220v to 110v. Where do I start?

[SaltedEgg]

Hey all,

I just bought a Westsail 32 that is wired for 110v. I purchased her in Thailand and plan to do some bottom work there before sailing her back to Malaysia, where I live and work, for a year. The marina in Malaysia that she will be at gets very little breeze so I'll be running an air conditioner, plus other electronics for the year. After that year, I plan to cruise for 2 years in the pacific living on the hook the whole time. Currently, there are many 110v power tools aboard such as grinders, drills, sanders, etc. that I'd like to use. My questions are:

What are your initial thoughts?

Should I get a step down transformer. If so, where do I start?

Should I rewire her to take 220v? Thoughts on power tools?

Bring on the wisdom

[Lowcountry]

Big thread on this from yesterday. Scroll down.

[SaltedEgg]

I'm blind. What is the title? Or could you post the link?

[SaltedEgg]

I can't find this post. Anyone with useful information out there? Want to help with my question?

[john61ct]

My approach would be a big charger that accepts any AC worldwide.

Then inverters to power the AC devices.

Mix and match as you see fit.

But I prefer to design for low consumption, mostly DC in the first place, YMMV

[Q Xopa]

Originally Posted by john61ct

My approach would be a big charger that accepts any AC worldwide.

Then inverters to power the AC devices.

Mix and match as you see fit.

But I prefer to design for low consumption, mostly DC in the first place, YMMV

Yes agree with John. Sterling chargers are 90-250vac 50or60Hz input.
Connect it via an ECLI.

Then get your Invertor to suit with the correct input voltage, 12v I assume, 110vac 60 Hz output. Im a fan of the Victron Inverters but there are others. Dont scimp and get a marine one. Make sure you dont have connected Ground and Nuetrals etc.

[Q Xopa]

Originally Posted by john61ct

My approach would be a big charger that accepts any AC worldwide.

Then inverters to power the AC devices.

Mix and match as you see fit.

But I prefer to design for low consumption, mostly DC in the first place, YMMV

Yes agree with John. Sterling chargers are 90-250vac 50or60Hz input.
Connect it via an ECLI.

Then get your Invertor to suit with the correct input voltage, 12v I assume, 110vac 60 Hz output. Im a fan of the Victron Inverters but there are others. Dont scimp and get a marine one. Make sure you dont have connected Ground and Neutrals etc.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by SaltedEgg

I'm blind. What is the title? Or could you post the link?

Most likely this one: Rewiring a UK boat to USA specs

[sailcrazy]

Recognize that 110v (US power) is 3-wire. 220v (US power is 4-wire.....BIG difference. Asia, and most of the world is 230v 3-wire, 50Hz. IF your boat is wired for 110vAC, then the wire sizes are more than enough to support the load at 230v. And almost all appliances, and alot of electronics are 50Hz and 60Hz tolerant.....but some are not. Almost all 60Hz motors will run just fine on 50Hz, except they run about 15% slower-and on some that can cause overheating and eventual failure. We have just the opposite problem...our boat was built for Asia, and for 230v, 50Hz, 3-wire power. That was fine when we sailed Asia (for 10+years) and the Medd. But now, in the Caribbean, we have run into US power (110v, 60Hz, 3-wire). We...finally...solved the issue by installing a Victron auto-sensing Isolation transformer. Not particularly cheap, but they work. It senses incoming power, either steps it or not to the power you chose, and provides power to your house like it's used to getting. And it provides isolation as well if in a marina. Look into it-they work, and work well.

[sailcrazy]

Sorry...forgot to add...the galley microwave is one appliance that may be frequency sensitive. But you can by a local one for $60-$100. Or, like we are doing....just use it! Our 60Hz (lcl purchase) m/w has been working just fine in our 50Hz environment for over 3 years now-no issues!

[ttex]

Originally Posted by sailcrazy

Recognize that 110v (US power) is 3-wire. 220v (US power is 4-wire.....BIG difference. Asia, and most of the world is 230v 3-wire, 50Hz. IF your boat is wired for 110vAC, then the wire sizes are more than enough to support the load at 230v. And almost all appliances, and alot of electronics are 50Hz and 60Hz tolerant.....but some are not. Almost all 60Hz motors will run just fine on 50Hz, except they run about 15% slower-and on some that can cause overheating and eventual failure. We have just the opposite problem...our boat was built for Asia, and for 230v, 50Hz, 3-wire power. That was fine when we sailed Asia (for 10+years) and the Medd. But now, in the Caribbean, we have run into US power (110v, 60Hz, 3-wire). We...finally...solved the issue by installing a Victron auto-sensing Isolation transformer. Not particularly cheap, but they work. It senses incoming power, either steps it or not to the power you chose, and provides power to your house like it's used to getting. And it provides isolation as well if in a marina. Look into it-they work, and work well.

US 220v is three wires also. Generally colored red, black, and green for ground.

[sailcrazy]

Sorry, beg to differ. 220 has a neutral, a ground, and 2 hots. either hot-neutral is 110v, and between the 2 hots is 220v; it's 4 wires last time I checked.

[Q Xopa]

Originally Posted by ttex

US 220v is three wires also. Generally colored red, black, and green for ground.

All true.
But you can keep all your existing boat AC voltages and appliances. Just run it all from an Inverter.
Power your Inverter from batteries charged from a 'Global' capable 110 or 240vac input charger.

[Lancerbye]

Originally Posted by sailcrazy

Sorry, beg to differ. 220 has a neutral, a ground, and 2 hots. either hot-neutral is 110v, and between the 2 hots is 220v; it's 4 wires last time I checked.

He is talking about Thailand 220volts, which if it is the same as the Philippines there is no neutral, just 220 across two lines with sometimes a ground and the voltage will vary from 180 to 240 volts. When living over there I found a good investment to be an ac voltage regulator which had 3-220v sockets and 1 120v socket. It is a self adjusting auto transformer.

[CarinaPDX]

While using a wide voltage range charger and an inverter works well for more modest loads I think it best to not run large loads such as heaters and air conditioners through such an arrangement as it unnecessarily works the batteries. The best way of running such loads is through a step-down isolation transformer which also protects the boat from several other problems. Better still some iso transformers have alternate taps to boost output voltage if the local voltage is low.

One of the reasons to have an iso transformer for step down of 220-240V is that it correctly and safely handles both an input where there is one (hot) line and one (ground-level) neutral as well as an input of two (hot) line inputs. Auto-transformers work fine with the former but are potentially dangerous with the latter.

Greg