Carver Owners Forum

I asked because it's pretty common for boats of that vintage with that type of electrical setup to have their air conditioner side inlets/cords, etc. experience wiring failures. Most of the 4207, 3807 models came with 3 AC units that drew a lot of power (older tech). They came with 50 amp services but when all 3 are running with less than perfect cords, inlets, and outlets, it doesn't take much for the current to jump up and accelerate source hardware problems.

Speaking of amperage spikes from AC units. Have one of these installed on my home 3 1/2 ton AC unit. Really drops the amps to less than half at startup and actually allows the unit to run more efficiently. Wonder if installation on a boat would be worth the money. Problem on a boat like mine is I would need three units which would get rather pricey. https://www.microair.net/products/easys ... 0176048267

That would be a cool add-on for some big units for sure!

Wiring in a large capacitor would do the same thing. I bet the unit you describe probably has one. On a previous boat (old woodie), I had a 110 volt only fridge which I wanted to run on the hook as well so I connected a small dedicated inverter that I had lying around. The problem was the surge rating on the inverter was lower than I was experiencing every time the fridge started up, thus tripping the inverter intermittently. I hooked up a capacitor which assisted the start and never had an issue after that.

The problem I mentioned earlier above was continuous running, not just start up, the older units draw way more than the new ones do. Even on a 50 amp service, running 3 of them at the same time for extended periods taxes the electrical supply hardware when the hardware and conditions are less than perfect.

Especially when 3 old compressors happen to start at the same time......

This is not a hard start capacitor, rather a soft start device for lack of a better term. Much better and solves several issues such as....... Major reduction in startup amps, reduces startup compressor noise to almost nothing. In my case at home the lights would dim slightly when the compressor kicked in, no more after install.

Here is a good vid showing the benefits on an install in a camper. Long watch but tells the entire story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=749iDnnXeE0