Shore Power Problems! Help! 53MY

[stormchaser]

Pascal,

Again, I'm confused. On my baot, there are 3 AC service panels. On each one you can select whether it draws from Shoreline 1 or Shoreline 2. So, why wouldnt running 2 cords increase the total available amperage? Couldn't I run 2 cords and set two of the service panels to pull of shoreline 1 and 1 to pull off shoreline 2? For a total of 100 available amps at 240v? I think I must be electrical idiot. lol

[MikeP]

IF your 53MY is set up the same as mine, each of the shorepower inputs is separate and selectable in the master panel. Here's a pic of the master panel for shore/genny in our boat. It is located on the port side of the lower helm.

The center section - SHORE POWER 1 (transformer 1) - contains the rotary switch at the top that routes the "hot" shore power circuit to the ship's power buss. Their are 4 lights above the switch which correspond to the 4 possible shore power inputs. Two of them are 250VAC and two of them are 120VAC

The right section, ShorePower 2 (transformer 2), on our boat is ONLY hot if one of the two Glendinning extendable 50A cables are extended from the boat. I don't know if these Glen cables were standard or not on all 1980 53s.

There are master breakers for each of the transformers, and master breakers for each of the 3 ships service systems (lower part of panel). Each of the 3 ships service panels can be selected to use shorepower 1, 2, or the genny. So you could bring in a 50A service and a 30A service (one on shore 1 and one on shore 2) and route them appropriately. However, you can look at your panels and probably see that two of them have most of the 240VAC stuff so obviously you can't route 120VAC to them and have them work properly.

30A 120VAC is NOT slightly over half of the capability of 50A 240VAC. I thought that was the case myself until recently but the 50A 240 can produce nearly 4x as much power - 12KW as opposed to 3.6KW.

Does your panel look anything like mine? Don't know if this is helping or confusing you...

[sgharford]

Agree with Pascal's diagnostics. I have 50 amp service at my slip with Y cord that splits to two 30 amps cords. One leg went out (the 30 amp leg for AC). Breaker at shore outlet wasn't tripped and fuses OK. Swapped 30 amps cords and both worked off good leg of splitter so I figured wire went bad in splitter and bought new one ($140). Wasn't the splitter, one of the hot legs was dead before it got the shore side box and marina had to fix. Caused me two weeks gruff. Start at shore side box and work your way up. Just be careful sticking probes from multi-meter into outlet, 50amps allot of juice that would probably kill you if you touch metal part of hot multi-meter probe (Maybe have marina personnel do it is my point). You should download schematic of 50 amp outlet used on dock so you know which two prongs hot and which one ground.

To check these shot gun type fuses you will need to measure continuity with multi-meter (Put to ohms setting, if you get reading fuse is good, no reading fuse is bad) as you typically cannot see the element blown like typical automotive or home type fuses.

Good Luck! Your situation sounds urgent given cold weather.

[stormchaser]

Yes, my panel looks just like that! but we do not hae the retractable cables. We jsut ahve another set of 50-amp connections, one on port, one on starbaord that supply ShoreLine2. That's what we are running off of right now. Only Shore Line 1 transformer has both 240v and 120v inputs. Shoreline 2 is only 240v.

Given that, we should be able to distribute the load..correct? Have two of the service panels run off the 50am 240 connection on Shorelien 2 and once run off the 120v connection on Shoreline 1?

I'll try replacing the fuses. I only checked the upper ones (couldnt get the lwoer ones off)...will try with vice grips tonight. Wish me luck!

[stormchaser]

Wife just called...Home Depot has bussman bp/non 50s 250volt but nothing that says FRN 50. Will these work?

[stormchaser]

OK, she found Bussman FRN-R-50s that say time delay fuse...is that right?

[MikeP]

FRN-R-50 fuses are correct.

Yes, you can distribute the load as you described.

[stormchaser]

Update...wife found fuses for Shoreline 1 240v blown and I mean BLOWN (see attached pic). Well, the wto on the port side were totally blown like in the pic but they were the wtong kind of fuse or so it seems. They were Bussman bp/non 50. ??? Could that ahve caused all this? Doesn't seem right to me but I've never seen this kind of fuse before.

On starboard side the top fuse LOOKED ok and was the right kind, but looked old so she replaced it anyway. She was unable to get the cap off the lower starboard to check, even with vice-grips. With 3 out of 4 fuses replaced still nothing. But she only tested on the side where she only replaced the one fuse (starboard), so it MIGHT have worked on the port side. I'll check tonight.

So, my hope/guess is that the fuse she couldnt get to is blown too...or so I hope. The problem is...if I can't get the cap off myself...I'll have to replace the whole fuse holder...how hard is that? Seems to be held in with 4 screws...but what needs to be done after? Is it as simple as disconnecting 2 wires on the old and reconnecting on the spare?

[MikeP]

WOW, that's certainly a BLOWN Fuse!

On the one that you/she can't unscrew. Try tightening it a tiny bit first then unscrewing it. It's usually easier to tighten a seized fitting, thus breaking the bond, and then loosening it. It only takes enough of a tightening turn to detect that it moved at all. Then loosen it.

Again, be sure to lube them between screwing them back in. I screw them in/out every time I'm on the boat and relube them at least once a year. Just snug hand tight, there is no need to "crank" on them; They need to be "easy" to remove if necessary.

Hope replacement of all the fuses solves the problem!

[fissioneng]

Also be very careful about the little metal "fingers" that hold the fuses. It is easy to bend them over which may keep the fuses from seating properly and causing a break. From the looks of things (wow!) you also may have a lot of debris inside, clean that out well.

This may get your power back, but as mentioned before, you need to address the loads that caused the loss. I assume your condensing units are running full tilt with the cold water (mine do this time of year), but if they are cycling without startup time delays, that could easily pop a NON fuse since that is not a time delay fuse. At least you have the correct fuses now. The FRN are very heavy duty designed for motor startup surges.