Anyone fitted Smartplug for their shore power

tudorsailor

tudorsailor

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tudorsailor said:
Here is one example https://marinehowto.com/shore-power-cords-smartplug-vs-1938/
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Not particularly impressed with the physics behind that rant. Especially the contact area bit./ The author barks on about contact are being "only" 1.3mm wide but says nothing about the length, from the images I guess contact area is at least 8mm^2 with plenty of metal around that for any heat dissipation. The author rants on about corrosion, but nothing about how scraping contacts (as per the design) overcomes this. The author bemoans the fact that on one installation there was no locking mechanism, well... dont buy that version eh?

Having said that, that style is not one I would choose. IEC 309 (blue 16A) would be my choice.
 
+1 for the blue 16 amp "commando" plugs and sockets.
Very robust, come in a variety of options re straight angled etc.and not at all expensive. Lots of conductor material so no high resistance hot spots.
Fed up having to fix dodgy yellow hubble twisters, especially on charter boats.
 
tudorsailor said:
Do you have a Ceeform socket on your boat rather than the twisty Hubble that I have?
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Yes, and likewise all the boats I’ve ever chartered or other peope’s boats I’ve sailed on. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those American twisty sockets on a yacht in the UK or Med, though I’m not disputing that a handful will exist.

Pete
 
Yes indeed I have 16amp blue ceeform on my boat and on the caravan.
In my working life I remember back to the days before ceeform were widely available and yes we did use Hubbel of all differing types as they were the only connectors available to us.
 
Elecglitch said:
I changed over to one of these, very happy with it:

https://www.ratio.nl/en/catalog/marine/inlets/inlets/mp16-10/groups/g+c+a+nr+view

W6yWjT7.jpg
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Is that compatible with the "IEC 309 (blue 16A)" mentioned earlier in the thread?

The pins look the same, but I don't see it mentioned on the Ratio.nl page you link.
 
KompetentKrew said:
Is that compatible with the "IEC 309 (blue 16A)" mentioned earlier in the thread?

The pins look the same, but I don't see it mentioned on the Ratio.nl page you link.
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Doesn't this effectively say that it is not ? "MP16, MP32 and MP50 inlet will not accept standard CEE couplers."
 
VicS said:
Doesn't this effectively say that it is not ? "MP16, MP32 and MP50 inlet will not accept standard CEE couplers."
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Oh - that's unfortunate. I assumed it would do, though I suppose there's the ever-present problem of what to do with the lid of the flying socket.

I wonder if there's a specific reason they wanted to prevent Ceeform compatibility, or if it was just too hard to make a neat design that accepted it because of the lid.

Pete
 
prv said:
Oh - that's unfortunate. I assumed it would do, though I suppose there's the ever-present problem of what to do with the lid of the flying socket.

I wonder if there's a specific reason they wanted to prevent Ceeform compatibility, or if it was just too hard to make a neat design that accepted it because of the lid.

Pete
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I guess they wanted to precisely control the dimensions and tolerances of the plug -- a poorly fitting plug would make the whole system fail.

I have a SmartPlug 32A set which I brought from the States, not fitted yet. Cost at least 3x more than the Ratio system, and I daresay the Ratio system looks very nice.
 
Some useful stuff on this thread - I have a hubble connector on my 1987 Oyster 406 which I have been thinking of changing - it doesn't seem too fit well. I had been considering the smart plug (but its v expensive) - the ratio plug and socket looks much more reasonable. Thanks for starting the thread!
 
neil1967 said:
Some useful stuff on this thread - I have a hubble connector on my 1987 Oyster 406 which I have been thinking of changing - it doesn't seem too fit well. I had been considering the smart plug (but its v expensive) - the ratio plug and socket looks much more reasonable. Thanks for starting the thread!
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Whatever you do, get rid of the Hubbel plug! That's a fire waiting to happen. Worst designed power plug I've ever seen. I've almost burned down two different boats with that damned thing. Even the ordinary blue CEE plug is already vastly better.
 
prv said:
Looks like the identical item to me. Look at the cast-in "shore power" at the bottom, that's not a coincidence. Victron have just had the manufacturer laser-etch their name onto a batch and then bumped the price up ;)

Pete
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Yes, exactly what i was thinking. Although the Victron one also looks polished.
 
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