Female socket on boat for mains connection?

[rogerthebodger]

Try a caravan flush mounting one. Saying you can't find one is no excuse for creating a dangerous installation.

That is excality the input type I have with a plug connector so my shore power lead has a plug one end and a socket at the other

Our shore power circuit is only 10 Amps so I have to find some way to connect 2 shore power outlets into one piece of equipment like my inverter welding machine

 

[Refueler]

Replying to the original question, yours is not the only boat with a female socket for shore power input. I've seen several myself and my own boat has one and it is WRONG and DANGEROUS. Even worse is that many of them use a male plug on each end of the long shore power connecting cable. Refueller's suggestion of a SHORT connecting cable with a male plug on each end is my own solution because I have found it impossible to get the proper male connector to mount on the hull. All the bulkhead mounted connectors that I have seen are angled so that they point downward to shed water but there is no room in the location on the combing to mount an angled connector. Hence the compromise. At some point I will mount one inside the cockpit locker and fill in the hole left when I remove the offender.

Thank you ... much as I agree that it is not a safe solution - trouble is circumstances can dictate while better solution is made.

We don't know OP's situation other than what is given in his post ... so we have to assume that either its just a sh** job on part of previous owner - OR he may have had a reason for it .. we do not know.

I've seen some pretty awful setups over the years and nothing really surprises me TBH ...

With regard to mounted sockets - I know where you are coming from ... over here - the blue mounts are as big as industrial Red 3 phase !! I thought on last trip to UK - I would buy ... blow me if they were near as bad in UK ! I trucked round 3 different Caravan Dealers and a couple of Chandlers .. Marine Super Store and Force 4 ... Could not find the old flush sockets they used to have.

I need to fit one to my 38 ... as that has an outdoor EU domestic in the locker ...

 

[Refueler]

Try a caravan flush mounting one. Saying you can't find one is no excuse for creating a dangerous installation.

Last trip to UK couple of months ago ... I could not find flush mounted sockets in any of the caravan shops I checked ... South Coast Portsmouth, Havant and Chichester... they were all angled with large blocks - when asked - reply was that its designed to be in the cuddy hole in the side of modern vans ..

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I think we can all agree a "live" male plug is really a no no /dangerous....however one needs a male plug and a female socket....and this can be difficult to achieve safely in some circumstances.
Eg boat A does not have any facility on board for generation of high voltage and shore power is wired in for convenience the boat is safer with the boat connection being male as when unplugged there will be no electricity.
Boat B has a generator and or an inverter that is wired up to the main circuit therefore possibly if not switched isolated will make the shore socket/plug "live".....so it depends on the existing installation if no generated/inverter 220v then a male is ok....but if 240v can exist at the boats receptacle (plug or socket) then the safe connection is a problem

With all respect, if the boat is wired such that the generator 230V output or the inverter output is present on the shore power connection then the boat has a serious problem, plugging shore power into that socket will result in joining two out of phase AC supplies .... when the sources are not synchronized (which they won't be) it can produce an overcurrent condition that can be many times greater than the full-load rated current of the generator, the inverter and/or the supply. This can damage the generator, the inverter, and shore power equipment.

The generator and shore power need to be connected like this, either/or, never connected together ...



An inverter such as many Victron Inverters can synchronise itself to an external AC source and boost the power available, but they have specific circuitry in them to do this, and will not join the two sources together (shorepower and inverter output) until the AC phases are synchronised.

 

[dk]

The best replacements for the Marinco style boat socket is the Smartplug, but they're hellishly expensive so most use the caravan style ones instead.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

It‘d be good if the OP came back with some more info.

 

[billskip]

With all respect, if the boat is wired such that the generator 230V output or the inverter output is present on the shore power connection then your boat has a serious problem, plugging shore power into that socket will result in joining two out of phase AC supplies .... when the sources are not synchronized (which they won't be) it can produce an overcurrent condition that can be many times greater than the full-load rated current of the generator, the inverter and/or the supply. This can damage the generator, the inverter, and shore power equipment.

The generator and shore power need to be connected like this, either/or, never connected together ...

View attachment 169461

An inverter such as many Victron Inverters can synchronise itself to an external AC source and boost the power available, but they have specific circuitry in them to do this, and will not join the two sources together (shorepower and inverter output) until the AC phases are synchronised.

I did say "if not fitted with a switch isolation"...ie..early break late make two (or possibly four) pole changeover isolation.. as shown in your diagram....and I went on to say if without isolation this is a problem.... the op does not say if the female socket can become "live" due to the use of gen/inv....

