inverter or inverter/charger

I will give my pitch that I prefer separate components. Inverter/charger usually has three components that can fail when you include the transfer switch. Too many posts of one section fails and you replace the whole thing.

When my Prosine burned up the transfer switch would not pass power and I was stuck. I decided to get a separate inverter and separate transfer switch. I have a separate charging system of mostly solar and a converter in reserve. Much easier if anything fails to replace the one item or continue using what does work.

If charging on generator I always recommend replacing a WFCO. PD or IOTA is way better. No PowerMax either unless you want a manually controlled system.

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Alternator for a sloop ketch yawl or multihull :)

Matt I have a lot of respect for techs who savvy cruiser electricals. As you will smile with - the perfect system matches the owner's needs and lifestyles.

I always lean heavy on the premise that a <55' cruiser will rely on an AC charger far more when tied up. For larger vessels like The Black Swan the owner darrel could not stand the charger integral to the large inverter. So I fashioned a 200-amp alternator and fitted it to an Ample Power true programmable regulator. The vessel has a Yanmar 17 Kw genset.

Would it be worth mentioning the auto transfer feature of the AC from gen or sgore to inverter? Some folks really like a seamless transfer and this would be a characteristic of many integral charger inverters.

But a reg lockout bypass to a 50-watt 30 ohm Ohmite rheostat really appeals to the marine side of me. I advertised my wares for marine as being appropriate for circumnavigation. David Snead owner of Ample Power always could be counted on for a good 2 hour chat :)

OK Joel,

I did an awful lot of work in the house electrics of performance cruisers (retired racing sloops) before the depression killed our business. WFCO was a known name, but Kisae was not yet. I just found the data on your proposed unit and read it through. It looks like it could serve you well.

There two things that I and not solid on as a charger. That is that the first is that the bulk and absorption charging voltages are the same. The 14.4 bulk is good, but I prefer a lower (13.8) absorption level to prevent heating the bank any more than is necessary. The other is that there seems to be no means to demand the charger into bulk mode. I guess that this may not matter to them as the bulk and absorption modes are the same terminal V.

When proposing this level of upgrade for an owner, I would not often suggest an inverter/charger if they were planning long distance cruising. The combined function means that if you lose one, you may loose both. Aboard sailboats, interior space is always at a premium and once retired from racing, weight was not so much.

That leaves this for you to decide.

Matt

If the WFCO goes to 14.4v then no faster, but if it stays at 13.6 then much faster. However, you could replace the WFCO with a better converter that will do 14.X for less money than the 55 amp charger in that inverter charger.