Why can I not plug the boat in!

Alright guys, got a question hopefully someone out there knows why-

I have had the boat disconnected from shore power for approximately 4-5 weeks now. I would like to plug the boat in to do some work inside with lights and get the batteries charged before I take them out for winter.

Here is a basic run down of the electrical system, granted this boat is still new to me and I am planning on re-wiring the whole thing - it needs it!! 30 Amp male plug on the side of the boat, I plug my 25 foot power cable in it. I would normally just plug that into a marine dock receptacle and it works. The boat came with a pig tail extension that is 30 amps on the boat side connection and then converts it down to a 15 amp on a 3 prong side for plugging it into a normal house or garage outlet. As soon as I plug the pig tail in and try to connect it to the house or garage, it blows a GFI and I have to reset the GFI in the garage and/or house. Breaker is rated for 20 amp in the house so I know that's OK.

What could the issue be?

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

It just sounds to me like you have more than the 20amp breaker will handle, or it is because of the GFI. GFI breakers are notorious for tripping. They are rated at like 1,000,00 milli amp feed back will trip them. The marine dock may not be GFI. First I would try turning off all the breakers then plugging it in.. See if the breaker trips then. If it doesn't then just turn them on one at a time and see which one trips the breaker.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

LOL Ok so I am going to try plugging it into a non-GFI outlet tonight when I get home and turn all the breakers off as well just to make sure. Then go from there- I never knew it could turn into a hassle just trying to plug a boat in! LOL

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

Does the GFCI trip when you plug in the cord? Or, when you plug the cord into the boat? Can you take pictures of both ends of the cord you're using.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

GFIs are used for your protection in wet/moist environments. Going to a standard breaker, you might find the current leak. Hopefully, it is just a tingle. Do what boat1010 suggested.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

Jerryh3 said:

Does the GFCI trip when you plug in the cord? Or, when you plug the cord into the boat? Can you take pictures of both ends of the cord you're using.

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I have not tried that yet actually- I usually always have it plugged into the boat then plug it in to the outlet, I'll try just plugging it into the outlet and see if it trips, if so I would imagine something is wrong with that pig tail. I'll take pics tonight of the cords I am using- Should be able to post them around 8.

John_S said:

GFIs are used for your protection in wet/moist environments. Going to a standard breaker, you might find the current leak. Hopefully, it is just a tingle. Do what boat1010 suggested.

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It just occurred to me that I am stupid for trying a standard outlet, LOL - I'll do what boat1010 suggested- I am going to try plugging it into the outlet though without being plugged into the boat to see if it trips- could very well be a bad pig tail, I'll be honest it looks like it's been ran over a few thousand times.

Bubba1235 said:

That will be fine for a test but it doesn't address the real problem. Ground faults (something is leaking voltage to ground) always get worse, not better. Don't ignore what the GFI outlet is telling you.

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Thanks Bubba- I'll do the tests and see what happens.

Guys, Correct me if I am wrong here but if I have a 30 AMP battery tender that maintains three batteries, 1 house and 2 starting... (to be honest I don't even know if they are connected that way, it's a rat nest), and I plug it into the house, that battery tender would blow the GFI right cause of the amp load??

Thanks! I'll take pics tonight and do some tests.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

Do you have GFI breakers, or standard breakers with GFI outlet? My house has the latter. I have one gfi outlet in the garage and the rest of the outlets are daisy chained from it, essentially making them gfi. They are on a 20A standard breaker and 12/2 w/g wire. I think if I plugged a ten amp load in each outlet, I would trip the breaker and not the gfi. That is assuming there wasn't any current leaks at any of the loads. If you plug a 20+A load in a single gfi outlet would it trip the gfi before the breaker?, even if there are no leaks?, don't know.

If you have a 30A load, you will need to reduce the load or wire to a special 110V outlet. A 30A/110V breaker would typically have 10ga wire to a single purpose 30A outlet.

Also, if you have a 30amp load, check your extension cord. Most are 10-15A. 20A ones are a bit pricy. I don't believe I have any 30A 110V extension cords.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

kylejb2663 said:

Guys, Correct me if I am wrong here but if I have a 30 AMP battery tender that maintains three batteries, 1 house and 2 starting... (to be honest I don't even know if they are connected that way, it's a rat nest), and I plug it into the house, that battery tender would blow the GFI right cause of the amp load??

