Marinco shorepower socket

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Were down on the boat and after breaking the Ebby on our last visit (new flame fail & temp sensors wanted for a D1Lc) were using an oil filled rad and a small fan heater for the aft berth.

We had the electrics fail just as we were going out on Friday night, on investigation we found the shorepower inlet socket to be warm, not wanting to start ripping everything apart I removed the 240v distribution panel, unwired the inlet cable and wired the shorepower lead directly to the 32amp breaker at the panel, power restored we had heating etc again.

Today I fully investigated, removing the marinco input socket from the boat as the terminal pins looked green with corrosion, we found the + terminal heavily corroded and evidence of things getting hot inside, I guess that the corrosion had set up some resistance and using a few things onboard at the same time had made it get hot.
Thoroughly cleaned and ready to reinstall but stoped to think about it, before we do I have a couple of questions.

Boat is a standard Fairline Targa 28, the socket is a marinco 16amp 125volt stainless one, looks original but why 16amp 125volt?
Breaker at the distribution panel is 32amp so this probably wouldn't fail before the socket.

Iv'e googled marinco and they do a 220volt 32 amp socket and plug, there high cost but would it be the right thing to fit in replacement to the 16amp one that we have removed.

Would Fairline have fitted the 16amp socket as standard?

PS; the socket looks to have been taken apart at some point previously, so could be a bodged replacement for the original.
 
Bad, dirty or corroded contacts coupled with a high load will very probably have caused the heating. You are lucky you found it before it set your boat on fire!

If you are on a 220/230/240 volt supply you should not be using any equipment only rated for 125 volts! Use the correctly rated equipment.

If you fit a 16 amp plug and socket the circuit at the pontoon outlet must be protected by a 16 amp fuse or breaker.

If the pontoon outlet is fused/ protected to 32 amps you must use a 32 amp cable and you must use 32 amp connectors at the boat.
 
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A Marinco 16a 240v socket would have been fitted as oe by Fairline; the 125v equivalent Marinco product is rated at 30a. Are you absolutely certain that yours is 125v and 16a - this would be an unusual combination for a Marinco product.

Fwiw on my Targa 40 the 32a Marinco socket is protected by a 20a breaker on the boat - could there also be a shorepower breaker protecting the inlet on your boat?

Finally - you won't get a Marinco 32a fitting for £35 - they are about 3x this cost. I should think you're talking about a 16a fitting for that sort of price.

Cheers
Jimmy
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
A Marinco 16a 240v socket would have been fitted as oe by Fairline; the 125v equivalent Marinco product is rated at 30a. Are you absolutely certain that yours is 125v and 16a - this would be an unusual combination for a Marinco product.

Fwiw on my Targa 40 the 32a Marinco socket is protected by a 20a breaker on the boat - could there also be a shorepower breaker protecting the inlet on your boat?

Finally - you won't get a Marinco 32a fitting for £35 - they are about 3x this cost. I should think you're talking about a 16a fitting for that sort of price.

Cheers
Jimmy
Click to expand...

You can get plastic and stainless versions. Fairline use stainless. The insides are identical, so if you need to replace one buy a plastic one and swap the guts.
 
Sorry yes it's the 30amp version as supplied by fairline, on the cover it reads 'Marinco stainless 30A 125V grounding', just looked at a T29 berthed just down from us & it has the same?

The main breaker onboard is 32A at the distribution panel and at the marina shorepower socket 16A.

So my next question is, just like the ones being sold by EBY are they dual voltage?, mine looks exactly the same as the one pictured.

http://www.coastalrides.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=921
 
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Yep, the 50a/125v is rated at 32a/240v - but if this is import stock it won't necessarily be stamped with the 240v rating. However, beware that although it's fairly easy to get the sockets, the matching plugs are like hens teeth and you'll almost certainly end up paying over £100 for one. I should know, mine was stolen off the boat in Brighton marina last year, grrr.

