Inverters

Inverters are a great thing for quick AC power to run your TV or more importantly your coffee maker.  It’s really a pain to have to start a generator to run you microwave for a few minutes, or have it noisy at night when you want to watch TV.  

Inverters are great for these reasons, but they can also save wear and tear on your generator since you don’t have to run it so much.  They come in all sizes so you have to decide what you want to run.  Since most blow dryers can run at 1,800 watts, and women love their hair dryers, I would generally recommend a 2,000 watt inverter since it can run most things on your boat.   

Of course this is a less expensive way to get your AC power, but it could be be the most efficient if you only have one or two things you want to run.  Another choice is to get an inverter system that hooks up directly to your boat’s AC system.  This is a seamless way to get inverter power to any or most AC items in your boat, but it is expensive and has to be installed correctly or you could have a fire, or ruin your boat wiring and or generator.  Expensive could be as little as $3,500 to as much or even more then $5,000.

Some of the inverters also combine smart chargers that take care and extend the life of your batteries.  They can also monitor battery charge levels.  

Usually along with adding an inverter you need to add batteries to run the inverter.  Then the biggest deal of all is How you hook up the inverter.  Small inverters can be hooked up to a battery every time you use it.  Some just use a dedicated plug on the inverter, but then you have to run an extension cord around to what ever you want to run at the time.

I would recommend you get Jim at Sacramento Marine Electronics to do the install.  First of all he is an electrical engineer, and second he knows boat electrical systems.  Actually Jim is a great person to call if you ever have any boat electrical problem or question.  He can come across initially as a little gruff, but he is really a nice and funny guy.  Usually at my expense!  But when is the last time you had someone work on your boat, and then call you after the weekend to see if it was working the way you like?  Jim is the only one I have known that does that.  In addition, he has done most of the inverter installs that I know of in the area.      

But spending this money usually gets you at least a 2,500 watt inverter and lots of batteries to help.  Plus one thing I like is you get a Smart/Remote Panel to control and monitor your inverter, which even monitors your batteries like a gas gauge.

I can assure you that once you spend the money on a integrated inverter system for your boat, if you buy a new boat, one of the first calls you will make is to call your electrician for a new install.