Inverter Project
 

I installed a 2500 watt inverter in the 382. It's all done, but I forgot to take pictures of the modified generator cover. It was about 3x harder than I thought it would be. I added two more batteries for a total of 4. Three of the batteries power the inverter and start the port engine. The 4th is only to start the Starboard engine.

I put the new batteries on each side of the holding tank. I would have hooked up the batteries differently if I was going to do it over. But, I don't want to ever have to touch a 4/0 battery cable again. :cool:

The inverter is a charger as well so I'm disconnecting the Charlie Charger.

I couldn't find an inverter that is ignition protected which necessitated extreme customizing to fit the darn thing in and maintain airflow. I'll take a pic of the cover mods. It works, or at least it does in the driveway. :)

I figure it could power the AC for 2 to 3 hours before depleting the three 100 AH Lifeline Group 27 deep cycle batteries.

The two extra batteries add 126 lbs. The inverter weights 53 lbs. The battery cables probably add another 20 lbs. I figure it weighs about 80 to 100 lbs less than a factory generator setup. I can take two batteries out if I really wanted to. But I'd have to make sure I didn't short battery cables.

Did I mention I ran out of black battery cable and had to use red to finish the job? I ordered some more black cable to fix the color.

The inverter pulls cooling air from under the back seat and also vents it there too. I plan to monitor how hot it gets down there and will cut a hole in the front of the back seat and add a vent there if needed.

I'll add a finished pic in a couple of weeks.

G.

Great project.....and one i've considered. You've opened up the space under the rear bench. What's under there? I've wondered if I could get into that space for additional storage. Seems there is a center panel that you have removed, anything I need to know before I start to pull mine apart?

Thanks,
Russ C.

Hi Russ,

Take the 4 screws out and that gets part of teh way. The next step is to use a sharp knife and cut the caulking away on the generator cover. Then you have to cut the fiberglass on the gen cover over to the caulking to get it out. Or at least I did.

The fuel fill hose and vent hoses are right under the left side, so use care when cutting the caulking. I notice that the fiber glass was cutting the fuel fill hose slightly on my boat. I rectified this problem along the way.

I'm really happy w/ the way it turned out. But, I'm not sure I would do it over again. I have at least 50 to 60 hours of time just in the inverter install, not counting all the head scratching to figure it out. It was just a heck of a lot of work. That and I'm a prefectionist.

Garrett

Thanks,
I'm not likely going to install an inverter since we bought one of those Honda 2000's. (I did remove the TV and put a small inverter behind it so the TV now works off the batteries, also dropped a plug down into the cabinet below for the kids Xbox and added a 12V pplug under the TV "lip" so the portable DVD player could be plugged in)

Anyway, I am more interested in accessing that space for storage. We carry alot of fenders, beach toys, cockpit cover, etc that I'd love to have extra room for. Do you thing removing that panel alone would provide reasonable access and justify the modification?

There won't be much room if you just pull the the cover with the screws in it. There's more room if you take the generator cover off, but, the fuel lines all run right there too. Not the best place for storage without doing some significant work. However, there is a lot of room down there on each side of the tank. There's just a lot of routing of hoses and wires in teh way.

Does the Honda 2000 generator start and run the AC unit okay? How loud is it? I don't have enough battery power to run the AC unit all night, so I've still thought about buying the Honda 2000.

Good grief! Why didn't you just add the genset!!! You are saving 100 lbs but gaining a 1000lbs of frustration when the ACV dies! Did you really add this just to run the AC? $4500 with the genset installed....I think all the wiring is stock?

Garrett!!!! What were you thinking! Ask your Formula brothers! Nice job though!

Unlike YOU, who recently added about 8 lbs of frustration to your life....:drink:

I have the 7K Unit and it runs it fine.....if you have a 10K unit you may need a "hard-start" kit but with that it will run (several buddies have Honda 2000's running 10K units) I have had the Honda running on the swim platform and carry on a normal volume conversation in the cockpit. We've overnighted a couple times with it and cannot hear it running with the cabin door closed...even in the middle of the night!!!! and BTW: It straps down in the engine compartment when traveling so it's out of the way and only on the boat on trips where it's needed. :D

Hi Nort,

Well, I didn't just add it to run the AC. I wanted to run other things as well.
But, to be honest, I WAAAYYYY underestimated the amount of work to install the inverter. It seemed so simple on paper, but I grossly underestimated the amount of work to build the enclosure. Did I mention that I'm a freakin' prefectionist on my do it myself projects? So, the easy thing for me to do is buy a Honda 2000 and take it along on the serious overnighter trips and not worry about it. Would I do it again? Maybe, but with a smaller physical size inverter that would be easier to accomodate in a small space. On the other hand, this wouldn't be that hard with an inverter that was a ignition protected, but I couldn't find one.

So, in the end, maybe just adding the generator would have been easier. But, it didn't appear that way at the beginning.

I figure I have at least 50 to 60 hours of work time in the thing. So, in the future, I'll know better. :p

I can't say I would recommend doing this. But ask me in 6 months after I use it some. Then I'll really be able to tell you whether I was a semi-genius, or a fool. :D

Garrett

PS - I did the new dash in about 1/3 the time of the inverter. I still have the new tv project left.

Thanks for the info. Probably the route I should have gone down w/o the inverter in hindsight. :) I think I'll try it out. :)