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Old 13-09-2018, 01:53   #16
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

No worries Dave, advice made only in good faith and the knowledge I have gained over a lot of years. Now very happily retired sailing and navigating our wonderful world. And yes you are right I will never pilot a wide bodied jet I know when to leave things to the experts.

Greg H
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Old 13-09-2018, 04:16   #17
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

I have condemned many electrical systems on boats that were installed by competent and qualified land electricians.

There are many different rules for electricity on a boat due to the fact that electricity and water don't mix well..... neutral ground bonding, AC ground - DC negative bonding, battery fuse protection. cathodic protection bonding, can't mount a charger over batteries etc ...... the list goes on.

You may have competently wired a house without an electrician but a boat is a very different thing.
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Old 13-09-2018, 04:25   #18
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

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Originally Posted by Tillsbury View Post
You might (should) find that you can't connect to the marina power without an electrical certificate, and you can't get one of those without an electrician doing the work. What you can do is but the chargers and breakers and install those unwired. You could also run cable to where it needs to go. Beyond that, get a sparky to do it.

I wouldn't want to stay in a marina that didn't insist on electrical safety certificates for all boats, as your dodgy wiring can damage my boat.


Well, you won’t want to be staying in any US marinas.
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Old 13-09-2018, 04:29   #19
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

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Well, you won’t want to be staying in any US marinas.
or Canadian
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Old 13-09-2018, 05:38   #20
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

Strongly consider getting a Smartplug instead of the Marineco plug. Click image for larger version

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Old 13-09-2018, 09:00   #21
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

Appreciate you appear to be in Hawaii area, but suggest you consider extra CBs for hot water heater and microwave oven. Hard to fully enjoy a sailboat unless first mate is happy!

As for me, I’d give up a lot other things on our 28 O’Day before I’d give up the microwave, particularly when cruising during Summer. So much you can do with little cabin heat generation (soup, coffee, leftovers, even warming up a wet face cloth. As to hot water heater I found plenty of room for a 6 gal electric/ engine coolant loop hot water heater. Can completely heat up in 15 -20 minutes so you don’t have to manage the 30 amps all day.

Of course, this requires a 2000w Inverter, which are very inexpensive these days. In addition to the microwave, it allows you use of any normal tool, appliance you might need (electric drill, vacuum, palm sander, TV, hair dryer,...)
I obviously like my creature comforts, but 50 yrs of sailing, 2 yrs full time cruising in Caribbean, and now 10 yrs into retirement sailing all around Chesapeake Bay have taught me is to anticipate further needs, shifting lifestyles, repairs and build them into any project/ upgrade projects.

I also added several 12v charger sockets for iPhone/ various other portable devices.

As to your question on 12v vs 120ac fans... we have use both. A ac fan is always on when on Shore power/ docked/ closed up... even in our Winters on the hard (to prevent mildew & mold).

Back to the TV... it’s not just for entertainment. Here in NE, Summer thunderstorms can pop up suddenly with 50 mph+ winds. Having all the morning and evening TV wx info is very helpful. With today’s digital tv system most TV station are transmitting 3 or 4 sub channels of programming (we typically get have 60 different free programs to choose from... but most important is many transmit 24/7 weather w/ live wx radar. So if your Boat doesn’t have radar, it’s a great addition.
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Old 13-09-2018, 09:34   #22
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

In addition to the good advice above, I would not use a traditional shore power cable. Instead use the Smartplug. This may well help prevent an electrical fire. The trouble with the old three prong twist shore power is that the build up a lot of heat, are easily corroded, and were never designed for marine applications. They were first developed in the late 1930's for temporary power during construction. They have just under 7 square mm of contact area. This allows for tremendous heat build up.


The smart plug has just under 200 square mm of contact area and is a much more secure mounting.


Check out this link for the details:
https://marinehowto.com/shore-power-...tplug-vs-1938/


You can find the smartplug in many places including this well known nautical supply sotore (No, I don't sell these!)
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...artplug+30+amp


Good luck with your set up.
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Old 13-09-2018, 09:48   #23
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

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Originally Posted by Tillsbury View Post
You might (should) find that you can't connect to the marina power without an electrical certificate, and you can't get one of those without an electrician doing the work. What you can do is but the chargers and breakers and install those unwired. You could also run cable to where it needs to go. Beyond that, get a sparky to do it.

I wouldn't want to stay in a marina that didn't insist on electrical safety certificates for all boats, as your dodgy wiring can damage my boat.
I have never been asked to provide any "safety certificate" to allow me to hook up to marina power here in the US or Mexico. I think there is something in the documentation that was provided by the manufacturer but nobody ever asked to see it.
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Old 13-09-2018, 10:26   #24
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

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AS I said I am a Newbie and thought the ProMariners were pretty good.
The ProMariner ProNautic P series (identical to the Sterling Pro Charge Ultra) are excellent.

