NOTES OF AN ELECTRIC SAILOR: The AIMS 48 Volt 1500 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter

After I bought the Electric Paddle outboard some things went away. Such as the need to carry extra oil, gas and parts like zincs, spark plugs etc... for the Honda BF2 outboard.  But, I was faced with another issue on how to charge the Electric Paddle's battery. BIANKA usually stays on a mooring or at anchor so charging from the dock power is not an option.  Since part of my three legged approach to energy on board BIANKA includes a Honda 2000 generator charging the 28 volt battery is a easy but, I really don't like to run the generator if I can avoid it. Running it for an hour or two to just charge the Electric Paddle's battery just seems like a waste of energy. So I started thinking about getting an inverter for the boat. According to the Electric Paddle's manual the 120 volt charger can charge the battery using an inverter of only 200 watts. Though when I thought about it there might be a few other 120 volt items I might like to use on board from time to time without needing to fire up the Honda Generator. Having a 10 kilowatt 48 volt electric propulsion battery


bank does come in handy after it is charged up at anchor. One can easily tap into it from time to time and then  just let the solar panels and wind generator recharge things without ever having to fire up the generator. So it seemed like it was a good idea to spring for a 48 volt to 120 volt sine wave inverter to not only charge the Electric Paddle battery but, also be able to use it for other needs like running the Wet/Dry Micro Vac for quick clean ups, using 120 power tools and maybe a bread maker or microwave down the road. The inverter I decided on was the AIMS PWRI150048S 1500 Watt Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter, 48 Volt. It would easily be able to handle charging the Electric Paddle battery pack and also be powerful enough to use for more powerful AC items.

When I first bought the Thoosa 9000 electric propulsion system for the boat I also purchased a 48 volt to 12 volt converter. It is a 300 watt Sevcon converter. I mostly use it for powering the laptop while at anchor to blog and search the Internet. It works well with the 12 volt power supply I bought for the computer. I've also used it to temporarily power the on board Engel Refrigerator - Freezer when several days of cloudy/rainy weather drained the 12 volt house bank to far. Here is are some photo's comparing the size of the converter and the inverter:

There is a bit of size difference but, the Inverter is five times as powerful and can be used to power more things including the laptop and Engel along with a number of 120 volt devices. Connection of the AIMS Inverter to the 48 volt battery bank is by two terminals on the back of the unit:

The front of the unit has two AC outlets, an on/off switch and two status LED's and a ground lug:

The AIMS Inverter also comes with a handy keychain type rf remote switch so you can mount the unit in a remote location on board but, still turn it on and off when needed without having access to the front panel on/off switch.  For now I have mounted the unit in the main cabin where I can see the status lights and have access to the on/off switch and AC outlets. I am also using the 15 amp tap of the 48 volt Morningstar solar controller to provide power for the inverter via 75 amp Anderson Powerpole connectors:

This means I am limited to only using around 700 watts of the 1500 watt potential on the inverter. But, for now that's all I need. So far the AIMS Inverter has come in very useful primarily for charging the Electric Paddle battery without requiring I run the generator for hours and it will come in even more useful to power other devices in the future.

END OF THE SEASON THOUGHTS OF AN ELECTRIC SAILOR

BIANKA is back on land and stored for the winter. It was a fun season though I did not cruise as much as in previous seasons.  I did spend a lot of time on the boat pretty much living on board for the past six months. The electric propulsion system is still going strong and has once again been maintenance free all season. The AGM batteries are still holding up after six seasons as well.

A lot of projects I thought I would finish never got started. That's just the way it is when an hunting Osprey grabs your attention or a refreshing swim and a nap take precedence on ones day on board. Though I did manage to rewire the solar Bimini  a project which was long overdue.  I did add a few new items on board. I decided to replace the Honda BP 2 outboard that got drowned by Superstorm Sandy last fall. It was replaced by an Electric Paddle outboard which I will post a review about in the near future. I also installed an AIMS 48 volt 1500 Watt Pure Sine Wave  Inverter. The inverter was purchased to be able to charge the Electric Paddle battery from BIANKA's 48 volt propulsion battery bank but, I bought a larger wattage unit  than those needs in order to use it for other devices in the future. I will post an evaluation on that soon too.

Most of this years action centered around the galley. A spring outfitting discovery of a corroded Gas header in BIANKA's twenty four year old stove caused me to rethink how I use propane on board.

That yikes moment caused me to experiment with alternatives to using the stove on board and I am happy that both Plan A and Plan B both worked out well for my cooking needs this season and so I will probably use them in the future. Another advantage of my new propane usage plan is some energy savings. I plan to spend some time this winter dismantling parts of the old stove to see if I can incorporate the new cooking burner into it's space.

Another discovery from the gallery was using some freeze dried items in meals for the first time. Namely freeze dried Blueberries and  Bacon Flavored Textured Vegetable Protein TVP .. Both products look likely to be items I will carry on board in the future as they mean less trips to land for provisions when cruising. The Blueberries tasted good straight out of the can for a quick snack and also worked well when one has a hankering for Blueberry pancakes:

The Bacon flavored TVP added some nice bacon flavor as well as being somewhat healthier than meat based bacon. Also it won't spoil as rapidly and and has no grease to get rid of. It worked well mixed in with scrambled eggs and especially added some nice flavor and texture to old standby meals of Ramen Noodles. With the success of these two freeze dried products I plan to expand the selection on board next season. Though the smaller can of Blueberries runs out quickly the two pound can of the Bacon flavored TVP was still half full at the end of the season. A double order of Blueberries and dividing up the TVP into smaller containers may be the plan for next season.

Now that the off season is here I hope to get a started on some of the projects I never got to during the summer. Because "messing about in boats" is always good no matter what the season.