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keepondancin · 03-07-2010, 09:07

Engine speed is 1575rpm, Westerbeke says 1500=50hz, 1800=60hz. No load is 210hz, with the water heater on, it went to 52hz, which is about what would be about right with engine speed indicated. Can't run the water heater to charge battery, the water eventually gets hot and the heater shuts off. I will boost the speed up, but not until I speak with Westerbeke or Hansen Marine. Just going to go sailing instead. When I called Xantrex yesterday, I had a very helpful service Tech, and said he will call me back on Tuesday. From a proudly completed project, or so I thought, to, as a Hansen Marine tech said in his Boston accent," ya might be screwed". Seems like there should be a solution. Makes me wish I had bought the old Freedom 20 modified sine wave, which would probably had worked just find, being less advanced.

colemj · 03-07-2010, 11:53

The 210Hz is an artifact caused by measuring frequency from a dirty power source with a multimeter. Your actual frequency, as would be measured with an oscilloscope, is the 52Hz you measured with the resistive load.

There are settings on the inverter/charger (I think) that determine the cut in/out parameters for voltage and frequency. 52Hz may be too low, especially since it will be pulled down further when a load is applied.

Try setting the engine rpm to 1800 to provide true 60Hz output and see if the inverter/charger kicks back in. There will be no harm in doing this - it should be running at that speed anyway.

Mark

**David M** · 03-07-2010, 12:06

I just spoke with my brother who designs power systems for buildings. He said that he does not know of such a device but engineering such a device would be possible. He says the device would have to know the normal load and start load of each refrigerator compressor motor. The device would then need to give priority to one circuit and build in a 10 second or so delay for the second circuit if there is a simultaneous start demand on both circuits.

He said such a device may exist though. He said you are lucky its a 120 volt application and not a 12 volt application which are rarer and subsequently more expensive.

He said the most practical solution may be to upgrade to an inverter that can handle both starting loads at the same time or to purchase a second inverter that provides enough power for one of the compressor motors start load.

colemj · 03-07-2010, 12:56

David,

Were you responding to a different thread?

Mark

**GordMay** · 03-07-2010, 13:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by colemj

...
Try setting the engine rpm to 1800 to provide true 60Hz output and see if the inverter/charger kicks back in. There will be no harm in doing this - it should be running at that speed anyway.
Mark

The manuals, to which I previously linked, have a section on adjusting the voltage regulator (& frequency).

keepondancin · 04-07-2010, 13:10

Found the answer. Went sailing, anchored out for the night, had a couple of real cold Corona's,(Cleave's SeaFrost systems are really good), and pondered the situation. Boosted up the engine speed which gave me the higher voltage, and presumably the higher frequency. I had no way of putting a resistance load on, so my meter still showed around 200hz unloaded. Flipped in the inverter, waited for it to cycle, and it is charging at 66 amps., which is probably correct considering the power share. AC passes through as it should, and it does still invert. I still can't grasp the concept of "dirty power", but so what. This is a real cruising community. We cruised in the 90's on and off for about 10 years, (home based in Trinidad when we had to go try to earn some money), but this what it was like when you had a problem, many would jump in and try to help. Gord, I already had down loaded all the tech manuals and service notices, but thanks for always giving a reference to availability, and to everyone else, thanks. After the Westerbeke service tech said I might be screwed, I really was let down. We are getting ready to head out this fall for awhile, and this was a big expenditure to not have it work as expected. Gonna have a couple of cold ones tonight as we go out to watch fireworks, and this community will be part of the conversation. Thanks to all.

keepondancin · 04-07-2010, 13:13

One more item. Found out a while ago that our boat had done a Trans Atlantic crossing, I wonder if the genset was set to 50hz for that reason. It is always fun to figure out why a boat was set up like it was by prior owner(s).