TopShot25
Well-known member
My Xantrex Freedom 1500 inverter/charger
Short version:
What I’ve learned from this project:
1. I think everyone would benefit from a hard wired three stage battery charger.
2. I think most people, especially those that do overnight trips, would benefit from some kind of quality battery monitor similar to the one I describe below.
Long version:
I know having an inverter/charger onboard is not for everyone, but it’s invaluable to me. Also, not everyone will want to pay 800 or a 1,000 dollars for one and I understand that. I just want to put in my two cents as to why I think it’s so important.
My Freedom 1500 will put out 1500 watts of 120-volts and also has a three stage 12-volt charger that charges up to 75 amps. I could live without the inverter part although the combination inverter/charger is incredibly advantageous. The charger part lets me charge my batteries with my portable Honda 2000 generator anywhere. But most importantly, it lets me keep my batteries fully charged while on the trailer. By using a good three stage charger, I believe your batteries will last a lot longer maybe even twice as long. I have six batteries onboard, and that alone will save me a lot of money in the long run.
The inverter will let me run the microwave and coffee pot anytime. The wife really likes that. The part that I really like is that I have 120-volt power all the time. When I climb up in the boat to do something, I have real lights and the power to run drills, saws, a soldering iron or whatever I want. All the while knowing my batteries are staying topped off.
Now comes the good part, my Link 2000 battery monitor. You don’t even need the inverter/charger but it just happens to be a remote control for my Freedom 1500 also. Now that I have a good battery monitor, I whole heartedly recommend one. It’s a bit of a pain to hook up. It requires connecting and running 8 or 9 wires depending on your setup, but man it’s awesome.
What the Link 2000 does:
1. Controls my Freedom 1500
2. Displays Volts
3. Displays Amps +/-
4. Displays how many amp hours are in my battery bank.
5. Displays how much time I have remaining at the current amp draw before my batteries reach any point I pre determine, 0, 25%, 50% etc.
6. It will also let me equalize my batteries.
So from this it’s amazing how much you can learn about everything onboard. For instance, some of you may remember one of my posts a while back about how to charge my house battery bank with both engines. Having a large house bank I could not keep it charged correctly with the setup I had. I finely got two auxiliary charging cables and after connecting everything it seemed to be working fine, but I had no way of knowing exactly what was going on. I had no way of determining how long it would take for my batteries to recharge or at what level of charge I had at any given time. I haven’t even had the boat out yet since I connected the Link 2000, but I did run some tests just sitting on the trailer. I turned on my squid light, 23 amps. I also turned on my two overhead halogens, 4 amps each. Then I turned on the shop light I had in the pilothouse, 2 amps for a total 33 amp draw. As you turn on each thing it always shows the total amps, weather it’s plus or minus. I then fired up one of my engines and guess how many amps it was charging at idle. I was actually shocked to read that it went from –33 amps to –13. That’s 20 amps at idle. I haven’t tried it at any RPM’s yet. I don’t like to rev it much on the muffs. Just to check if both my engines are charging correctly, I fired up the other engine. I had never been able to check if both engines worked together after my auxiliary charging cords project. The way my batteries appeared to be charging, I figured they were, and I was right. You guessed it, with both engines running at idle, I was now actually charging my batteries with a + 6 amps. Now I don’t know if I really want to put hours on my 12,000 dollar Yammies as generators, but it sure is nice to know they put out 20 amps at idle. I also learned that my little dome light that doesn’t do much to light up the pilothouse draws 1 amp, and my 120-volt florescent shop light that turns my pilothouse to day only draws 2. I think I’ll just leave that light on the boat. Boy that inverter sure makes things nice.
I hope I’m not boring everyone, but I just wanted to share what I’ve learned in hopes that it might help someone else.
Short version:
What I’ve learned from this project:
1. I think everyone would benefit from a hard wired three stage battery charger.
2. I think most people, especially those that do overnight trips, would benefit from some kind of quality battery monitor similar to the one I describe below.
Long version:
I know having an inverter/charger onboard is not for everyone, but it’s invaluable to me. Also, not everyone will want to pay 800 or a 1,000 dollars for one and I understand that. I just want to put in my two cents as to why I think it’s so important.
My Freedom 1500 will put out 1500 watts of 120-volts and also has a three stage 12-volt charger that charges up to 75 amps. I could live without the inverter part although the combination inverter/charger is incredibly advantageous. The charger part lets me charge my batteries with my portable Honda 2000 generator anywhere. But most importantly, it lets me keep my batteries fully charged while on the trailer. By using a good three stage charger, I believe your batteries will last a lot longer maybe even twice as long. I have six batteries onboard, and that alone will save me a lot of money in the long run.
The inverter will let me run the microwave and coffee pot anytime. The wife really likes that. The part that I really like is that I have 120-volt power all the time. When I climb up in the boat to do something, I have real lights and the power to run drills, saws, a soldering iron or whatever I want. All the while knowing my batteries are staying topped off.
Now comes the good part, my Link 2000 battery monitor. You don’t even need the inverter/charger but it just happens to be a remote control for my Freedom 1500 also. Now that I have a good battery monitor, I whole heartedly recommend one. It’s a bit of a pain to hook up. It requires connecting and running 8 or 9 wires depending on your setup, but man it’s awesome.
What the Link 2000 does:
1. Controls my Freedom 1500
2. Displays Volts
3. Displays Amps +/-
4. Displays how many amp hours are in my battery bank.
5. Displays how much time I have remaining at the current amp draw before my batteries reach any point I pre determine, 0, 25%, 50% etc.
6. It will also let me equalize my batteries.
So from this it’s amazing how much you can learn about everything onboard. For instance, some of you may remember one of my posts a while back about how to charge my house battery bank with both engines. Having a large house bank I could not keep it charged correctly with the setup I had. I finely got two auxiliary charging cables and after connecting everything it seemed to be working fine, but I had no way of knowing exactly what was going on. I had no way of determining how long it would take for my batteries to recharge or at what level of charge I had at any given time. I haven’t even had the boat out yet since I connected the Link 2000, but I did run some tests just sitting on the trailer. I turned on my squid light, 23 amps. I also turned on my two overhead halogens, 4 amps each. Then I turned on the shop light I had in the pilothouse, 2 amps for a total 33 amp draw. As you turn on each thing it always shows the total amps, weather it’s plus or minus. I then fired up one of my engines and guess how many amps it was charging at idle. I was actually shocked to read that it went from –33 amps to –13. That’s 20 amps at idle. I haven’t tried it at any RPM’s yet. I don’t like to rev it much on the muffs. Just to check if both my engines are charging correctly, I fired up the other engine. I had never been able to check if both engines worked together after my auxiliary charging cords project. The way my batteries appeared to be charging, I figured they were, and I was right. You guessed it, with both engines running at idle, I was now actually charging my batteries with a + 6 amps. Now I don’t know if I really want to put hours on my 12,000 dollar Yammies as generators, but it sure is nice to know they put out 20 amps at idle. I also learned that my little dome light that doesn’t do much to light up the pilothouse draws 1 amp, and my 120-volt florescent shop light that turns my pilothouse to day only draws 2. I think I’ll just leave that light on the boat. Boy that inverter sure makes things nice.
I hope I’m not boring everyone, but I just wanted to share what I’ve learned in hopes that it might help someone else.