+1 on the SmartPlug recommendation. Has much better electrical contact and much safer (less likely to overheat and cause a fire) than the Marinco twist-lock type.

Definitely 12v fans.

The batteries you've chosen are all basically the same type, so a single charger charging all of them using the same profile will be fine. However, you might consider using another deep cycle, identical to the house batteries, for your engine start battery. It'll still have plenty of CCA (even though they don't print it on the label) start a small diesel, and gives you better redundancy/backup should you find yourself with a dead house bank.

And despite what it says on the label, the West Marine deep cycles are not true deep cycle batteries. They're more of a dual-purpose / pseudo deep cycle. Not necessarily bad batteries, and in fact you may not really need true deep cycles (depends on your planned usage), but WM really jacks the price up. The exact same battery is sold by East Penn under their Deka brand, and also at Batteries Plus (relabeled as Duracell), Orielly Auto Parts, and I'm sure NAPA and other auto parts outlets.

Finally, if you're not tied to the Group 27 size, a pair of 6v golf cart batteries will make a much better and less expensive house bank. Trojan T105s are the "go to" choice, but Deka (again available at Batteries Plus with a Duracell label, and Sam's Club in some parts of the country) is also excellent and likely cheaper.
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Old 13-09-2018, 11:53   #25
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

+1 to what Bleemus & ArmyDaveNY have said about Smartplug. Since you are starting from scratch this is the only way to go!
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Old 13-09-2018, 13:19   #26
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

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I have never been asked to provide any "safety certificate" to allow me to hook up to marina power here in the US or Mexico. I think there is something in the documentation that was provided by the manufacturer but nobody ever asked to see it.
That surprises me. We used to have to in the uk, and here in the new marina in nz I had to provide emailed copies of gas certification and electrical certificate before taking over the berth. Both are renewable every four years i think. Insurance clearly states that I’m uninsured if either of these run out, and the marina wants $5m public liability insurance to stay here. In addition, if they see a shore power cable without an annual testing tag they unplug it.

Gas and mains electricity are not for playing with, especially on a boat. I agree with the above that although I have rewired several houses I wouldn’t do the mains on a boat myself. The biggest part of the job by far is running all the cable behind and through everything on a boat. If you do this yourself then the cost of a professional to connect everything up properly is going to be minimal.
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Old 13-09-2018, 13:53   #27
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

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Originally Posted by Tillsbury View Post
That surprises me. We used to have to in the uk, and here in the new marina in nz I had to provide emailed copies of gas certification and electrical certificate before taking over the berth. Both are renewable every four years i think. Insurance clearly states that I’m uninsured if either of these run out, and the marina wants $5m public liability insurance to stay here. In addition, if they see a shore power cable without an annual testing tag they unplug it.

Gas and mains electricity are not for playing with, especially on a boat. I agree with the above that although I have rewired several houses I wouldn’t do the mains on a boat myself. The biggest part of the job by far is running all the cable behind and through everything on a boat. If you do this yourself then the cost of a professional to connect everything up properly is going to be minimal.
I completely agree with you. Most of the recommendations I write in survey reports are electrical in nature and I find at least half of the boats I survey have potentially lethal electric issues. Propane is even worse. Believe it or not there are absolutely no legally required propane standards on boats in North America ! Take a look at some of my photos in my Safe Boat Propane Installations if you want a chuckle.
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Old 13-09-2018, 15:45   #28
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

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ok





Either will work. If ABYC compliance is important I believe you need meters for both volts and amps.
ABYC does not require meters except when an inverter is installed, then a voltmeter is required.
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Old 13-09-2018, 23:34   #29
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

Wow! Thanks to all for the wealth of info. This Forum is great! Thanks for all the heads up on the Smart Plug. I already bought the cable at WM but it is still in the package and bought a few days ago so back it goes and I cancelled my order for the boat recepticle.

I decided, thanks to some people much smarter than I, to to run all 3 charge sources to the House bank and "Echo charger" to the Start batt. The last choice is which charger? Is a 12A charger like
ProMariner 43012 ProSport 12 12 Amp, 12/24 Volt, 2 Bank Generation 3 Battery Charger
adequate for 2 house and a start batt? Is a 24A charger like
ProMariner Tournament 24 Amp 12/24V Elite Battery Charger
too much draw along with a beverage refer 30A service. And, is it worth more than twice the price?
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Old 13-09-2018, 23:45   #30
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Re: Marine Electrics Newbie Need Help Setting Up Shore Power

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No worries Dave, advice made only in good faith and the knowledge I have gained over a lot of years. Now very happily retired sailing and navigating our wonderful world. And yes you are right I will never pilot a wide bodied jet I know when to leave things to the experts.

Greg H
Touché! I appreciate the input.


I am also happily retired, but I do kinda miss my long layovers in Tahiti, Fiji, Bali, Auckland, Sydney, Surfers, Brisbane and Melbourne. Now I just have to suffer here in Hawaii.
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