Thanks to all who responded! There does not seem to a consensus in regard to the AC ground. Any other (additional) discussion would certainly help to educate me. I am concerned about an AC to DC connection however my fears may be ungrounded (sorry I couldn't resist). Thanks again for all the input.
Emory Jones S/V Jacob Andrew Solomons, MD On Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 10:28 AM, [email protected] < [email protected]> wrote: > > > It has been some time since we have had this discussion on the List, and I > don't dock, so my memory is a bit fuzzy about it. > > I seem to recall that grounding the green conductor to boat ground > completes a loop with the other end being the green conductor connected to > earth ashore at the marina's main power point and that this creates a > possibility of currents in this loop and that is not a Good Thing. > > Big ships do, or at least used to, not connect the neutral to the hull. > All the current carrying conductors were above ground. If everything was > correct, that is - there was no electrical leakage - then one could stand > in a wet bilge and grasp a hot wire with impunity since the hull was > isolated from all electricity. It was called the "bathtub system" I > suppose because the electric system was entirely contained like water in a > bathtub. This system does work well but you have to have a way to detect > ground faults and correct them quickly. > > Like you, I am sure there are more knowledgeable folks on the List who can > set us straight on this matter. Please speak up. > > (Where are you Arild?) > > Norm > S/V Bandersnatch > Lying Julington Creek FL > N30 07.68 W081 38.47 > > > > > > Hi Norm, > > This is for the benefit of folks who do dock their boats. > > Whether using an isolation transformer or not the docked boat ought to > meet the safety requirements by having the shore cable ground conductor > connected to the boat ground. (ie: Engine block and the negative terminal > of the 12Vdc system) > > However, if you connect the shore ground to boat ground you complete a > circuit between own boat and the other boats in the vicinity and due to > dissimilar metals in the water a DC leakage current may exist, causing > damage due to electrolysis. > > If you connect the shore ground to boat ground through a galvanic > isolator you may be safe and possibly free of damage. > > Then there is the question about whether to use a capacitor across the > galvanic isolator and what harm does AC leakage do if any? > > Andina or other folks may volunteer to explain the effects of AC leakage? > > Cheers > > Ahmet > > > _______________________________________________ > Liveaboard mailing list > [email protected] > To adjust your membership settings over the web > http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard > To subscribe send an email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ > > To search the archives > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > The Mailman Users Guide can be found here > http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html >
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