Lady Isoult Tibby-Cattistock said
I’ve been living aboard my wonderful narrowboat for 4 years now and recently fried my on-board inverter.  It’s not a biggie as I’m permanently moored with a shore-line.  However, when I take her our cruising I do miss having electrics and am now looking to either replace the inverter (with a 3000w + so my washing machine works – and I know about using a cool wash etc) OR buy a 2600-3000w suitcase generator.

 

What are the pros and cons for both?  Which would you choose and why?

 

Thank you in advance for your input.

Unfortunately its difficult to compare the two as they each have a separate purpose. Ideally you need both.

I would certainly have a large pure sine wave inverter installed, with enough power to run your washing machine. This would allow a wash whilst cruising with the engine alternator(s) offsetting the large power drain from the batteries.

When not cruising, a smaller suitcase inverter/generator could be used to keep batteries topped up via mains charger. It doesn’t have to be powerful enough to run the washing machine by itself since again that could be powered from your inverter with the generator and charger combination offsetting the current drain from batteries.

The Kipor IG2600 suitcase inverter/generator provides 2300 watts continuous, 2600 watts peak. Its available for as little £525. There is a cheap LPG option for it as well – I have one.

Your choice depends to a large degree on your existing battery charging capabilities both from engine and mains charger plus the size of domestic battery bank. If you can provide this info I could offer more specific advice.

Lady Isoult Tibby-Cattistock said
My washing machine is a Bosch Exxel, relatively new and was very expensive so I’m not looking to swap it out any time soon;  would prefer to find a solution to run it albeit on a cool wash

 

It also needs to run my desktop computer, dual monitor setup – hairdryer – microwave and at a push the tumbledryer function on my WM

 

Although I’m not cc’ing at the moment, I’d like to think I’ll be doing it soon.  I like the idea of living on the cut, being that little bit more free but need to feel secure in functioning as conveniently as I can if I take the plunge.  Luckily I have the luxury of getting it right before making that decision.

 

PS:  the genny option means I don’t have to increase my battery bank?

The power rating (wattage) will be shown on your Bosch machine rating plate which will be needed since there is more than one version of the Exxcel.

As it seems you are looking at the cheapest option to power it, and it does take the 2300 watts that Paul mentions, the Kipor IG2600 generator may be marginal to power it. It would however easily cope with all your other needs. 

It may therefore be safer to look at a higher power model. Hyundai offer a range of inverter/generators up to 3200 watts continuous with the largest only a little over £1000, although this one falls outside the suitcase category. See here.

If your budget allows, a replacement inverter could be bought which covers all your needs bar the washing machine, to save having to run the generator all the time.

Just to put my five-penny worth in, the Victron Multi-plus range of inverters have a power assist function that enables to inverter to ‘top up’ the power supplied by the shoreline or generator. We have been plugged into some very low power shorelines over the years anbd can confirm it works very well. So you could use the Kipor generator if you want.

Regards

Pete

That is quite accurate Alan.

Lady Isoult Tibby-Cattistock said
I’m not after the cheapest solution;  I’m more for an easy everything will work option.  I think I was liking the genny option as it would have been a case of unplugging the shoreline and plugging the genny in without having to have the engine running which is more noisy than the genny’s I’ve been looking at.

 

I saw the Kipor range and they are definitely a better price than the Honda’s but then Honda has a 5 year guarantee which warrants the increased cost.

 

What’s a girl to do!  I think I need a boyfriend who can make these decisions for me

 

The easy everything will work with flexibility option is to have both built-in inverter (or Combi which has charger and inverter integrated) as well as a generator, as in my first reply. It may be simpler to accept that your washing machine could only be run from the generator since a large inverter, bigger battery bank and probably a larger mains charger would be needed otherwise.

Regarding generator choice, I bought my Kipor IG2600 with LPG conversion fitted and 12 month warranty from Sail and Trail after speaking to them at the Crick boat show last year. Since they sell both Honda and Kipor generators, I felt their opinion was not excessively biased when they told me reliability wise there was nothing between them. They did admit the Honda was mechanically superior but pointed out the all important electronics came from the same source.

I have no reason so far to be disappointed with my choice especially as for half the price I have a considerably more powerful (2300 v 1600 watts continuous) generator than the Honda EU20i equivalent. I will admit its noisier than the Honda though when driven hard and a little heavier, not surprising given the extra performance. 

The Hyundai range I linked to seem to claim quieter running. One of their larger models would probably be needed to power your Bosch washer/dryer though.