Happy Plug

[Hurricane]

I'm posting this link on behalf of a friend.
This is a great little device.

I bet that not many of you test the electricity supply when you visit other marinas.
When we first had our boat, we were given a supply that, simply, blew the boat up.
It cost me about £4,500 in repairs - new battery charger - new microwave oven etc.

One of these little devices would have saved all that.

Simple to use and priced very competitively - just £25 for a 16 amp and £35 for a 32 amp
Everyone should have one.
Just plug it in to test the supply before you plug your boat in.
Red is bad - Green is good.
Can't be simpler.

Note that these people also supply Smart 1 - Remote Boat Monitor
Remote Boat Monitoring Systems | Digital Gardianage Ltd

 

[MapisM]

Nice gadget M, but I'm a bit surprised that a bad dockside connection could make such damages to your boat.
Don't you have a main thermal breaker+RCD just downstream of the onboard dock connection?
I'd expect either of them to trip off in just about any condition of wrong dock wiring...

 

[DavidJ]

Do American boats have a reverse polarity because I’m sure there was a case in our marina where an American boat kept blowing the trip for everyone and the electrician came and reversed the polarity. .......I can only guess that it was changed back when he left but if not it might cause the problem experienced but your little gadget would detect that.

 

[DavidJ]

Just out of interest, I notice that Screwfix do a “domestic” version for £7.49 with a bit more diagnostics.
More of an observation really because you will still have to make up an adaptor for the marina socket and with the diagnostics you’re not going to go troubleshooting for the marina.
LAP MS6860D Socket Tester

 

[Hooligan]

Nice gadget M, but I'm a bit surprised that a bad dockside connection could make such damages to your boat.
Don't you have a main thermal breaker+RCD just downstream of the onboard dock connection?
I'd expect either of them to trip off in just about any condition of wrong dock wiring...

P, I think for Italy sadly this is an essential item!! I have just ordered one. The new smart system they are advertising also looks interesting when it arrives.

 

[Hurricane]

Just out of interest, I notice that Screwfix do a “domestic” version for £7.49 with a bit more diagnostics.
More of an observation really because you will still have to make up an adaptor for the marina socket and with the diagnostics you’re not going to go troubleshooting for the marina.
LAP MS6860D Socket Tester

Yes, I've been using a similar product for a good few years but, as you say, it requires adaptors - the beauty of the "Happy Plug" is that you just plug it in.

 

[Hurricane]

P, I think for Italy sadly this is an essential item!! I have just ordered one. The new smart system they are advertising also looks interesting when it arrives.

I'm sure that the Smart 1 device is available.
Lots of boats in Sant Carles are already using it.
I will email my friend who is part of the company supplying it and ask why the website shows "Coming Soon".
It could be that he is just trialing it on boats in Sant Carles.
I know that there have been several incidents where his Smart 1 has protected boats with battery problems.
I will report back.

 

[Hooligan]

I'm sure that the Smart 1 device is available.
Lots of boats in Sant Carles are already using it.
I will email my friend who is part of the company supplying it and ask why the website shows "Coming Soon".
It could be that he is just trialing it on boats in Sant Carles.
I know that there have been several incidents where his Smart 1 has protected boats with battery problems.
I will report back.

Look forward to it. The more i think of it the more i think this was root of the problems i had last year ie battery problems caused by bad shore power or inconsistent shore power.

 

[CLB]

Does the plug just show reverse polarity, or will it also advise of an earth fault?

 

[MapisM]

P, I think for Italy sadly this is an essential item!! I have just ordered one.

If you say that you frequently encountered that problem in Italy, I take your word for it, of course.
But I still see that more as something the boat electrical system should be capable to deal with, rather than needing to pre-check any dock socket.
When I moved my boat from Venice to Sardinia, I stayed in many marinas, both in Croatia and Italy.
I only came across a socket with reversed polarity once - in HR btw, but I'm not disputing that it can happen also in IT.
What happened on my boat right upon connection of the cable, even before turning on the switch on the electrical panel, is that the RCD (placed right after the dock connection socket astern) tripped off - no big deal.
I was even unsure of the reason at first, but it didn't take long to find that the dock socket had been wired reversed.
And just one of four on the same stand btw, so it was just a matter of connecting my plug to another socket, and restart the onboard RCD switch.

Bottom line, in any boat that doesn't have an RCD switch downstream of the dock connection, I would definitely install one, rather than needing to check dock sockets every time.
I understand that the device Hurricane found makes that very easy, but why bother at all, if the boat electrical system can be protected regardless?

 

[prv]

I bet that not many of you test the electricity supply when you visit other marinas.

I have the guts out of one of those three-neon mains-tester plugs wired into my panel, upstream of the main double-pole switch so I can test it before allowing power into the rest of the boat.

Not the best photo, cropped out of a larger one, but you can see the general idea:



The neons are only connected (and the three windows light up) while the red button is pressed. It also serves as instant confirmation that the shore supply is indeed live, which on some boats isn't always obvious.

I carry a short length of shore power cable wired to reverse the polarity, which could be inserted between me and the shore if necessary. To date I've never found anywhere that needed it - on the Channel coasts at least, I suspect it might be either a myth or a relic of history.

Three-neon tester plugs are all of about three quid from Amazon or any hardware shop, though I suppose the Ceeform one is handy if you must test the supply before bringing it anywhere near your boat.

Pete

 

[DavidJ]

Just ordered one for my stocking.
I thought the £1.50 postage/packing was very fair. Usually by that stage in the buying process you are committed and a chance for the seller to make a few bucks more.

 

[timbad]

I'm posting this link on behalf of a friend.
This is a great little device.

I bet that not many of you test the electricity supply when you visit other marinas.
When we first had our boat, we were given a supply that, simply, blew the boat up.
It cost me about £4,500 in repairs - new battery charger - new microwave oven etc.

One of these little devices would have saved all that.

Simple to use and priced very competitively - just £25 for a 16 amp and £35 for a 32 amp
Everyone should have one.
Just plug it in to test the supply before you plug your boat in.
Red is bad - Green is good.
Can't be simpler.

Note that these people also supply Smart 1 - Remote Boat Monitor
Remote Boat Monitoring Systems | Digital Gardianage Ltd

This appears to be a simple and cost effective plug that could save many hundred of pounds. Nice to see something such as this in the UK marine market but not with normally exorbitant marine prices.

 

[penberth3]

Just out of interest, I notice that Screwfix do a “domestic” version for £7.49 with a bit more diagnostics.
More of an observation really because you will still have to make up an adaptor for the marina socket and with the diagnostics you’re not going to go troubleshooting for the marina.
LAP MS6860D Socket Tester

There is a ready-made tool . Making an adaptor might be cheaper, or use an ordinary extension cable - round plug to 13A