Connecting European wired boat to US shore power

[NedBulle]

I'm temporarily on the dock - and looking to connect my European wired boat to US shore power. I've gotten a few quotes that are absurdly high to rewire to US and am looking for a more reasonable (and temporary) solution. I don't need to run anything other than my battery charger as I can (and do) live without 120v devices. I've tried to find a portable isolation transformer - my boat is large enough to store a heavy device and it would be worth carrying to have this capacity at times but the only thing close that I found is the Defender 3.3kVA Step Up Transformer 16A (https://www.defenderpower.com/produc...s-240v-e205030) Does anyone have experience with this or with similar? Any thoughts? My ideal (I think) is to simply plug a transformer into US Shore and then take the output and plug it into my 230V shore input (while switching off everything except my Mastervolt charger which can handle the range.) What am I missing? Who's got the perfect solve? Thanks in advance!

[Pete7]

If its a European yacht it might have the AC earth connected to the 12v DC negative circuit and from there to the anode.

If all you want to do is run a battery charger, why not just buy a cheap 20A charger and use an extension lead with a plug in RCBO / GGCI?

Pete

[NedBulle]

Thanks. I've got a bank of batteries and not sure how its all connected and since I have an existing charger set up it seems like tapping into that is the best approach. But I'm pretty green with all this.

[leecea]

The linked transformer had a couple of things I'd be concerned about. It says it wants a 50Hz input. It is labelled for an intermittent duty cycle of 5 mins on/15 mins off.

[Geoff54]

Some (most?) current Mastervolt battery chargers are 110/230volt (actually a greater range than that) 50/60htz. Could it be as simple as wiring a switchable supply such that you could supply your battery charger from a 110 or 230 source? Full disclosure - I'm no electrical expert.

[claptrap]

We are currently in the same situation, we have a rather big solar array on the boat but the sun is so low now, that I fear a few days of no sun (and no diesel heater). I ordered a 110V shore power adapter to household plug and a 30A Victron IP22 charger. This will sort the shore power problem permanently for North America without any other devices. I'm pretty sure that transformer is more expensive than the IP22 charger.

[s57ra]

Hi,
I spent last two years in US and Canada on EU boat.
To charge the batteries i use 50amps US shore power that has two 120V phases so you get 240/250V and 60hz power. Most of the chargers are able to handle it and home apliances too except washing machine.

[NedBulle]

Originally Posted by Geoff54

Some (most?) current Mastervolt battery chargers are 110/230volt (actually a greater range than that) 50/60htz. Could it be as simple as wiring a switchable supply such that you could supply your battery charger from a 110 or 230 source? Full disclosure - I'm no electrical expert.

That's what I'm thinking and based on the manual it doesn't specify the input. That said, neither am I!

[donradcliffe]

Go to the nearest auto parts store and buy a cheap 110 volt charger and an extension cord. You may need a 30 amp to 15 amp adaptor also.

[claptrap]

Originally Posted by s57ra

Hi,
I spent last two years in US and Canada on EU boat.
To charge the batteries i use 50amps US shore power that has two 120V phases so you get 240/250V and 60hz power. Most of the chargers are able to handle it and home apliances too except washing machine.

Does that mean you simply splice both phases on a 50A plug together to get something close to 240V?

[leecea]

Go to the nearest auto parts store and buy a cheap 110 volt charger

I tried using a "smart" Schumacher car battery charger on some lead acid deep cycle batteries I keep in my home and my meter was showing about 15.7v across the battery terminals so I stopped using it.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Mirabella

Does that mean you simply splice both phases on a 50A plug together to get something close to 240V?

There are a L1, L2, Neutral, and Grounding connections on a 50A US plug. You take L1 or L2 and connect it to the Load wire on your Euro boat, and connect the other to the Neutral wire.

[s57ra]

Originally Posted by Mirabella

Does that mean you simply splice both phases on a 50A plug together to get something close to 240V?

You connect your neutral and hot to hot ends (L1 and L2) where the voltage between phases is 240V. Check the thread below but make sure you understand what you're doing.
How to wire a 50 amp shore power plug in the USA - Cruisers & Sailing Forums https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...sa-279003.html

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by leecea

I tried using a "smart" Schumacher car battery charger on some lead acid deep cycle batteries I keep in my home and my meter was showing about 15.7v across the battery terminals so I stopped using it.

You should have saved money and bought the dumb charger. I lived in Australia for 2 years with a 6 amp 230v charger from Repco. I had gel batteries which didn't like overcharging, so I hooked one of my solar panel controllers in the loop.

When I got to Singapore and discovered Sin Lim tower, I bought a 3 KVA transformer for $75 and rewired the boat.

[NorthCoastJoe]

Originally Posted by Mirabella

Does that mean you simply splice both phases on a 50A plug together to get something close to 240V?

DO NOT DO THAT !!!! If you don't know what your doing get some help.

You can buy a marine charger for 110 volts and plug it into a proper shore power cord. An adapter like this would work.

https://www.amazon.com/Amp-Up-Marine...hoCw0kQAvD_BwE