420: Electrical- converting 220 volt 50 hz to 220volt 60 Hz or 110 volt 60 Hz

[Karibia]

Recently bought a 420 Lagoon, European version. I am sailing in US and would like to convert boat to 220 volt or 110 volt and 60 hertz????

Please share ideas and experience!!!

[Pelagic]

There are basically 2 options:

#1. Convert Shore power to suit your onboard electrical demands.
Marine Electrical conversions

2. Replace all your electrical AC consumers including AC generator with US standard.

My own decision would be to go with #1. Because it will enhance the re-sale value of the boat rather than inhibit it to the NA market. (keep in mind about 80% of the world runs on 50Hz/220v)

Also onboard Gen running at 1500rpm is much more mechanically friendly than running at 1800 or 1200 rpm, due to torsional vibration issues..

[roetter]

I purchased a L450 North American version but picked her up in Europe and sailed the Mediterranean and the Caribbean for 9 months. I purchased some appliances in Europe. This included automatic cappuccino machine and washer. On the other hand we had a North American water kettle, toaster and computers etc. Computers and cell phones are multi voltage multi frequency, so there is no problem.

All our equipment worked fine on either 50 or 60 Hz. The only problem was the pump that pumps the water out of the washer. It wanted 50 Hz. Strangely enough everything else in the washer worked fine on 60Hz include the big drum motor.

This is what I did.
Installed second 220V inlet. Connected it to 220v breakers and a Victron Autotransformer which did the 220V - 110V conversion.
I installed a Victron 12-3000 Multi Plus charger/inverter. North American version. I reprogrammed it to default to 50 Hz though when it is not connected to shore power. On shore power it will synchronize with the shore frequency.
I had a switch that allowed me to change the transformer connection between input and output of the Inverter. This way I could use either 110 or 120 from shore going into the inverter, or I could produce 110 and 220 with the inverter.
I installed several 220V outlets ( washer and kitchen counters).

Now I could use shore power or inverter power to drive my 110V and 220V appliances simultaneously. When connected to 60Hz shore power what iI had to do for the washer was to disconnect from shore power and switch the inverter off and on. Now the inverter delivered 50 Hz for the washer. I am in the process of disconnecting the Lagoon chargers from the internal circuits and connect them such that I can pick up power from the 220-50Hz or 110-60Hz inlet. They are multi voltage and multi frequency. Thus I can charge my batteries and produce all 110 and 220 with my inverter, separating me from whatever shore frequency is used.

[SVNeko]

My boat came to me wired only for 220/50. For use in the US, I added a new 110 shore power inlet, new 110 charger/inverter and ran AC wiring throughout the boat to newly installed 110 outlets. That was a piece of work, but was able to do it just me and an experienced friend. So now battery is charged and all 12V items are OK. 110V items can now be used. BUT items wired to run on 220 could not be used. This is water heaters and laundry. Left the laundry on 220 only - we'll only use it when the generator is on. For hot water at the dock, I ran a new circuit from the 110 pass-through on the inverter to rotary switches and to the heaters (two - one in each engine room). Now, hot water can be made via engine exchange, 220 circuit from dock or genset or 110 circuit from dock. 110 takes a little longer but works fine. I changed out the heater elements for 1500W/220V ones. This is a little more powerful than original, but on 110 its a lot less. This was necessary to get enough 110 power into the units to heat water in a reasonable time. All this was a fair bit of work, but I got to know every nook and cranny of my boat and now we have max adaptability when it comes to shore power.

[Oliver L.]

Kariba,

everywhere in the US you have 230 Volt at 60 Hz available - the US grid supplies two opposed 115 Volt lines to each house.

I just installed heating and A/C on my boat, and usually you can get every component in 50/60 Hz version: My Webasto compressor set does it, for the pumps I chose Japanese ones because half their country is 50 and the other half 60 Hz.

Heaters are no problem, a resistance heater does not distinguish between 50 and 60 Hz.

With a little effort you can get the best of both worlds...I will be using my boat both in 50 and 60 Hz territory.

Oliver