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No. It's 30 amps, but at 12 VDC, not 120VAC. If the charger was 100% efficient at converting between the two, it would only be drawing 3 amps @ 120 VAC. Of course, it's not 100% efficient, but I doubt your charger draws more than 5 amps or so from the AC side.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

Good catch. I just looked at a Guest 5/5A and it only draws 2.5A @ 115V. Looks like the main problem is current leakage, tripping the gfi.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

Alright guys, so I completely forgot to take pics!!! BUT I did to some tests. I plugged the cord into the GFI with the adapter, GFI did not trip, plugged it into the boat and all of a sudden it worked! Showed the correct voltage on my gauge that it was plugged it. Flipped the refrigerator switch and it blew, so I figured well maybe that was too much. Unplugged it and tried plugging it back in without anything on and it just kept blowing.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

Typically, shore power at the dock uses a floating ground. Houshold wiring does not, it ties the neutral to the ground at main. Get yourself a true shore power cable to connect your boat to the dock and you should be fine. Sounds like the cable you have is setup to run off a portable generator that the prior owner used when there was no shore power available at the dock.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

FYI - an electrician told me you cannot put more than one GFI outlet/breaker on the same circuit. They will trip each other.

Don't know your circuits, but its something to check.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

Bubba1235 said:

Huh? Sorry but a three conductor extension cord is a three conductor cord, nothing is tied together internally. (Manufacturing and selling one would not meet the national electrical code.) Just an FYI: The National Electrical Code REQUIRES that ANY outlet on or near the water (docks, piers, etc.) MUST be protected with GFI outlets or circuits. That simply is not possible with a floating ground.

"Article 555, of the National Electrical Code, according to the scope, covers ?fixed or floating piers, wharves, docks and other areas in marinas, boatyards, boat basins, boathouses, yacht clubs, boat condominiums, docking facilities associated with residential condominiums, and any multiple docking facility, or similar occupancies, and facilities that are used, or intended for use, for the purpose of repair, berthing, launching, storage, or fueling of small craft and the moorage of floating buildings.?

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O.K. still I recommend he get a proper marine shore power cable to fix his problem.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

Hey Guys,

I believe I do have a proper marine shore power cable, it was expensive, so I HOPE it's right!! Purchased it when I bought the boat! Close to 90 bucks!
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...toreNum=50523&subdeptNum=50524&classNum=50525

However, the pig tail came with the boat which simply converts the 30 AMP Marine Connector down to a regular 15 AMP Grounded household plug. That's the one I do not have a picture of yet.

Bubba - You would be correct in saying that the GFI tripped, not the breaker itself. I had to keep resetting the GFI outlet everytime I wanted to try plugging the boat in. Now funny thing is, I arrived at the boat, plugged in marine cord and extension, it did not trip. I plugged it into the boat with the master breaker on and it actually worked, I saw voltage on the gauge. As soon as I turned something like the refridgerator, it blew the GFI. So I figured OK, too much of a load. Turned the master breaker off and reset the GFI and now it kept tripping it again and again even though the master was off. Unplugged the cord from the boat, reset the GFI, it did not trip. Plugged it into the boat and it tripped right away- it seems to vary-

I am going to do more testing today and see what I can come up with. I did try flexing the cord and extension, the cord is practically brand new and it always worked perfect when plugged in at the dock. The converter extension is not though.

Also, the circuits are setup in the garage to have one GFI off a breaker and then more regular outlets coming off that GFI so I know it's wired correctly in the garage. Garage was only built about 2 years ago.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

That other connector that I keep talking about is almost like this... Except it's got a male plug to go into a wall outlet rather then the female ticket.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...toreNum=50523&subdeptNum=50524&classNum=50526

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

O.K. wait, so you are not having the problem at the dock which I think now makes sense. The problem is only when you're plugged in at the garage. I think I understood that the breaker in the garage is a GFI breaker at the panel. Is that correct?

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

You got it as far as the garage, not doing it at the dock. I never have any issues at the docks-

Nope, it's a GFI Outlet that is on the inside of the garage that runs off of a 20 AMP Breaker at the panel. There are also standard outlets (Front Outside Garage Plug) that are wired off of the GFI outlet.

I am plugging in directly to the GFI Outlet though and if I plug into one of the outlets connected to the GFI (Outside of garage), it still blows the GFI inside and I have to reset it.

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

I go back to the possibility of a GFI on the boat, which would put 2 of them on the same circuit. An electrician told me they will trip each other. Another said they fight each other. The use of the word "fight" tells me you could see inconsistent results.

Do you have a GFI breaker or outlet on the boat?

Another thing I have read about is the design of some galvanic isolators (like promariner) will trip GFIs.

Good luck...

Re: Why can I not plug the boat in!

I do have a GFI on the boat actually- It's located in the bathroom- Would it really cause the garage GFI to trip though?? If so can I just manually trip that GFI located on the boat to in a sense "turn it off"?