I am in the middle of a
refit on our new to us 48' Gunboat, and need some
electrical expertise. I have scoured the
internet, but as usual everyone's
installation is a little bit different. I am adding a
generator and
air conditioning to keep the old lady happy. There is no getting around it, I hate to add the weight but its a done deal. Happy Old Lady = More Cruising, plus she works remotely and says that she has to be comfortable on the
boat while working when its hot out or she is going to retire. Not ready to give up that extra
income yet
Here is the
current set up:
Boat is wired for 12v & 120v
12v Batteries:
Each
Battery has built in BMS, and a CAN
network output to a
Victron Battery Monitor and GX Color Control
Screen
- 5ea Super B Nomia 12v 210ah House
Batteries - 500a continuous discharge per battery - Wired in parallel with 4/0 to the main house switch then to the main bus and split off to different switches (2ea 12v winches, 1ea 12v
windlass, 1ea 12v
watermaker, 3ea 12v appliances- Fridge,
Freezer, Pumps, 3ea 12v empiribus systems for lights and low voltage
electronics, 1ea 12v Backup System for
emergency equipment -GPS, Nav Lights,
VHF,
Radar,
Autopilot etc... in case the empiribus system were to crash)
- 3ea Super B 12v 50a Thruster Batteries - 150a continuous discharge - Individually wired to each thruster (2 Bow, 1 Stern) with 2/0 to the switches (6' run) then 4/0 from the switch to the thruster (15-30' run depending on the thruster)
- 2ea Super B Mason 12v 25ah Starter Batteries - 260ah continuous discharge - Individually wired to each
motor with 1/0
12v Power Sources:
10ea 12v 160w Ecosolar
Panels
2ea 12v 120amp Alternators - one on each
motor.
Wiring is 1/0 from Alternators to Argo Fet Isolators
Solar Controllers
2ea
Victron MPPT Solar Controllers - One for Port
Solar Panels, One for Starboard
Solar Panels.
Wiring is 1/0 from
MPPT to Isolator
Isolators:
Isolator #1 - Victron 200amp 3 output Argo Fet
Input
Power - From the two MPPT
Solar Controllers in 1/0 (2 inputs on 1 post - is that ok?)
Output #1 - to isolator #2 in 1/0
Output #2 - to isolator #3 in 1/0
Output #3 - Not Used
Isolator #2 - Victron 200amp 3 output Argo Fet
Input Power - from Isolator #1
Output Power #1 - Starboard Stern Thruster Battery in 1awg
Output Power #2 - Starboard Bow Thruster Battery in 1awg
Output Power #3 - Port Bow Thruster Battery in 1awg
Isolator #3 - Victron 200amp 3 Output Argo Fet
Input Power - from Isolator #1
Output Power #1 - Starboard starter battery in 1awg
Output Power #2 - Port starter battery in 1awg
Output Power #3 - To House Bus in 1/0
Isolator #4 - Victron 200amp 2 Output Argo Fet
Input Power - From Starboard Motor
Alternator
Output Power #1 - to House Bus in 1/0
Output Power #2 - to Starboard starter battery in 1awg
Isolator #5 - Victron 200amp 2 Output Argo Fet
Input Power - From Port Motor
Alternator
Output Power #1 - to House Bus in 1/0
Output Power #2 - to Port starter battery in 1awg
Parallel Switches -
Each Motor Has a Parallel Switch allowing it to start using the house battery bank in case the starter batteries were to die/loose charge
Inverters - Being Installed Now
2ea Victron Multiplus 3000w Inverters in Parallel
Generator - Ordered Waiting on Delivery
1ea
Northern Lights 6kw 120v w/ Isolated Ground
Air Conditioners - 2ea - Ordering this week
Torn Between the Velair i16VSD and the Ocean Breeze 16.7k with Softstart
Velair-
Pros: 9amp draw @ 16k BTUs
Cons:
Price, Availability, is a bigger unit dimensionally and would be a tighter squeeze, only a 471cfm blower fan, plus I am not 100%
sold on the variable speed technology. I have had multiple issues with high efficiency variable speed heat pumps @ different properties. Replaced them all with standard 3 speed models.
