shore power??

aztec

aztec

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 Oct 2001
Messages
2,522
Location
Poole Dorset
Visit site
i'm on shorepower while in the boatyard.

trip blows when i use the heater and kettle together, i'm concerned that all shorepower RCD's may be simmilar.

if that's the case i may need to consider power usage at an early stage.

any advice gratefully received.

steve.
 
2Kw heater + (say) 2kW kettle = 16amps. The trips on small blue socketed outlets are rated at 16 amps so maybe it isn't so surprising especially if you also have a battery charger running too.

See if there's a larger socket which will be a 32amp outlet.

Steve Cronin
 
cheers steve,

so it's normal?... how would i get on with an immersion heater for the hot water system?

what is the normal rating of shorepower connections?... i have a feeling that mine is rated at 10 amps.
 
Marinco do a Y adapter to boost 2 x 30a sockets to 1 cable. All 110v though.

Would be easy enough to make your own, but make sure all the connections made before you switch on as there will be live contacts exposed.
 
REAL DANGER

...if you parallel two seperate phases. IMO I's too risky unless you are sure that both supplies are wired to the same one of the 3 phases in the 415 (or 250 in the US) three phase supply.

Steve Cronin
 
Most marine immersion heaters are 900 to 1200 watts so diide this by the 250 (nom) voltage and you get the current in amps. So the immersion will draw 1000/250 = 4 amps giving you up to 12 spare capacity.

Steve Cronin
 
Re: REAL DANGER

Erm Steve..
I think Michael W was talking about 1 x supply going into 2 x Marinco sockets, which is splitting the feed, not parrelling it up; which is Ok. If I'm wrong and it's round the other way (as I think you read it) then I can see BIG flashes and possible death occurring if they're on different phases.
If on the same phase then I'd ask myself if the boat electrics can take a 60a load.
The answer would be 'a bit doubtful' I'd think! I can't see the boat electrics would have been be beefed up to take a load greater than the input socket can handle.
IMHO, of course.
 
Re: REAL DANGER

Quite agree but he WAS saying "...two sockets TO one cable.." therefore one must assume that taking a feed from two boatyard outlets and connecting them together was being suggested! Arrggghhh!


BTW, two 16amp sockets will only allow a max current of 2X 16 = 32 amps which most installations are designed to take.

His best alternative of course is to feed his fan heater from one source by a seperate shore cable independent of the boat's distribution unit - just an extension lead as such and feed the boat's installed circuits from another shore socket.

Steve Cronin
 
Well fine but....

... you MUST be sure that both shorepower sockets are on the same supply phase which in some Greek harbours is by no means certain. Maybe it has some sort of lock-out circuitry if it detects phase difference.

I know of a good few places where you might also run into sociological problems too by using up two outlets.

Steve Cronin
 
is it the shore power tower or the boat that's tripping? Also what are the starting loads?

Are you going to the USA at anytime with the boat?

shore power or rather AC power on boats is an interesting subject. There are lots of solutions depending on your plans.

One i saw recently was the use of an 90A AC charger able to accept 110 to 260 Volts AC combined with a Charger/Inverter to boost the input to 240V if the shore power was too low on Amps or Volts.

Just note AC and boats do not mix easily.

If you are just looking for a solution when in the boatyard then don't use the two togeather.
 
shore power in the yard is a tower, i think it's rated at 16 amps.

no i'm not going to usa.

it was just a thought that if i connect to a marina shorepower socket, would i overrun the supply. whilst i'm rebuilding the boat it would be a great time to consider power usage.

cheers, steve.
 
If the systems are setup correctly then you should be OK.

Are you actually tripping anything when you switch everything on?

Also check your earth connections. Elsewhere on these forums people have suggested disconnecting the earth from you shorepower lead to avoid earthing the marina through the boat. May or may not be a good idea (I actually do this but opinions are divided). However in the yard you are not earthed through the boat so you need to make sure it's connected.

I usually havew no problem in Temptress running Immersion, Kettle, toaster and Fan Heater via shore power altrhough in some marinas I can trip the shoretower. However when my wife uses her Hairdryer on it often trips everything in sight......
 
The hair dryer is probably tripping the RCD which only needs to detect 30mA going to earth to prevent humans from electrocuting themselves*. The overload circuit breaker is a different beast altogether and only trips the current when a draw in excess of it's rating is pulled. It's function is to prevent circuit damage NOT flesh damage.

*which is easily possible without actually tripping the overload circuit breaker.

Steve Cronin
 
Re: REAL DANGER

This is a bit of American kit, and could be for getting 250v from 2 x 125v supplies on different phases. I believe they wire the neutrals together and then pull from the two 'hot' sides. It's not something I'd fancy doing myself... but apparently it's done very often out there.
There was a thread on this some months back I seem to remember.
 
thanks for the advice chaps, it looks like i'm tripping the overload breaker at 10 amps.

obviously this highlighted the possibility that i needed to consider power usage when connected.

easy way to manage it is to switch off the heater, which i must admit is set to "flat out" to aid drying the boat out.... probably a little too much to expect of the shore power breaker.

thanks for your advice, it's greatfully received.

steve.
 
Re: Well fine but....

Be very careful!!!
Those connectors from West Marine are designed for the North America power system.
In N.A. only 125VAC is provided on a 3 wire system.
On the continent 250VAC is generated from the grid and delivered on 3 wires. 1 hot 250VAC 1 neutral and 1 Ground.
The only way to get 250VAC in N.A. is to have a 4 wire system which has 2 out of phase 125VAC hot wires with 1 neutral and the case is wired to Ground.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top