the port and starboard engine. You currently can not isolate each house battery in your current setup. I would recommend just going out and buying a Honda Eu2000i generator which will run your A/C unit.
If you do a search I believe Generator Depot offers this generator for $900 which is excellent value for your money.
Adding a huge battery bank and maintaining these batteries could get expensive in the long run!

Alan_G_298Vista · **Posted:** Sun Mar 02, 2014 9:10 am

Family knot wrote:

acguy wrote:

You will be hard pressed to run his A/C unit off of a 1000W RMS inverter. Not worth it if you already have the genny. I find most night's out on the lake there is a breeze.

My boat does not have a gen set.

It currently has 3 batteries. My friend has a 298 and added two additional batteries for a total of 5. My old boat had 3 batteries and a battery toggle switch, so I could choose which battery I was overnighting on.

Does my new 2000 298 FW have a battery toggle switch? If I were thinking of trying to run AC a little off batteries, what battery configuration would you recommend?

I plan to add a cockpit fridge and have been told I should get another house battery anyway.

Thanks

I run both the cockpit and cabin fridges, lights, stereo, and a vac flush toilet all weekend on the hook, Fri. night to Sun. afternoon without worrying about running out of batteries. I have a bank of three group 31 house batteries on our 298. Our boats have an isolator switch meaning your only using your house bank when the motor is off unless you override that by switching to combine both house and starting batteries via. your battery switch.
As for stressing about air conditioning on the hook, I don't get your concern to be honest. We both boat in roughly the same kind of summer temperatures, your not in Florida or the southern states or anything with high humidity for long stretches. Our cabin, even on very hot days stays very comfortable, I can't think of any time I wished for A/C. You've got a full screened entryway and two large hatches. It's not a problem to keep comfortable at all so I'd try it out before you invest in all that just to listen to a loud A/C unit all night. Frankly I'm glad our boat doesn't have a genset, I much prefer the peace and quiet!

Family knot · **Posted:** Sun Mar 02, 2014 9:29 am

Alan, thanks for answering my question about the battery switch. I'm not terribly concerned about the AC issue. I was just exploring after having read this thread. We sleep on the hook in coves with least amount of wind. It could get a bit stuffy on my old boat. But I didn't have the screened companionway door or the two big hatches!

ric · **Posted:** Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:12 pm

Would need to know what model AC you have.

My boat has a MarinAire Micra 6000btu unit. Draws a bit under 5 amps of 120v, or 600 watts of the 1000w available on the inverter.

Bliss36 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:52 am

We also run the a/c off our inverter/6v GC battery bank but rarely do. We've found that in most cases it's cool enough on the water to just open the hatches and run some 12v fans. Usually if we do run the a/c it will only be fore 30 min just to cool the cabin before bed if we are staying on the hook which is something you could do with your genset.

If you're still interested in an inverter install here is a link to how I set ours up. I will say I do really enjoy having the inverter for the silent power/no fumes. It's nice to be able to microwave something or make a pot of coffee without firing up a genset.
http://www.smwebhead.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=10460&p=102366&hilit=268+inverter#p102366

www.iFourWinns.com

A/C on generator??

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