Carver Owners Forum

I have a 430 CPMY with lots of room in the lazerette for batteries.
I do not currently have an inverter system but want to install a solar system, primarily for dual 12V / 110 V fridge.
My simple solution is as follows and want to know opinions on feasibility.
The installation will be with proper wiring / connectors / fuses / controllers etc.

1) Install 2 600 watt panels on the hard top and run cables to the lazerette.
2) Install 1 400 A/H lithium battery
3) Install 1 4000 watt pure sine wave inverter.

I then want to install a 30 amp power inlet into the side panel of the cockpit and connect that to the inverter.
Then simply run a shortened shore power cord from that inlet into the main shore power inlet that is used for the shore power connection.

This should then supply 110 V to my main panel when switched to shore power.
I should then be able to run any 110 V circuits from my DC panel.
This would include my battery charger for the main start batteries if required.

Does this sound feasible. primarily used for the fridge / coffee machine / TV / lights.
I would still run my genni for any heavy loads such as stove top / hot water when required.
Feedback would be much appreciated.

Imo i think all that is way overkill for your stated needs. I don't have any solar, I have a 2000 watt inverter and battery bank set up for my needs ., still using flooded golf car batteries for it. I have a higher amp charger that replaces the used power when running the genny. We will run the genset a couple hours in the am to cook and recharge batteries and in the evening because of the heat during the day run the ac's to cool of the boat and cook again recharge some more. I could go a couple days easy on the batteries without charging but keep them topped up since genset is running anyway. Change out your lights to leds is one way to really save on amps used.

I stay out for 10-15 days at a time. Different needs for sure. I have changed what I can to LED and conserve energy where I can but the fridge is an energy hog and one must keep the food (beverages) cool.

I hear you, the fridge/s is the reason we need to fill up the house bank. With long stays on the hook, LipePo4 is the way to go. Solar is a nice booster for sure however one needs to be able to install these away from shadows such as radar or antennas. It does not take much to shut a large portion of the panels output capacity. I would bump that to dual 300ah, personally I went for 3. A high capacity dedicated lithium charger is also a good idea so the bank fills quickly when running the genny. Instead of me explaining what I did regarding the Lithium install, take a look at this. viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6315&hilit=lifepo4

Not sure why you need an inverter as you do have a dual voltage fridge.

I only have 1 battery bank as main. 4 x AGM 100 AH batteries and these are also used as the start batteries and the house batteries. With running the main fridge on 12 V and the small fridge up top those batteries drain quickly in the heat of the summer. I considered a dedicated house bank battery system but the cost / storage / complexity pointed me towards the solar system set up. By running from the A/C terminal block on the inverter I will install a shore power connection in the cockpit and simply run the shore power connection from that into the shore power connection that runs to the main control panel in the lower lounge. I can then manage all of my electrical demands from the main panel instead of tying into the main panel from the inverter including my ice maker if required. I can also change the cord to the other incoming shore power receptacle and run at least 1 air conditioner if I needed to. The solution seems feasible and although the cord running from the cockpit to the incoming shore power on the vessel may seem unsightly, I can live with that for the convenience and simplicity it offers.

Are you saying you have no house bank and everything is run off of a single bank consisting of 4 100ah AGM batteries? Please clarify.

That is my current situation yes. There are 4 AGM 100 A/hr batteries used for house and start.
I run the generator daily in an attempt to charge that bank.