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Old 18-06-2017, 13:49   #1
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Boat: Lagoon 440 - Agape'
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220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

Our sailing partner and I have sold our jointly owned Lagoon 440 and I am looking very seriously at purchasing a Beneteau 523. It is the perfect boat in virtually every respect except for one thing: she has a 220v/50hz electrical system (genset, wiring, main appliances (including dishwasher, washer/dryer, ice maker, etc.). How can I keep these and still add new 110v/60hz outlets thru out the boat for all my and my friend's personal toys, plus a couple of outlets in the galley for items like a coffee maker and blender. Do I install one large (3,500 watt) inverter in the engine room and run 110v wiring to all the new outlet locations, or do I install several smaller inverters at every (or nearly every) location where I want 110v/60hz power? Or, do I do a combination of the above; i.e., Install the large inverter in the engine room and wiring to nearby outlets (Two Guest Staterooms and Heads, Galley and Nav Center) and then add a second inverter forward with wiring to outlets in the Master Stateroom & Head and the Crew Cabin & Head well forward. Or is there another solution??? A copy of the Layout is attached.
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Old 18-06-2017, 14:08   #2
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

Big amp appliances stick to Euro power, use when genset is running and charging your bank.

One 110 inverter to feed the low-amp stuff from battery power. Screen gadget charging is best done straight from DC for efficiency, keep inverter use for where really necessary. Make sure to turn the inverter off completely when not in use, vampire draw from standby mode is significant.

If you're plugging into USA shore power, you need a transformer that will input 50 amps AC at 120 volts and output ~25 amps AC at 220 volts.

Obviously you'll already be all set for marinas in most of the rest of the world.
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Old 18-06-2017, 15:45   #3
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

I would not assume the dishwasher, washer/dryer, ice maker, etc. will work on 60hz. Check the specs on each.
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Old 18-06-2017, 16:55   #4
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

How do you plan to charge the batteries while you drain them with the inverter? Do you plan to plug into North American shore power? Or only charge from your euro gen?

Do you plan to go to other countries and use the euro power. Or stay in n.a.?

If staying redoing the whole boat is probably best option.
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Old 18-06-2017, 20:26   #5
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

It really depends where and how you use the boat and if your 220V devices will run on 60Hz (most marine equipment does).

As mentioned before, if you will be staying in the US you will end up parallel wiring soon or later. It is not practical to run 110V devices off an inverter for long times (too much current, thrashing the batteries, etc.). Alternatively, you may want to just continue to invest in 220V devices (heaters, AC, coffee makers). Make sure they can take 60 Hz.
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Old 18-06-2017, 22:30   #6
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

Great info - much food for thought. The boat is equipped with just over 1,400 amps of house battery storage. Also, she has flexible solar panels of, as yet, undetermined wattage mounted on top of the large bimini, plus a windgen (pole mounted) at the stern. My plan is to add a stern arch to hold an additional 500-600 watts of solar, plus add another windgen. This should give me more than enough amps to run everything except the washer/dryer and HVAC. The desal watermaker is set up for running on either 12v or 220v so that should work fine. I agree, the long term goal will be to re-wire the boat - but that is for another day.
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Old 18-06-2017, 22:41   #7
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

If the long term plan is to rewire to 110 and change out all the existing 240 stuff then I'd just put in two small 110 inverters in convenient​ places and see how it goes. It is pretty unlikely that you will be using high wattage 110 appliances.
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Old 18-06-2017, 22:43   #8
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaptain Ken View Post
Great info - much food for thought. The boat is equipped with just over 1,400 amps of house battery storage. Also, she has flexible solar panels of, as yet, undetermined wattage mounted on top of the large bimini, plus a windgen (pole mounted) at the stern. My plan is to add a stern arch to hold an additional 500-600 watts of solar, plus add another windgen. This should give me more than enough amps to run everything except the washer/dryer and HVAC. The desal watermaker is set up for running on either 12v or 220v so that should work fine. I agree, the long term goal will be to re-wire the boat - but that is for another day.
Don't spoil the look of the boat with an expensive arch. Buy some high efficiency Solbian flex pannels for the top of the Bimini.

You'll eventually need to re-wire the boat to 110v.
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Old 19-06-2017, 08:07   #9
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

When it comes time to sell you need to have rewired to US power or sell in an EU type market. The market for EU wired boats in the US is real limited. Typical prospects will estimate the cost of rewiring, add a safety factor and deduct that from their offer.
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Old 19-06-2017, 08:12   #10
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

We bought our Taswell 43 in Singapore, and when we arrived here in the Caribbean we hecked, and almost everything AC installed is 50Hz/60Hz tolerant, and those that are not-we just do not use when in a 110v, 60Hz marina. We supplied 110v throughout the boat by taking on of the installed outlets (230v) and re-directing the power to a 1500w transformer. The output is 110v, and I ran that to the 110v outlets I installed in the heads, and the galley. so far....works like a charm, without resorting to the big loses of an inverter.
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Old 19-06-2017, 08:40   #11
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

Any decent Marina in Canada, USA or Mexico will have 50amp 250v shore supply. (Which a split phase two hot 110 wires) You will just need and an adaptor to match your boat side receptacle amperage. Try living without some of the toys before spending a ton on money. Dishwasher, washing machine and ice makers are not usable in a seaway but can be used on the anchor as you'll need to charge the batteries with your genset anyway.
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Old 19-06-2017, 09:03   #12
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pirate Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

I have a Beneteau 51.4 with the Euro 220/50 configuration. Have installed a large capacity Transformer that converts the 250 US available to 130 v and feeds it to the US style plugs that I have installed, in St Croix where the boat resides now. It has been no problem running small 800w microwave and other small appliances like dehumidifier off the transformer. I find the 220v to be an advantage in the Caribbean from St Martin to Grenada and the Dutch Antilles ABC. Just had to rewire the US receptacle of the shore power cord to the Euro 3 prong in few places. Only in the US it becomes a problem and then you can buy the double pig tail that you plug into two 120 v shore power and get your 250v for your battery charger I do this in the Marina I am in and it works like a champ.
Ernie on the Mary Jane
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Old 19-06-2017, 09:17   #13
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

Sailon46.
Glad this is working for you but don't understand why your Euro 220/50 configuration needs a transformer to reduce to 130v.
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Old 19-06-2017, 10:01   #14
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

you are absolutely correct-most any marina (US, Canada, etc) will have 220v power-but it's 4-wire, not 3-wire like European/Asian wiring requires. The trick is to get from the 4-wire(hot/110, hot/110, neutral, and grnd) to a 3-wire(hot/230v, neutral, and grnd). A step-up transformer should work, but the 3 that I tried did not last past a few weeks(??). The Victron autosensing isolation xfmr is designed just for this application, and provides isolation from the marina as well.
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Old 19-06-2017, 10:58   #15
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Re: 220v/50hz to 110v/60hz - Looking for Options

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaptain Ken View Post
How can I keep these and still add new 110v/60hz outlets thru out the boat for all my and my friend's personal toys, plus a couple of outlets in the galley for items like a coffee maker and blender.
What are these personal toys that require 110 (nominal)? Virtually anything these days that convert the input voltage down to some DC level will do so with an input of the full range of 100-250 VAC. These can be used by simply changing out the plugs to match the existing 220 outlets, or by converting some of the outlets to the multi-voltage ones, like these:

A coffee maker would work off of a simple transformer, since it (most likely) doesn't care about the frequency, whereas a blender could quite possibly not work (anything with an AC motor is unlikely to function correctly on a frequency other than the one for which it was designed). Cheapest solution is probably to buy a 220 VAC blender from Amazon.
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