Shore Power Conversion

[jmckay123]

What kind of device can I get that will allow my US sailboat, that takes 120 volt 60 hz shore power with a 30 amp connector, to connect to 50 hz 230/240 volt systems? This would be in the South Pacific and New Zealand.

[deblen]

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...0v-198039.html

[travellerw]

Soooo many threads on this...

Some boats, it requires a ton of stuff..

Other boats, it requires nothing but an adapter.

It all depends on your requirements (what do you want to power)? How is your boat wired... Ect.. ect.. ect..

[smac999]

the proper way, an atlas. cost about $10,000

below that, lots of different ways to hack it together.

[boom23]

I used my USA ex boat (Lagoon 450) in New Zealand and S. Pacific. I was able to connect to shore power and had it certified in NZ (required) with no problems.

I used the Victron Isolation Transformer to down-convert 230V to 110V. It does not change the frequency. So, once connected to shore power, you have 110V 50Hz on board.

Most devices work fine at 50Hz. Check your equipment specs.

Victron Isolation Transformer Info: https://www.victronenergy.com/upload...formers-EN.pdf

[chouliha]

We have a similar situation 110v boat in a 220-240v country. What we do is plug in the shore power(240v) to the battery charger. Charger works off of both. Then we used the inverter to power everything we need on the boat.

It has worked very well with the exception of a faulty charger causing up extra $$ to obtain a new charger.

Since the dock cord connects directly to the charger(bypassing the ships 110v circuit) wondering how the NZ electrical inspectors would deal with that?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, jmckay.

[john61ct]

My approach is to go DC for everything possible and my shore charger easily handles various mains power around the world.

Then just a couple small/cheap inverters might need swapping when the device it powers needs replacing.

[boom23]

The reasons why I chose the Victron Isolation Transformer are:

It is relatively inexpensive (around $1,000 USD)
It is better than a Galvanic Isolator, which is needed on a boat.
It Up/Down converts incoming shore power voltage.

I chose the manual version isolation transformer. I just have to change a couple of jumpers and it changes the incoming shore power voltage. There is an automatic version also, but it is more expensive and has more things to go wrong.

[travellerw]

I will warn that if you are going to be using a washing machine, or air conditioning then you need to check the specs of the items closely. I have not found a washing machine that could run on both frequencies.

Air conditioning depends on the AC unit. I would say that %80 of the units also won't run on the wrong frequency.

So while an isolation transformer is good. You need to know the limitations.

[jmckay123]

Thanks for all your comments - sorry I know it is probably a question asked a million times, but doing a search on "shore power" did not yield anything useful. Perhaps this forum needs some kind of FAQ on topics that are asked over and over.

This whole idea of power conversion scares me a bit - I'm afraid of frying my boat. I'm inclined to not connect at all. I've got a new 500 watt solar system that we need to test out this summer, to see how well it keeps the boat in power. All we really need to do while docked is stereo/tv, lights, water pump, device chargers. The fridge/freezer and water heater may be a concern, but no washing machine thankfully.

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by jmckay123

Thanks for all your comments - sorry I know it is probably a question asked a million times, but doing a search on "shore power" did not yield anything useful. Perhaps this forum needs some kind of FAQ on topics that are asked over and over.

This whole idea of power conversion scares me a bit - I'm afraid of frying my boat. I'm inclined to not connect at all. I've got a new 500 watt solar system that we need to test out this summer, to see how well it keeps the boat in power. All we really need to do while docked is stereo/tv, lights, water pump, device chargers. The fridge/freezer and water heater may be a concern, but no washing machine thankfully.

Alright.. First thing you need to do is to download the manual for your battery charger. Look and see if its a universal voltage unit (ours can handle voltages from 80 - 400V automatically). Some are automatic, but some require a switch to be thrown.

If your charger is universal, then your cheapest and easiest option is to carry a "tail" aboard. The "tail" is a piece of 220V extension cord with the plug on one end and the 3 wires on the other. When you get to an area with 220V 50A, you simply "unwire" your charger from the main boat circuit (the 3 AC wires), then wire the "tail" into the charger (then end with 3 wires). This will allow you to plug JUST the charger into 220V and leave the rest of the boat isolated. The charger can then power all your 12V devices, lights, stereo, water pump, fridge, freezer, ect. You will need 12V car USB car chargers to charge your phones. The TV may be an issue. However it could be power off an inverter if you have one aboard.

We have seen multiple boats that do this and then run the cord out a hatch (not pretty, but functional). We know a couple of boats that actually wired the tail into their boat and have an extra shore power port. They then have a switch at the charger that changes from the internal wiring to the 220V tail. Thats much cleaner, but a lot more work.

[jmckay123]

Thanks for this. You're right, I really do need to check out my power equipment before asking for advice here. I know I have a Magnum charger/inverter that is supposed to be pretty good. There is some kind of device in the rear lazarette where the shore power comes in that has a circuit breaker on it, which I don't really understand. So you're suggesting that the boat charger may basically be like a laptop charger, that accepts multiple voltages/hertz, and I just need to figure out a way to plug it on. All the AC plugs on the boat I believe are attached to the Magnum, so they would be OK also, right? The TV in fact is a 12 volt RV model so that would be covered also.

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by jmckay123

Thanks for this. You're right, I really do need to check out my power equipment before asking for advice here. I know I have a Magnum charger/inverter that is supposed to be pretty good. There is some kind of device in the rear lazarette where the shore power comes in that has a circuit breaker on it, which I don't really understand. So you're suggesting that the boat charger may basically be like a laptop charger, that accepts multiple voltages/hertz, and I just need to figure out a way to plug it on. All the AC plugs on the boat I believe are attached to the Magnum, so they would be OK also, right? The TV in fact is a 12 volt RV model so that would be covered also.

At this point, asking for information on a forum when you don't know what you have is pretty futile. I think your best bet is to spend some time figuring out what you have and how its wired. Probably makes sense to pay a marine electrician to help you work through that.

Once you have everything figured that out, then you can contact the manufacturer of your charger and discusss your options. If you do indeed have a good model of Magnum Inverter/Charger than the manufacturer will definately lead you in the right direction. You may need nothing else but a simple plug adapter, but if you don't know, then we certainly won't know!

[john61ct]

A great deliverable to spec for the sparkie would be a detailed diagram showing all the major circuits and system components, wire gauges switches CP etc.

Just hand drawn, then can use a PC drawing tool to make one you can print, post here etc.

And keep updated as additions or changes are made.