55 Year Old Electric Panel Upgrade

[edward]

Who makes the smart plug ?

[sdowney717]

Every loose connection on my twin 30 amp shore cords has been on the DOCK side, not on the boat.
Last winter, the dockside cord came loose, so the battery charger quit, refrigerator quit, and some things rotted and only now is it smelling ok again. It sped up 3 batteries replacements, which were only 3 years old. My old dumb Rairitan charger then cooked all 4 batteries, dried out the water, so I got a new IP22 Victron 30 amp 3 bank charger. Instead of then replacing the gen start battery (#4), I ran big wires to the buss bar for the start battery from generator and it starts off that now along with 2 main engines.

I can rotate house switch to 'both, 1+2 position', and the house battery joins with the start battery, just in case of emergencies. My number 2 position on the switch was not used, now it has a wire running to the start battery buss bar.

What i noticed, is I may not have fully twist locked the cord into the dock socket. What I also do now is tie it in with a 1/4 rope to the dock power pole. It can no longer come off.

[Boatsb]

I hope it's a diesel boat or it's been nice knowing you.

The ip22 is NOT explosion protected.

[Captain Ralph]

What i noticed, is I may not have fully twist locked the cord into the dock socket. What I also do now is tie it in with a 1/4 rope to the dock power pole. It can no longer come off.

Always rotate the plug a few times to ensure the connects are wiped clear of bug stuff.
Always twist the PL30 & 50 CCW so a CW twist is always keeping the the plug tightly in place.

Always in play, never a problem.

[dar636]

Excellent work!!

[piratestreasure]

Who built it for you?

[SeaEric]

The panel board is 1/2" black King Starboard. The breaker panels and switching are all "off the rack" Blue Sea Systems components. I did a mock up in cardboard and the electrician who did the install cut the openings and mounted the equipment in the panel. I did a LOT of preliminary planning and thinking about what I wanted/needed before pulling the trigger. I'm extremely pleased with the result.