Ocean Breeze -
Pros:
Price, Availability, Slightly more BTU @16.7k, 560 CFM Fan, Made in the US (with the same
parts everyone else is using), attractive pricing, fits my cabinet space well, no crazy logic board, should be easier to
service and get
parts if something breaks.
Cons: Higher amp draw - 11.6amps @ 16.7k BTUs (the 13.6 amp draw listed on there website includes the 2amp march seawater pump)
My gut tells me to go with the ocean breeze, but I am still hesitant to pull the trigger. Thoughts?
Additional Information
So we have already converted the boats AC from 220 @ 50hz to 120 @ 60hz using a
single Victron Multiplus (Fortunately all the wire on the boat was 12 and 14ga ancor tinned copper wire, so it was really just changing outlets and breakers.) When we did this we replaced a
single Victron Phoenix 12/1600w 220 @ 50hz with a single Victron Multiplus 12/3000w 120 @ 60hz unit.
When we did this we increased the wire size from 1/0 to 2/0 from the main bus to the
inverter per the Victron dealers recommendation (6' run). The boat originally did not have
shore power, so we added a 50amp @60hz input with 6/3 wiring to the Multiplus to charge the house bank when we are at the
dock.
I am now adding a second Multiplus (same unit,
serial range, and firmware) to help power the soon to come air-conditioning systems for 2-3 hour periods when we don't want to run the
generator. I have come to find out that I probably should have wired the 1st Multiplus in 4/0, and the second also in 4/0 so I will probably redo the wiring on that later this week and run them straight off the batteries, skipping the main house bus.
First Major Question - Should I run the 4/0 run from the batteries to the inverters direct - skipping the main bus. Or from the Batteries to the Main Bus to the inverters? If from the batteries direct I will add an additional pair of 400amp
fuses (one on each positive line) that then connect into a single blue sea systems 3000 switch which is rated for a 600a continuous discharge? Or into separate switches - one for each
inverter?
I am not sure, but I would imagine the inverters may not like it if only one is turned on, so this eliminates the possibility of having one switch on and one switch off, which may confuse the multiplus once they are configured for parallel operation? What would be the best install here?
Second Major Question - Each battery has a 500amp continuous discharge, does this stack when batteries are run in parallel? Will the 500amp continuous discharge be my max bottle neck? It should be close to the maximum I could ever need if everything is running off the batteries @ the same time - which would be super rare, but you never know.
If the 500amp max draw is my bottle neck then 500a @ 12v or 50a @ 120. I probably need 27amps @ 120 for the aircon (Assuming I go with the ocean breeze units) and another 10-15amps or so for 120v outlets (Coffee Maker, Hair Dryer, or Power Tools on a limited basis) so 42 amps @ 120 = 420amps @ 12v (not including any power loss when converting power) which would only leave me 80amps @ 12v for the fidge/freezer and low voltage
electric. I cant imagine we will be using the aircon if we are sailing, so I am going to exclude the
windlass and
electric winches from the equation at this point. If I need more power I can always turn on the generator which would then feed the inverters direct 120v power so they wont use the house batteries at all, but I am curious what the max amperage the batteries can supply in the
current installation.
In a perfect world the boat would be wired for 24v, and none of this would matter, but I really really don't want to have to rewire the boat. I believe it would be a major undertaking.
Also not really interested in the 12v
air conditioning units, I have looked at Mabru and I don't think the 8.2-12.5k BTU units are large enough for our space, plus the price - $5500 per unit makes me want to puke. Mabru is supposedly coming out with a 17k btu unit soon, but it will only be for 24v systems I believe & probably a $7k ea price tag.... What makes them so dam expensive??? R&D is pricy I suppose, it definitely isn't the parts they use to make them...
Thanks in advance for your advice/input, it is much appreciated!