Guys and Gals, I recently met Kevin T. Ritz, the author of these articles, when he spoke at the fresh-water marina where my Baba 30 sailboat is being refurbished. An ELCI (Electrical Leakage Circuit Interrupter) is a Very Good Thing, as is an isolation transformer! I am installing both on my boat, .. and the SmartPlug 30-amp shore power cord and boat-side shore power receptacle, too.
http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/kritz.asp http://www.sail-world.com/Cruising/Dock-tragedy-shows-danger-of-fresh-water-marinas/62455 Jim Maynard S/V Mistress of Portland, Oregon Saint Helens, Oregon, USA http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/kritz.asp http://www.sail-world.com/Cruising/Dock-tragedy-shows-danger-of-fresh-water-marinas/62455 On 2011-03-04 09:32 AM, Ben Okopnik wrote: > On Fri, Mar 04, 2011 at 10:08:45AM -0600, [email protected] wrote: >> >> Vern, >> >> No, that's not it. >> >> The boat end of the shore power cable has ring terminals crimped and >> soldered on. These terminals are bolted to matching terminals (on the >> cable that goes to the distribution breaker panel) in a protected and dry >> place well inside the boat. The shore power cord, about 50 feet of >> three-conductor #6 SO cord, then exits the boat via a 2" deck plate on the >> side of the cabin. >> >> The shore end of my shore power cable has a range type male plug on it. > I think that this is the best, most reliable approach to bringing shore > power aboard (not that I think about it all that much - I'm more or less > allergic to marinas. They cause heavy bleeding from the wallet.) > However, having done something similar with the cabling to my generator > system, I've noticed an issue with it, one worth being aware of: I don't > have an isolation transformer, and when I'm tied into generator or shore > power, I use the incoming AC to run my charger, etc., as well as > powering my AC system directly. This, however, means that the male plug > that goes to shore is _live_ when my AC system is being driven by the > on-board inverter. > > Now, yes, I *should* be aware enough to cut off the inverter before > hooking into external power or even handling the plug (which is normally > kept in a recessed tube designed for the purpose) - and I usually am > - but for things like this, I strongly prefer some kind of an automatic > system that prevents getting shocked (or frying the inverter.) > Unfortunately, I haven't come up with one - other than making the shore > plug a female one and using a double-ended male pigtail (which has its > own dangers - but they are a) obvious and b) you're only handling it > once per connection, and that for only a few seconds.) > > Norm, what do you do normally do about this? Or do you just have an > isolation transformer? > > > Ben _______________________________________________ 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
