shore power - how to tell if its ok for uk?

symondo said:
ive got the other end which im quite confused as to why someone has purposefully fitted
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My Boat was installed with a female socket on the boat side as well which is as everyone says a really bad idea. I have now changed it. what really surprised me is that they seemed to have changed th shorepower lead to a male plug at both ends instead of changing the socket on the boat which seems like more work all round as well as dangerous!
 
owen-cox said:
My Boat was installed with a female socket on the boat side as well which is as everyone says a really bad idea. I have now changed it. what really surprised me is that they seemed to have changed th shorepower lead to a male plug at both ends instead of changing the socket on the boat which seems like more work all round as well as dangerous!
Click to expand...

My shore power lead has the relevant plug - albeit one that doesnt fit that socket on it and then a 3 pin plug on the other end - again it all looks like its been altered to suit. I'm thinking maybe a fresh socket and lead is the way forward on this 1 for peace of mind
 
Qualifying for Darwin award too. My boat was fitted with the female on board and required male shore side cattle prod. Needless to say - its not like that now.
 
My boat, which has a single 13amp socket in the saloon and a battery charger in the cockpit locker, was fitted with a shore lead hard wired in, but also has a female outlet socket, (the marina type), in the cockpit locker, presumably to supply power in the cockpit for tools etc. As it happens, I have a lead with a marina plug at one end and a 4-gang extension type socket at the other that I made up for use in the boatyard when I had a previous boat. I haven't tried it in the cockpit socket yet. I will connect up on next visit to the boat and report back.
 
new socket purchased....

enclosed type with waterproof gasket flush mounted..

So ive got some jisgaw blades and masking tape - not looking forward to taking a saw to the side of the boat but i need a hole it fits in.

Anyway....

took the old fitting out to have a look at the wires - the colours caught be by suprise then i found this label.

So to get this right - in the states for 'export'

Green - earth
white - neutral (uk - blue)
BLACK - Live (uk - red/brown)

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...=5a8318c48cf3ac7ade169dd12d8b0fcd&oe=571ADB29
 
symondo said:
So to get this right - in the states for 'export'

Green - earth
white - neutral (uk - blue)
BLACK - Live (uk - red/brown)
Click to expand...

White for neutral, black for live is the normal US domestic standard. I suppose they should have ideally used blue and brown on a boat being exported to Europe, but it's not very surprising that they didn't.

Black for 110v live of course clashes with 12v negative, which is obviously stupid, but then so are lots of US "standards" :p

They have stuff called "safety cable" there which uses yellow for 12v negative to keep it separate from the mains, but it's not always used.

Pete
 
When at work I can recall many people being caught out by the US Black/White/Green convention on test equipment mains cords.

The convention that really seems illogical to me is Green for 12v positive in (British) caravans! (white for 12v negative is not so bad).
 
Well my shore power hookup cable is now correct with fresh ends fitted.

Just need to mask up cut and connect the new fitting to the side of the structure to find out what doesn't work on the 240v side lol
 
symondo said:
Just need to mask up cut and connect the new fitting to the side of the structure
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I would seriously consider relocating it to somewhere more appropriate - it's hard to tell from the picture, but that looks as if it's just on the side of the hull a couple of feet above the water? You don't really want to be sousing it with spray or dunking it in a wave at sea. Somewhere around the stern or in the cockpit would be more usual.

Pete
 
prv said:
I would seriously consider relocating it to somewhere more appropriate - it's hard to tell from the picture, but that looks as if it's just on the side of the hull a couple of feet above the water? You don't really want to be sousing it with spray or dunking it in a wave at sea. Somewhere around the stern or in the cockpit would be more usual.

Pete
Click to expand...

It's fairly high up the side and from other photos seems the standard location for it. It'll get me going and if I have issue I can re visit
 
job done!

dodgy non fitting plug gone, new waterproof socket fitted. put fresh ends on the cable too for peace of mind

seems the water heater and cooker top trip the lot and the house, but the battery charger and sockets (and fridge for that matter) work fine.

the cooker top is an electric/alcohol stove, so not really a biggy, and the hot water... i can live without it.

also with a decent voltage ive also solved a few 12v issues so overall quite a productive day

20160424_180855.jpg
 
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