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I did say "if not fitted with a switch isolation"...ie..early break late make two (or possibly four) pole changeover isolation.. as shown in your diagram....and I went on to say if without isolation this is a problem.... the op does not say if the female socket can become "live" due to the use of gen/inv....

Sorry, reading it again I do see what you meant, I've also removed the "your boat" from the original post and replaced it with "the boat" as obviously, it's not your boat - sorry.

Just wanted to make it clear to anyone reading this thread that the connection of a generator, or an inverter output, to a shore power input is a sure fire winner for a Darwin award.

 

[Refueler]

With all respect, if the boat is wired such that the generator 230V output or the inverter output is present on the shore power connection then the boat has a serious problem, plugging shore power into that socket will result in joining two out of phase AC supplies .... when the sources are not synchronized (which they won't be) it can produce an overcurrent condition that can be many times greater than the full-load rated current of the generator, the inverter and/or the supply. This can damage the generator, the inverter, and shore power equipment.

The generator and shore power need to be connected like this, either/or, never connected together ...

View attachment 169461

An inverter such as many Victron Inverters can synchronise itself to an external AC source and boost the power available, but they have specific circuitry in them to do this, and will not join the two sources together (shorepower and inverter output) until the AC phases are synchronised.

Some years before - my house here in Latvia was served by overhead power lines ... as were most at that time. Trees coming down .. snow .. ice .. all paid toll on supplies and I had a Generator ready to plug in if needed. Being old house with 'Soviet wiring' - it was not possible to create a breaker system - so Wife and Gardener were shown what to do ... if town supply failed - remove fuses and disconnect house. Plug in generator and start it.
Have a lamp connected to barn - so that when town supply was back on - lamp would light ...
Stop generator - unplug .. put back fuses and power back up house.

I was in Singapore when I got call from Wife .. telling me Generator was burnt out .. first question I asked .. was town electric disconnected when using generator .. reply - Don't know - Gardener looked after it.

I came home to a melted generator coil ..

Yep - gardener did not isolate town supply and when it came back on - it blew the generator asunder !!

House was in reconstruction at time .. so soon after we sorted that .. then town free of charge converted us to underground cable ... as they said - it was cheaper to do that - than keep on repairing overheads !!

 

[michael_w]

Problem I've found with the Marinco type is the contacts are relatively small and as a result the whole plug gets rather warm when pulling max current. The contacts on the Euro type are much larger.

 

[Iliade]

Trying to visualise .... LW or HW ?

HW, then the tide went out and the cable was ripped from the shorelead plug that goes into the boat. Then the tide came back...

 

[Daverw]

Last trip to UK couple of months ago ... I could not find flush mounted sockets in any of the caravan shops I checked ... South Coast Portsmouth, Havant and Chichester... they were all angled with large blocks - when asked - reply was that its designed to be in the cuddy hole in the side of modern vans ..

When I needed one, ex stock at screwfix, just took off the mounting box and fitted to bulkhead

 

[steveeasy]

It‘d be good if the OP came back with some more info.

Not sure he would want too. What may not realise is how common it is to find this.

I stumbleld across it while converting a Double Decka Bus in to a restaurant. Well not quite more like a Cafe. I nearly made the same mistake but could see how deadly it was. I do hope no one has come a cropper by someone else’s error.



Steveeasy

 

[LittleSister]

Deleted, unhelpful!

That's a bit radical isn't it?

Where would the forum be if everyone took that sort of attitude?

 

[fredrussell]

That's a bit radical isn't it?

Where would the forum be if everyone took that sort of attitude?

Ha! Very true. ‘Tis Christmas after all though.

 

[Stemar]

My apologies to all. My post was exactly what not to do!

Try again

This on board

and this on the cable

 

[rogerthebodger]

This is the shore power inlet connector I have on my boat fitted in a protected position

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Yup, that’s what they’re supposed to be like. It’s called an “Inlet“ if you’re googling for them. 16A Two pole plus earth.

 

[VicS]

Force4 , Towsure and others have this flush fitting non angled inlet connector


Actually reduced by £4 at Towsure currently.

 

[dunedin]

Force4 , Towsure and others have this flush fitting non angled inlet connector

View attachment 169487
Actually reduced by £4 at Towsure currently.

We had one of these on our last boat. Fine except the covers are rather flimsy, and go brittle with UV. Needed to replace the cover every 3-4 years (which entailed a new socket, but hardly expensive).
Current boat has the inlet connector protected inside a quarter cockpit locker. Almost never connect/disconnect the cable from this, just take cable out of locker and connect to shore socket. Eliminates any corrosion or UV issues with the inlet.