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From: Jeff Barfett (no email)
Date: Tue May 29 2007 - 16:24:00 EDT
The inverter is a model prior to the software enhanced one you have, the options are set by pot switches and there aren't any options as describer below, however, the input to the inverter is switched - options: off/shore/generator - in addition the inverter utilizes a transfer switch. As far as I'm concerned the inverter has no way of knowing whether it is receiving shorepower or the generator other than the peak voltage.
Researching this in the online documentation that still exist for Trace, brings up the following - which is good to know:
Charge rate vs peak AC voltage-
In order to meet its ratings, 164 peak volts are required. A
battery charger uses only the top portion of the input sinewave. Therefore,
small variations in peak voltage results in large variations in the amount of
the waveform that the charger has to work with. Standard public power of 117V
has a peak voltage of 164V.
It takes a powerful AC generator set to maintain the
full 164 volt peak while delivering the current necessary to operate the
charger at its maximum rate (typically 5KW for 2500 watt models). Smaller
generators will have the tops of their waveform clipped under such loads.
Running at these reduced peak voltages will not harm the charger, but it will
limit the maximum charge rate. Large auxiliary AC loads may exacerbate this problem.
The Westerbeke is only putting out about 140 peak volts - this concludes trouble shooting the low charger output using the generator.
Now - anyone have experience installing a 100 amp alternator on a 5KW Westerbeke that wants to share how hard that was?
Jeff
'SNIP'
----- Original Message ----
From: Sean Welsh <>
This notion that the generator waveform or power level is somehow
responsible for the SW inverter failing to charge properly does not make
sense to me.
First off, even if the generator is poorly regulated, it will still be
producing a pure sine wave output in a usable form. The frequency may
be off by a couple Hertz in either direction, but the SW-series input
tolerance is fairly wide here. The voltage may also be off, even by as
much as a dozen volts in either direction, but the SW tolerance on input
voltage is user-adjustable.
My own SW4024 makes perfectly good charge power out of all manner of
crappy input power -- I've seen input voltage as low as 88VAC and as
high as 130VAC, and frequencies from 57Hz to 62Hz and had no trouble at
all getting a full 150amps at 24VDC dot
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