hadleycat

I want to hook my boat up to shore power but have no provisions on the boat for it. Do i need a special plug? Can I use a battery charger or power pack and hook it up to my battery or would that be dangerous because of the alligator clips. I have power packs that we use at the auto shows to power the cars during the show. They plug into a standard outlet. Maybe I could hard wire that to my battery. It would be mounted in my engine compartment and I dont think it is rated for marine use. Any suggestions

fireboatpilot

Shore power is 110 volts. Boats power 12/24/ or 32 volts. Boats that use shore power have lights, appliances etc that can run off of both. Depending on what you want to use a shore cord to power, you could get the proper cord, plug and recepticle used standard at most docks and plug your 110 volt items into the recpticle but you must use the proper equipment to be safe.

rexcramer1

You can just go to West Marine and buy a shore power adapter plug, it is the 30amp style and you can plug a regular extension cord into it and run any 110v appliance you want. It should run about 30 bucks

fireboatpilot

I't's not that complicated to do but a litle more than just buying a plug. Plug $30. Marine shore power cord-30amp with regular male end and 30amp twist end to plug adapter $50. Then you'll need some wireing and at least a receptical on the inside of the boat giving you one place to plug in your 110volt appliance/charger whatever. Like I said, not that complicated but not really shore power. If thats all you need then you could just toss an extension cord over the side. If it's worth doing then it's worth doing right. I assumed that you wanted to be able to plug in at a dock?

tcelano

Be careful what you do here. A simple system shouldn't create much trouble, but we had a case out here where a child was killed swimming in a marina by stray current from a faulty boat system. Kevin Ritz was the father, and he now works for ABYC, and does many seminars on marine electrical safety.

Be careful how you do grounds, etc. I'm not the expert on it, but just make sure you reference reliable information on the hookup.

Article, worth a read:

http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/tragedy/default.asp

US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

Hold on there, Be very careful on the advise you recieve of using extension cords. Believe it or not, on boats with shorepower, the 110vAC safety wire (green ground)should be connected to the 12vDC neg wire. Whether it be a the block or at a buss bar, the connection is there. It's a saftey issue that would have prevented the above tragedy when a short in the AC side occurs. It's not as simple as one would think.

As tcelano mentioned, deadly results are possible.

You think the "No swimming" signs posted in marinas is mainly to keep swimmers from getting hit by boats?