Power inverter for boat lift

I'm installing a hydrohoist floating boat lift on my dock. My dock is a long way from the house (and electricity). I'm curious, has anyone ever tried using a large (1500w) power inverter in the boat to inflate the lift?

My lift blower motor uses 1250w of power for about 3 or 4 minutes. I would only use it after I've had the boat out for a while skiing, so my battery should have a good charge on it. ...thoughts?

James, It's the surge watts when the motor starts that you really need to be concerned about. Depending on the motor type (inductive or brushed), a motor can draw 2 or 3 times the current starting over running current. Check out the rating of the inverter (there should be a surge rating) as well as giving the lift manufacturer a call to see if they can give you a idea of starting current.

Edit: Chris's comment is valid but he is reffering to a 12 volt drive/motor. That is a option to look into when you call the lift people as well.

It might be easier to just call harbor freight and get a bunch of air hose and run it down to your lift and put the pump at the house. Not sure how much volume you need to move but I would much rather deal with air running down the dock than AC.

Tim

James your correct about the battery being "HOT" after a day on the lake,BUT....
Inverters are very "Power Hungry" and will render a hot battery less than desirable for that cold start the next day.
I think you are opening up a "can of worms" with that line of thinking.
Tim's idea of a compressor supplied by house current and a hose to the lift unit would be by far the best bang for your buck.
Sometimes the easy way is not the most practicle............Boat dr

I think it's about 600' to the house, wooded, rocky, and a fairly steep grade ...Corps of Engineers property.

Trenching a line over that long distance was what I really wanted to avoid.

I started out thinking about solar. ...a panel, a battery, and an inverter. I found a 1500w inverter for $150, a solar panel for $110, and I already have a deep cycle battery I'm not using. ...Then I started thinking about using the boat battery.

Hydrohoist recommends a 1500w "generator". The inverter I found is rated 1500w continuous, 2400w surge.

do they sell a DC version instead of an AC to run the pump?

Hi guys check out this lift. It may work better for what he is looking for. http://www.airdock.com/index.html

update:

I checked with Hydrohoist. They do not offer any DC blowers, but he said that Grainger has a 24v blower that should work.

I checked with Airdock. They could sell me a 12v blower for $110, but he said it would not have enough pressure/flow to lift my type of lift. He recommended an inverter, but he said I might need 2 batteries to power it.

James, Just some more basic additional thoughts!

Your 1250 Watt 120 Volt blower is 10 amps. To do the same job, a 12 Volt blower will draw 100 amps. That's #2 size battery cable. Now if you use a inverter to run the existing and the efficiency is 80% (typical), the 12 Volt load will be 120 amps. That's a lot!! You would be hauling batteries back to the house to charge on a regular basis (depending on how many times you raise and lower the boat) or need well over $600.00 for decent wattage photoelectric panels and then hope for sunny days and not use the lift very much. I tried to explain this to some ski club members after I built their water sprinkling system for the jump - they thought you could just go and get one of those cheap photo panels you plug into the cigarette lighter!! Both a 12 volt blower and a inverter would be like starting (cranking) a small 4 cylinder engine for the 3 or 4 minutes! Just reconsider running power from the house. If you do, let me figure out some wire sizing to reduce the voltage drop and do look at the blower if it is dual voltage and can be run on 240. I hope you got a deal on this lift! It certainly sounds like a PITA if your aways from power!

Munday, Not a bad idea on the leaf blower! Sure would be easier than hauling a gen set down there! The only problem is will the blower have the balls to do it? I doubt you would be able to find the pressure rating so, James if you want to experiment, here's what I would do. With the blower running, take the nozzle and stick it in the water seeing how deep you can go before you see a noticable decrease in air flow. This will give you the rough idea of the blowers pressure capacity to overcome the static head of the water. The leaf blower needs to go as deep as the bottom of the pontoons are when they are fully submerged.

James, how is the air to the pontoons valved off when they are full? A manual valve?

8122pbrainard wrote: Munday, Not a bad idea on the blower! Sure would be easier down there! The only problem is will the blower have the balls? James if you want to experiment, I would. With the blower, take the nozzle and stick it in deep you can go before you see a noticable decrease in flow. This will give you the rough idea of the blowers capacity to overcome the head. The blower needs to go deep fully submerged. James is full

I don't know about all the electrical calculations, but the blower that comes in a hydrohoist is not much more than a commercial vacuum motor. It takes less than 5 psi to lift the boat. Larger lifts just add more and/or larger pontoons.

Pete, I don't agree that the blower needs to go to the bottom of the pontoons. On most of these floating lifts, a single hose comes out of the blower. It then goes to a y, and a hose is mounted to each pontoon, mounted toward the top edge at the front of the lift. Mine is a 1" hose. You turn on the blower with a flip swithch at the console, and then open a valve so air can flow through the hoses. When the lift is up, you turn of the valve, and turn off the motor. The whole in the bottom of each pontoon is six inches round and allows the water to push out, or flow in.

OK, I understand the analysis now. BKH