I have what I suspect and hope is a very basic electrical question for some of you, about my 2 newly installed IP22 12v/30 amp 3-output chargers on my sailboat. I suspect the answer pertains to the difference between analog and digital power conversion that I don’t understand, but I’m going to ask it anyway…
I was a little shocked to notice the AC supply lines on these IP22’s are only 18 gauge. So #1 question…how does an IP22 charger supply up to 30 amps through an 18 gauge supply line, on a 15 to 20 amp shore circuit…or does it ?
#2. Since the original owner was powering his single 20 amp charger on a 3-way 16 gauge extension cable, that’s what I plugged my new IP22’s into…to power my two banks of High Power Odyssey Extreme AGM’s with, but thought the IP22’s should really have something heavier than 16 supplying them…
…but now that I see they are both using only 18 gauge supply lines, do I need to bother with that issue of increasing the size of the extension they’re plugged into ??
Does digital power conversion have the ability to create higher, 30 amp, current to the IP22 output on 15 or 20 amp shore power circuits ?
In all honesty the only stupid question is the one that should have been asked but was not. And how would you know? Good to hear someone is concerned with safety in any case.
I wasn’t thinking as much about safety as I was about constricting the IP22’s 30 amp ability to feed my hungry Odyssey Extreme AGM’s, and/or their 100 AH LiFePo replacements waiting in the wings.
I found, much to my horror and frustration, that the catamaran I just took possession of in the last year, needs to be stripped down to bare fiberglass bellow the waterline and started over due to a faulty barrier coat peeling off in sheets, (Pretty sure due to an ancient Phenolic fairing compound incompatible with the epoxy used ?), so my electrical and electronics background has had to take a back seat to grinding grunt work and epoxy, fiberglass and Barrier coats…
…which is why my rusty Ohm’s Law…I should have thought about on paper before blurting the question on this public forum…
RE…that “boater’s smile,” I’ve heard that sort of thing a lot, but disagree. I’ve always been one, since childhood while my Navy Dad was off to Viet Nam 2 or 3 times, that NEEDS to understand how things “tick,” I guess since I didn’t have a Dad around to explain things…so in essence a dyed-in-the-wool DIY’er…I’ve never had any allusions that my affinity for the marine environment and boating / sailing was going to be “easy” and all pleasure…and when I see something not right, I can’t help diving in to correct it, not “bale” and hand it off to some unsuspecting buyer, or the landfill…time to do it right, perfect, and fix it…since I’m staking my survival on that vessel.
But I suppose that depends on your use or involvement with the boat…if you’re just a power boater, I think you tend to treat it like a car, turn the key, drive to that restaurant on the water, eat, drink and drive home…but living on it for more than a weekend, especially sailing, is a whole other depth…not for the faint-of-heart pleasure-boater.
We smile for days, anchored out away from the throng…from dawn to dusk, and still smiling at midnight while looking up at the Milky Way you can still see with the naked eye, away from all that human light pollution.
