Inverter Installation Question

[sailvayu]

Charlie

And here I was convinced you were going to teach me something new lol. Thats the nice thing about posting like this it makes us stop and think sometimes. As long as I have been doing this I am always learning new things. And the only thing I know for sure is sooner or later I will be wrong on something (just hate to admit it lol)

Thanks for clearing that up

Fair Winds
Wayne Canning, AMS
projectboatzen.com

[bobfnbw]

OK, so that I get this right,
I connect the Neutral AFTER the 50 amp breaker to a buss, and then send 1 6/3 wire, to the victron inverter charger ac in. From there it goes back to the panel, where the ground gets connected to the AC ground bus, the Neutral goes to its own inverter neutral bus, and the hot wire goes to the distribution bar on the bss 360 panel.
For the non inverter load, the hot goes to the bss distribution bar on the non inverter load bar, the neutral and ground to their bus, and the 10/3 wire from the non inverter loads to the the ground, the non inverter neutral and the individual breakers.
The AC ground bus is also connected to the DC ground bus with a 6 AWG green wire.
Correct?
Thanks.
Bob

[sailvayu]

Sounds like it so, far but make sure all loads connected to the inverter side of the panel have there neutrals going to the inverter neutral buss bar only. So if you have the hot out of the inverter going to a group of say six breakers one the panel those 6 loads must also have there neutral on the inverter neutral buss. And the inverter neutral buss much be separate from the shore neutral buss. All grounds go to a main ground buss that is also connected to the DC ground like you say, you can use a wire one size smaller if you like for that IE if your shore in wire is #6 you can use a #8. The neutrals remain separate from the ground.

In addition make sure you install a battery disconnect switch for the inverter DC power supply as well as a proper size fuse. And as a reminder always turn this switch off when working on the AC side of the panel. And of course unplug the boat too.

good luck

[bobfnbw]

Thank you Wayne for your assistance.
Bob

[CharlieJ]

Bob-
Don't forget the required double pole CB on the output from the I/C. And after fighting the AWG 6 into the Euro style terminals, you will thank me for the advice regarding using pigtails and wiring the I/C on your workbench!!

Charlie

[btrayfors]

Amen to Charlie's recommendation re: the pigtails. Done it both ways -- with and without -- and it sure makes things much easier to use the pigtails and boxes.

Charlie: in my experience, usually when L1 is fed by the inverter there's no shorepower connection and thus no feed to L2; this happens mostly when away from dockside (though, of course, it's possible at dockside, too).

More often, both legs are fed by the onboard generator, L1 going thru the inverter/charger and L2 directly to a separate panel and load circuit.

Bill

[bobfnbw]

Originally Posted by CharlieJ

One tip for installing the Victron is to install short pigtails while you have the unit on the bench. Lead the pigtails out to a box with a 50A terminal strip for the AC in and out and to a 20A terminal strip for the voltage and temperature sense. I have found that is much, much easier installing AWG 6 down hand then when the unit is mounted and you have the added advantage of an easy place to check voltages without removing the six panel screws!

Charlie

OMG charlie, you are so right here. I can't believe Victron designed this thing the way it is. It is a BEAR to install.
First they have these nice pass thru's for the cable that screws down to secure the cable and to prevent water from entering I presume... that part is nice, but then, OMG WHAT WHERE THEY THINKING? You have to bend the 6 awg wire to the left about 1 inch and then insert it into these little hold downs that barely allow 6 awg wire to pass thru. OK, victron guys, A big HINT... put it IN LINE with the pass thru, not like you did. Its next to impossible to put the wire in like that without pigtails. I could not do it, so I cut some 6 g wire about 8" long, and did it that way. The wire (Ancor 6/3 flat cable wire) is dificult to bend, and of course when you do, it messes up the stripped tip, and the wire untwists. This is of course dangerous, as any frays can arc, causing a short.
The AC out side is not as bad but still not right.
Plus they put the Tsense and Vsense and the trickle charge output behind the dual 2/0 wire... again what were you thinking?
Also, there is no seperation between the line1, neutral and ground wires going in to the inverter... again a poor choice. A milimeter or two would be better.
I will post a pic of it when I can so you can get a good feel for it, but again, this is a poor way IMO to do this. Freaking egghead engineers that design this stuff but never have to install it...
Bob