Cheers
Jimmy
 
One other thought: is there any point in upgrading your shorepower inlet to 32a, when in all probability your marina is only supplying 16a, and you're probably never going to need more than that anyway? If you're worried about protection, why not just fit a smaller breaker in your panel?

Cheers
Jimmy
 
I would recommend it is changed for a 16a commando style socket and given the rating on the original it should ring alarm bells as it implies it is not designed for he UK market there may be other elements such as cable rating and other equipment that needs to be changed. None of the above is major and remedies may be of minor cost and inconvenience. As stated in another reply the 16a and 32a connectors are physically different sizes as well as different power ratings. Power of course is a correlation of current and voltage that's an entirely new thread but is linked to your conundrum and is why you should check the rest of the installation.
 
boatingdave said:
I would recommend it is changed for a 16a commando style socket and given the rating on the original it should ring alarm bells as it implies it is not designed for he UK market there may be other elements such as cable rating and other equipment that needs to be changed. None of the above is major and remedies may be of minor cost and inconvenience. As stated in another reply the 16a and 32a connectors are physically different sizes as well as different power ratings. Power of course is a correlation of current and voltage that's an entirely new thread but is linked to your conundrum and is why you should check the rest of the installation.
Click to expand...

With respect, I think this is a bit alarmist. As I understand it, the OP may have originally misread the rating of the inlet, cos he has subsequently confirmed that it's rated at 16a/240v. It appears that he only has two issues to resolve - cleaning up or replacing the innards of the fitting to stop the poor connections generating heat, and fitting a breaker that provides the correct level of protection for the inlet, if needed.

To the OP: have you checked that there is no external breaker protecting the inlet, somewhere physically near the inlet itself? I suspect that your 32a panel breaker is for the panel itself, which may have included provision for aircon and other high-current loads. I think Fairline normally protect the inlets themselves separately. Worth a look?

Cheers
Jimmy
 
Jimmy, we may be at cross purposes here. I have been involved in some imported boats where the entire system was rated for the European or US Market (funnily enough one of which was a Broom imported from Spain back to the UK). As you have implied the connector size and type is 'almost' irrelevant as long as the supply and draw does not exceed that of the rated system, which includes all connectors. Boats are still covered by IEE regulations if they are to be connected to shore power. The checks are simple, didn't intend to be 'alarmist' and were only based on my own experiences. I'll gracefully bow out of the thread, was only trying to help. If OP connects to a 16a supply all of the supposition disappears anyway :-). My Fairline Targa didn't have a separate MCB covering the incoming supply neither does my current Princess, they both rely on the protection on the incoming supply.
Good luck
 
boatingdave said:
Jimmy, we may be at cross purposes here.
Click to expand...

Aha, sorry, I wasn't picking a fight. I'm interested in your comment about your Targa not having a separate breaker on the supply though, cos both of mine did (37 and 40) - although in fairness I cannot remember if my Princess (42) did or didn't.

Anyway - happy new year! :D

Cheers
Jimmy
 
Hi Jimmy,
Many thanks for helping out here, I think I may have confused issues by giving duff info in my first post.

The Marinco socket as fitted is marked with 30A 125V and not 16A as first reported, but has no mention of 240v anywhere on it, the socket is wired directly to the distribution panels 32amp RCCD (marked 240v).
So the 32amp breaker at the distribution panel is rated higher than the boats shorepower connection socket.
Boat is a standard Targa 28, built for the UK market.

The shorepower cord and plug are normal Arctic grade, blue 3 pin 16Amp stuff, the breaker and socket marina side is 16Amp.
I know the 32amp plug/socket sizes and confirm their not that big.

Iv'e ordered the 50A 125/240v socket from EBY (kindly suggested by Swifty).
I Looked at a few Fairlines down at the Marina today and the one ordered is common to all of those looked at.

One final question though, is it worth swaping out the 32A main breaker for a 16amp seeing as we only use a 16amp shorepower lead that's plugged into a socket protected by a 16amp RCD shoreside?
 
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