Inverter not powering stove top

[agillett1]

Dear Cruisers,

My recently purchased Cruisers Rogue 2870 has an inverter system installed:

Xantrex Freedom Marine 25
(http://www.xantrex.com/documents/Dis...nersManual.pdf)

When activated under 'invert' all of the AC items runs, such as the outlets and fridge. However, the stove top will not turn on. I tested the stove top when plugged into shore power and it works fine.

Is there any reason why the stove top would not work with the inverter?

Thank you for any guidance or ideas to try!

[coopec43]

What make/model is your cook-top?

(Apparently your inverter output is modified sine-wave)

"We have a very nice Senken two 'burner' stove top which works nicely from power.html" target="_blank">shore-IRJDSUNE9932123321222xxeww-power, but refuses to heat anything when run from our Cobra 2500 watt (continuous, 5000 watt 'surge') inverter. One forum suggested ading 10 uF AC capacitor which we did but to no avail. Has anyone out there had any success running an induction stove or cook top from a Modified (not Pure) sine wave inverter?"

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f14/induction-cook-top-and-inverter-compatibility-137997.html

[StuM]

Yep induction cookers frequently have problems with modified sine wave inverters. It's been discussed here in numerous threads.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by agillett1

Is there any reason why the stove top would not work with the inverter?

Is it actually supposed to work with inverter power? Is that addressed in the boat's manual? Might be installation designed your electrical system so the inverter only powers light loads... not stuff like cooktop, water heater, certainly not A/C, etc.

FWIW, our inverter only powers outlets for minor loads: TV/stereo, microwave, coffee maker, etc. NOT the cooktop. By design.

-Chris

[S/V Illusion]

How much power does your cooktop draw? There must be a placard on it or spec in the manual indicating power requirement.

[smac999]

As already mentioned.

2 reasons.

Modified sine waves often to not work on electric stoves. The freedom 25 is very old. And will not last forever. So consider replacing before it dies with a proper sine wave one. .

Or b. The stove is not wired to the inverter. As normally only some loads are.

[agillett1]

I want to thank you all for your insightful and helpful feedback. This was my first post and this forum is so valuable!

My further 'basic' investigation indicates that the inverter is not aligned to the stove top needs and I will therefore need to look at a new inverter or different option for cooking while abroad and not connected to shore power.

Any recommendations on a new inverter that would replace the Freedom 25 with little modification to the wiring of the boat? I believe that it was original with the boat from 1998.

Thanks again for the tips

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by agillett1

I want to thank you all for your insightful and helpful feedback. This was my first post and this forum is so valuable!

My further 'basic' investigation indicates that the inverter is not aligned to the stove top needs and I will therefore need to look at a new inverter or different option for cooking while abroad and not connected to shore power.

Any recommendations on a new inverter that would replace the Freedom 25 with little modification to the wiring of the boat? I believe that it was original with the boat from 1998.

Thanks again for the tips

Well... if the inverter installation is actually wired to run the cooktop, then...

And if you think it's just that you need a different inverter...

Two things: the inverter must be sized appropriately, and you need some serious batteries.

That may or may not mean you also need a "pure sine wave" model of inverter. (Can't tell about that, from a distance...)

How many watts does your cooktop need? You can look that up in your cooktop documentation. And you'd probably want to add some reserve capacity... Anyway, others here may be able to help you better with sizing.

But inverters don't just run in a vacuum; they suck DC (current) out of your battery bank, turn that into AC (current), and throw watts and amps and so forth at your appliance (cooktop, in this case). Which means you battery bank needs to be robust enough to power all that for whatever length of time you expect to be cooking between battery recharges. With some reserve.

-Chris

[Captain Bill]

Modified sine wave inverters are often incompatible with solid state temperature controls. I have the same inverter and cannot use it with some devices. One example is an electric blanket. The temperature control unit smoked and melted. When i read the fine print in the blanket manual there was a warning to never use the blanket with a modified sine wave inverter. A conventional resistance based control has no issue with modified sine wave inverters, but finding such a device these days is pretty much impossible.

[stormalong]

The OP never said it was an induction stove.

The first thing to check is that the stove is wired to the inverter. Do you know how to use a simple multimeter?

As already said a stove is a big load. Besides having the battery capacity is the wiring to the inverter from the battery heavy enough to supply the load. A 2000 watt load is 200 amps.

If you are out cruising cooking would be a huge drain on your electrical system. You need some way to put that power back into your batteries. I was once visiting a cruising boat with an electric galley where the skipper started the generator to make popcorn.

If you plan to be away from shore power for long periods of time consider switching to propane.

[Lancerbye]

My modified sine wave inverter was not wired to allow the use of my electric range, neither was the water heater. There is a good reasons for this. If you are pulling 1500w for example that will be close to 120 amps from your batteries. You would deplete your batteries very quickly. Mine was set up to use the generator when I needed this kind of draw. I ended up converting the stove top with a low pressure alcohol 2 burner top so as not to need starting the generator every time I wanted to cook something.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by stormalong

The OP never said it was an induction stove.

Good point. I shouldn't have made that assumption.

[agillett1]

Thanks again for the wonderful support and ideas. You guys have great knowledge!
Unfortunately in my case there is no generator on the boat and a moderate battery bank (in my opinion). The benefits of a stove top don't seem to justify the effort required to get it working, assuming that I could solve all the questions about draw, wiring, sine waves, extra batteries in the bank, etc.
Previous to this boat we had the alcohol burning stove and oven in our sailboat. It actually worked great! I'll check into converting or having this as a stand alone unit on the boat.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by agillett1

Unfortunately in my case there is no generator on the boat and a moderate battery bank (in my opinion). The benefits of a stove top don't seem to justify the effort required to get it working, assuming that I could solve all the questions about draw, wiring, sine waves, extra batteries in the bank, etc.

I suspected no genset and a smallish battery bank(s) in that size/style of boat.

You should at least try to pin down whether the inverter as installed is actually supposed to power your electric cooktop... and which battery bank (if you have multiple) services your inverter loads... so you know more about how your boat systems are wired.

As for other ideas about cooking while at anchor, some options might be a combo microwave/convection oven, and/or a propane grill (e.g., Magma, or whatever) for outdoor use. Former may still require a pure sine wave inverter (I dunno that), and could well require more battery for serious cooking... but could maybe suffice for reheating or short sessions (popcorn?) with your current battery set-up... as long a you don't overdo it.

If you know which battery bank services your inverter loads... you may even find it to be relatively simple to just add another battery to that bank... if it turns out something like a microwave/convection oven could be really useful.

Good luck!

-Chris