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=== Shore Power Charge System ===The boat's secondary electrical system is AC. The exact specification will be driven by the standards in the part of the world where you mainly operate and will source shore power and various appliances and tools. As much as possible minimize the use of AC, in part to reduce the size and cost of the inverter. Any large motors should be DC.
=== Alternator ===A manual switch in the Pilothouse selects "boat power" (inverter) or "shore power" as the power source, with automatic detection of the voltage and frequency of the shore power. The shore side ground should not be connected to the boat's Common Grounding Point – an isolation transformer should keep the two sides apart. AC wiring should be stranded copper, not solid or tinned, to better resist breaking from vibration. All AC light bulbs adjacent to metal, especially in the engine room, are protected as shock hazards. All AC outlets are equipped with ground-fault-circuit-interruption (GFCI) circuit breakers.
Each engine (if there is more than one) will have a high-capacity dual-output alternator and multistage regulator, with separate charging circuits for the starter and house batteries. A backup manual switch and regulator are provided. The regulator must be suited to the type of battery: Flooded cells require an equalization charge after the main charge; whereas gel and AGM cells usually do not. Typical vendors are: [http:== Inverter//www.amplepower.com/ Ample Power], [http://www.balmar.net/ Balmar], [http://www.hehrpowersystems.com/ Hehr Power Systems], [http://www.jackrabbitmarine.com/ JackRabbit Marine] and [http://www.salt-systems.com/ Sea Air Land Technologies, Inc.]Charger ==
If A combination inverter/charger is attached to the boat will be unattended [[HouseBank|house bank]] for periods at least one engine must autostart on a schedule to keep generating AC from the batteries chargedwhen offshore, and/or charging the batteries from shore power when in port.Points to consider in an inverter/charger are:
=== Trickle Charge System ===* Peak power output* Peak charging current* Continuous charging current* Battery size AH* Output voltage* Output current regulation* Safety factor of 30%* Frequency conversion
In case the main charging system fails while the boat is unattended, a DC trickle-charge system can be provided. Trickle charging is also a good idea because there are usually parasitic loads on a battery system that will slowly discharge it. Deep discharge batteries do not want to be trickle charged at a high rate: 3% is recommended. Thus a boat with a house bank of 1000 AH requires a trickle charge of 30 AH.== Shore Power ==
Wind turbines Operating on shore power almost anywhere in the world requires voltage conversion and solar panels are ideal for frequency conversion. AC voltage conversion is readily done with a trickletransformer having multiple taps that can step-charge system; although they are not suited as up or step-down a main power sourcerange of voltages. Unfortunately, as For a main power sourcespecific input voltage, each the corresponding tap is selected manually or automatically. The transformer then delivers the correct output voltage. This fits well with best practices. Although there are several ways of them has bringing aboard AC, the best way is an ABYC-approved isolation transformer between the shore power inlet and the breaker panel. This avoids polarization issues and doesn’t require a significant performance drawback reverse-polarity indicator. AC shore power is brought aboard through an electrically isolated marine-rated receptacle in the context side of a small- the Deckhouse. A multitap isolation transformer meets this specification. The incoming AC is grounded (green wire) at the shore end but is not grounded to mediumthe hull.Frequency conversion may or may not be critical. Most modern electronic equipment is designed for 50-size boat60 Hz, and should operate without difficulty (check the label). They simply need too much real estate The problem areas are timing devices that reference the AC, microwave ovens and AC motors, including those in domestic refrigerators.AC motors designed for 60 Hz will run more slowly on 50 Hz, and tend to overheat. To avoid this, you can: * Use DC motors only* Put AC motors on the inverter power only, not on direct shore power* Install a voltage- and frequency-converting inverter/charger [[Category:BatteriesPrimary]][[Category:ElectricalPrimarySupply]]
→Shore Power
= AC Secondary System =
If you intend to operate globally you will need a voltage- and frequency-converting inverter. In North America electrical standards are 120-VAC 60 Hz single phase or 240-VAC 60 Hz double phase. Elsewhere most countries use the European standard of 230-VAC 50 HZ single phase. The frequency difference means motors will run at different speeds.
For global operations the best choice is to default to the European standard of 230 VAC for the boat's internal AC system.