Hubbell shore power receptacle

superheat6k

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Last week I found the shore supply RCD tripped on the pontoon post, which I traced to the shore power receptacle. Examination of this revealed it to be in fairly shoddy condition.

So after a bit of googling I found a copy version from Furrier at just £11 this was from Furneaux Riddall, and was on clearance offer with 15 in stock. But the description did not make it clear if this was male or female so I only bought one. My Grand Banks has two shore power receptacles - one at each end of the boat, with the fwd one not used much.

Well what arrived on Friday was a simply superb stainless steel receptacle, it was the male required so I thought must get a second, especially as other websites were asking as high as £150 for the thing. Too late all the stock had been cleared.

Now for my question- the receptacle has four connections and is obviously intended for a US two phase 125 / 240v supply, with the Earth on the steel casing. But on my boat the earth is using the white terminal, live is on the red and neutral on the black, with no earth connection to the casing. This matches the two shore power cables that came with the boat.

Is this a normal set up for the UK - I did note the cruddy Hubbell only had three terminals ?

Also as an aside two of the connection lugs on the Furrier had a small bent tang with just one on the Hubbell so I had to saw one of these off to allow the plug to properly marry with the receptacle socket.

Annoyingly the Furrier is a few MM fatter than the Hubbell so today I have to open up the mount hole with nested hole saws.

I will be buzzing through from the shore power cable to double check I get the connections in the positions to match the original and cable, and will ignore the markings from Furrier. Should I connect the earth to the earth case connection also ?
 

starfire

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Over the years I have come to hate the hubble & similar connectors, IMHO the most badly designed plugs for a marine environment. But, everybody fits them, so the rest of the manufacturers follow like sheep.
Never mind the endless permutations of voltage & amps. They may be OK with the thicker conductors in the US, but the number of times I have had to cut them out because they have melted together due to loose connections or not twisted to lock.


I have come to like these, no connection other than a satisfied user.

Marine: Shore Power - Products


or if a bit expensive, use the standard industrial connectors.
 

PaulRainbow

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Over the years I have come to hate the hubble & similar connectors, IMHO the most badly designed plugs for a marine environment. But, everybody fits them, so the rest of the manufacturers follow like sheep.
Never mind the endless permutations of voltage & amps. They may be OK with the thicker conductors in the US, but the number of times I have had to cut them out because they have melted together due to loose connections or not twisted to lock.


I have come to like these, no connection other than a satisfied user.

Marine: Shore Power - Products


or if a bit expensive, use the standard industrial connectors.

I completely agree with the above. I have also had to deal with melted connectors and Ratio is my first choice for a replacement.

I cannot understand how the Marinco/Hubble etc are still allowed in new build regs/standards.
 

superheat6k

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So I went down to the boat to install the new Furrier, which is certainly a decent item, but its barrel is marginally larger than the Hubbell, so I enlarged the hole in the GRP. Then check the fit of the Furrier to find it fouled the surrounding GRP mouldings. This was due to the Hubbell being cut off square, whereas the Furrier has a full round outer section.

So onto plan B - swap the Hubbell from the fwd connection and then place the new Furrier on the flat stainless plate where this is mounted below the windlass. The idea is sound and the Hubbell from that position is in remarkably good condition, but the hole this time is in stainless plate, so this will need machining to properly open the hole up by ~ 8mm.

It did strip the fwd Hubbell right to so I could fully clean it, and discovered the tag used for the earth is linked to a plate that contacts the side casing. Clearly this connector is different to the standard US version, but not so much that I can't use the US Furrier. I will include a simple link cable on the earth to the casing grub screw.

Now just got to find a trepanning tool at my factory to open the panel hole up a few mm.
 

superheat6k

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I replaced my useless Hubbel with a SmartPlug. It is designed to fit the hole from a Hubbel so painless installation. SmartPlug | Innovative marine shore power connectors (force4.co.uk)

TS
I think it looks tacky compared with the Furrier, and WOW - the price !!! I would rather simply fit the common blue commando / siphon style.

That said the stainless plate that mounted the fwd Hubbell is one hard piece of metal, an HSS mill cutter would don't touch it, so now waiting to try a carbide cutter instead. Fortunately for me use of a Mill comes free.
 

Alex_Blackwood

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So I went down to the boat to install the new Furrier, which is certainly a decent item, but its barrel is marginally larger than the Hubbell, so I enlarged the hole in the GRP. Then check the fit of the Furrier to find it fouled the surrounding GRP mouldings. This was due to the Hubbell being cut off square, whereas the Furrier has a full round outer section.

So onto plan B - swap the Hubbell from the fwd connection and then place the new Furrier on the flat stainless plate where this is mounted below the windlass. The idea is sound and the Hubbell from that position is in remarkably good condition, but the hole this time is in stainless plate, so this will need machining to properly open the hole up by ~ 8mm.

It did strip the fwd Hubbell right to so I could fully clean it, and discovered the tag used for the earth is linked to a plate that contacts the side casing. Clearly this connector is different to the standard US version, but not so much that I can't use the US Furrier. I will include a simple link cable on the earth to the casing grub screw.

Now just got to find a trepanning tool at my factory to open the panel hole up a few mm.
Can you not remove a piece of material from the unit ?
 
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