220v Shore Power

[lanceolson]

Hi - I Have A 1986 63 Cpmy. I'm At A New Marina This Year And It Has The Old 'y' Electical System Which Supplies 208v. My Boat Is Down The Line A Little Bit And I Am Only Reading 200v At Times On My Electrical Panel. Do You Think This Will Cause Problems? Thanks In Advance.

[Ross Macdonald]

At our marina in San Diego we are all getting 208v on 50 amp. Hasn't been a problem. The only thing I did was lower the input voltage setting on the inverter to just below 208v so it wouldn't sense the voltage was low and switch over to the inverter. Not being a marine electrician, I don't know if 200volts would be a problem. Good Luck, Ross

[fixin-to-cruise]

See if you can change the input tap connection on the input/isolation transformer. Mine had a lower voltage tap that was used when it was outside the US. Open the wiring access cover on the transformer and you might find instructions or a wiring diagram there.

[REBrueckner]

Adjusting the power tap if you have one is the best option. Low voltage has been discussed here before and I recall it being a problem for some.....try a search such as "shore power" and see what you can find.

[spcoolin]

Voltage below 200 volts is very hard on A/C compressors...

If you have digital Cruisair A/C controls (SMX) below 200 volts for more than 3 minutes is the threshold that will make the controls shut down the system & display LO/AC...

You can lie to the controls by going into the programming mode and setting the reading higher than what it actually is, but you are taking a big risk there too...You are defeating the protection...Hopefully the SMX controls have been calibrated to the incoming voltage to each A/C unit...But most times they are not...

Be careful to look at your voltage with the A/C running...30-40 amps of load at the end of a dock that only starts out at 208 can easily drop that voltage below 200 volts....

Before SMX we had many more compressor failures from folks running on low voltage & not knowing it...

Steve~

[REBrueckner]

Here is one prior discussion:
http://www.samsmarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13262&highlight=shore+power+voltage

and another of relevence:

http://www.samsmarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10022&highlight=shore+power+voltage

[Walter P]

I solved my problem with 208 by buying a voltage booster transformer that was made by Wards Marine Electric of Ft Lauderdale. It boosted by incoming by approx 10%, which is fine.

The problem as I have been told with changing the wire connections to the other pins in your built in isolation transformer (Hatteras orig) is that while it will boost your 208 to the proper level at your marina, but what about when you travel and the next marina has 240 v coming in? It seems to me that with the pin setting on the high side you will be probably getting somewhere between 260 and 265 v which would probably damage some systems. I don't know for sure as I am far from qualified to make determinations regarding anything electrical. It just seems logical. Can anyone expand on this please?

Walt

[Ross Macdonald]

Walt...How much did the unit to boost voltage cost? That sounds like the ticket. I saw a number of big yachts with those units down in Mexico last season. Does the shorepower plug come from the dock connection to the booster and into the boat? And is the unit sitting on the dock? We don't run A/C as much out here on the West Coast as you folks do back there, but it would be a great thing to have when we head to Mexico again this year. Ross

[sandspur1966]

It seems to me that with the pin setting on the high side you will be probably getting somewhere between 260 and 265 v which would probably damage some systems. I don't know for sure as I am far from qualified to make determinations regarding anything electrical. It just seems logical. Can anyone expand on this please?


My OEM transformer is rigged with a switch at the main panel so I can select boost or not. One of the few things that the PO did right.

[Canuck Dennis]

My iso tsfrmr has a switch to select the shore voltage, if 240 at shore then set to 240 and stays 240, if 208, set to 208 and it boosts to 240.

[Walter P]

Ross, I bought my booster unit from a friend who is an HOFer here in central Jersey. I got a good deal, but if you can't find one used, then a new one from Wards will cost around $1,500 to $2,000. I think the selector switch described by Sandspur and Dennis is the way to go, which is why I ended up with my deal. The person I bought it from was unaware that his 60 ft Hatt was equipped with the switch when he bought the boat so he bought the portable booster. Shortly thereafter he was told about the switch and I became the beneficiary of his portable unit.

The unit is fairly heavy for it's size (about 25 or 30 lbs). It has two cables coming out of it, one with a male end and the other with a female. You just plug the male end into the shore power post/socket and then insert the male end of your typical 50 A shore cable into the female pigtail of the booster and flip the breaker on the dock to the on position. Check your incoming voltage without the unit and then with the unit and you should see about a 10% boost. I plan to have Jarret Bay install the switch thing on my boat however as it is much better than carrying a large adapter around.

By the way, I was advised by Wards, when I asked if it would be OK to put the booster in my dock box and make a couple of openings for the cables and they said absolutely not as it generates a bunch of heat and needs all the air it can get. A fairly common problem however is theft and they said that I should either string a locking chain around it to a post or some other sturdy dockside place or through bolt it to the dock box. Being in NJ, I doubt that it would ever be stolen as most of our crime is political. LOL.

Walt

[captbuddy]

It sounds like you need my buddy. He is a aircraft electrican and he put a booster in my isolation transformer and made it Buddy proof. Buddy being me. If I go to a marine and plug in and my gage reads 208, all I do is push this red button and it jumps to 240 v. If I plug in and it reads 240, I leave it alone. It goes back to normal when I unplug so I can't screw it up. All this was put into the isolation transformer. I would volunteer him but he is working in Dubi right now. It's no telling what he has saved me over the past six years. All I know is the ice maker didn't work in the summer until he put the booster in.
captbuddy

[TopHattandTails]

The way I understand this (I'm no electrical guru) is that you install another Iso transformer in the boat, but hook it up backwards. Then put a selector switch between the two iso's from incoming power for either 240 or 208 voltage. Might also be cool to have a volt meter wired in to the switch for easy viewing.

[GJH]

A pricey but elegant solution, which was installed by the PO of my boat, is the Charles Iso-Boost transformer, which replaces your OEM units. Automatically adjust to incoming voltage, no switching or thinking necessary; the latter advantage being especially important in my case...

[Ross Macdonald]

Walt and everyone else...Thanks. That's great info. I actually have a really good electrician in SD. I have printed most of the pertinent info from the replys here and will run it by him when I get back home. I will post any thoughts he has. But I'm guessing the wiring of the switch into the unit on the boat, or the installation of another unit would be the way to go. Ross

[sandspur1966]

While Georges solution with the newer, automatic Charles unit is clearly the best option, it is also pricey.

Your current, OEM buck/boost transformer will perform the same task but without the nifty Charles automated features for the cost of some wiring work and a two pole switch.

It is fairly idiot proof (me being a card-carrying idiot as proof of this) in that when you hook up the shore power and switch over to it, your amperage meter is right in your face... if it reads below 208, flip the boost switch and if not, don't... easy peasy.

I started down the road to see if Charles makes or could make up an automatic switch that they use in their complete units that I could retrofit into my system bt stopped myself before I did more harm than good.