More than meets the eye

An Isolation Transformer is an important piece of equipment aboard a steel boat.  It isolates the electrical current coming from the shore power cord.  This prevents an errant current from electrocuting our boat which would otherwise cause galvanic mayhem and possibly death.  No, for real…

Unfortunately, our transformer failed in the middle of the night (of course, when else?) a few months ago.  A whiff of electrical smoke, a few flickering lights and she was gone…  This meant that we had to run our many electrical needs from our battery bank or from heavy duty extension cords plugged directly into the shore power unit. It was a strained couple of weeks while we unplugged and plugged in various things (like the computer, phone chargers, electric skillet, hot water maker…).  We ran the engine a couple of times to top the battery up and, in the mean time, researched new isolation transformers.  These puppies ain’t cheap.

We could find very little information about the one we had that failed; just that they were noisy (which was something we had noticed).  In making an investment of this magnitude you want to be sure that you get the right thing.

We hemmed and hawed and finally decided on a Charles as the best bang for our buck.

It arrived at our mailbox and we were able to pick it up…

At 70 lbs it’s not a lightweight little thing.

My Better Half lugged it back into Narnia and wired it in.  Wonder of wonders, we had electricity!  It’s an amazing little unit that, in addition to isolating and transforming, is smaller and quieter than our previous one.  Seriously, you have to stick your head in Narnia to hear it humming away, doing it’s thing…

It’s the little things, like being able to plug in my electric toothbrush, that really make living aboard worthwhile.