AC Outlet Wire termination

[southofvictor]

Thanks Nick! Just found a couple nice options in this thread for mounting the Blue Sea option which I’m leaning toward. I have a stainless Smartplug inlet and I’m not sure I want to spring for their matching ELCI. Plus I have more flexibility in where the Blue Seas one can be mounted.

Shore Power upgrade

In an earlier thread, John M referenced an ABYC requirement that the pair of circuit breakers for the incoming shore power AC wiring be within a certain maximum distance of the inlet fitting. The actual thread was called: "E35-II AC/DC Panel-Wiring Upgrade". This spring I spoke with a...

ericsonyachts.org

 

[Nick J]

Also, my existing SP goes to the AC main breaker on the OEM Ericson distribution panel, then to the inverter/charger, then back to the panel for distribution. I assume
this is because the inverter pre-dates good pass-through functionality? Any other reason you can think of?

The instructions on my new one say it should be wired directly from the sp inlet with an ELCI breaker at the inlet to protect swimmers plus another at the panel to protect the boat. It’s a Victron Multiplus 12/2000/80, not installed yet.

Cool! I purchased mostly Renogy equipment when I made the switch to Lithium primarily to save cost after the large investment in the battery. I mocked it all up on my bench at home and tested it for a few weeks with tools, and other various electrical devices. It seemed to work well enough, so I started the install on the boat. I haven't installed the inverter yet, but I'm starting to regret my choice to go with Renogy and control the system with a Simarine Pico. The Renogy stuff is good, but the Pico his horrible. It's not accurate, has quite a few bugs, and doesn't offer as many features as other available options, but it's still priced like a high end unit.



I'm starting to design a Victron system. I would like to replace the Pico with a Cerbo GX mostly because it has a larger user base and it integrates with other equipment on the market (mostly Victron, but there are ways to connect it to other devices like my batterie's BMS!). I'm also looking at the Victron Multiplus line. One thing I can't figure out is where to put it since it is 20" x 10" x 5". It will be really interesting to see what you come up with.

As far as wiring goes, I'm not a fan of running everything through the inverter / charger. I would like to have the line side connected to a distribution breaker on the AC panel and the service side connected to a sub panel where it's distributed to the main outlets in the boat. I added a second breaker that I connected directly to the shore power distribution panel and a lockout slide, so I can't bridge shore power and inverter power:



For the belt and suspenders take, I would also like to add dedicated 20 amp outlets that will not be connected through the inverter to avoid inadvertently running heaters, water heaters, and other high load devices off batteries if the shore power cut out.

 

[southofvictor]

Thanks for the details Nick! I’m planning to put the Multiplus where my old inverter is, in the middle locker under the starboard settee.

It’s longer but not as deep and about the same width. The original has way more clearance around it than the 4” required by the multiplus. I’m going to make a bigger opening and use the space outboard of it for my battery and charge/load busses and shunts.

What’s the benefit of running to an ac breaker on the main panel before going to the inverter? I’m still not clear on that. I understand why you might want to split high power items like the water heater so they can’t run off of the inverter. If you have a breaker at the shore power inlet and a switch in the DC feed to the inverter it can be completely isolated from inputs. What’s the reason you’d want to run to the panel’s main
breaker first?

 

[Nick J]

If you have a breaker at the shore power inlet and a switch in the DC feed to the inverter it can be completely isolated from inputs. What’s the reason you’d want to run to the panel’s main
breaker first?

My main AC/shore power breaker is at the main panel, so I don't have a way to disconnect the inverter from shore power unless I put it after the main panel. You also need to take it off a distribution breaker and use a sub panel on the back side if you want to separate loads from going through the inverter. Some of the Multiplus units have two AC outputs; one that uses the internal transfer switch and can operate on AC of inverter, and one that only operates on AC. This would isolate loads from inadvertently running on the inverter, but it doesn't allow you to completely disconnect the inverter and still have AC

 

[ConchyDug]

The Multiplus 3kw is pretty awesome, the Cerbo stuff is neat but didn't seem like a worthwhile investment since the Victron wireless dongle pretty much pushes all the same info to a tablet/phone, plus most of the Victron stuff has Bluetooth integrated into them. The Multiplus has a ton of settings, mine is the previous generation and it uses an Ethernet adapter for changing settings. Definitely buy the fancy adapter... You'll need a dealer code to unlock the higher settings but I think if you Google enough you'll find it. I can dig it up if you need it. The Multiplus will automatically power the boat if shore power is lost hell it'll even back feed into the grid, but all of that is configurable and can be turned off. I use mine like a standard inverter/charger so none of the auto switching. I had a neighbor with the same unit and during power outages his boat would power the dock for a bit until he got the notification on his phone from the Cerbo GX. They are sweet units, I'm pretty shocked at how well all the blue boxes work. Oh I changed my AC panel after this photo to keep it dummy proof to prevent the inverter and shore power from being switched on at the same time. I put the unit under the nav table with clearance for the side vents and used starboard as a backer for the mounting screws, because that is one heavy box.