jrm55

I am having shorepower hookup problems on my 2005 353 and am looking to see if anyone has experienced the same and could possibly offer any solutions. After I plug the boat up into shore recepticle on the dock and then flip the shorepower breaker "on" (located behind the driver seat) in about 3-4 seconds the 30 amp breaker(GFI) at the boat house trips. All other AC and DC breakers and battery switches are off per directions. I don't even have enough time to throw the AC breaker located in the main cabin before the breaker at the boat house trips. I have followed all of the hook-up directions to the letter. I have had an electrician checkout the on-shore wiring, purchased a new 30 amp GFI breaker, inspected and tested the boat shore power cable/wire, inspected for reverse polarity, proper ground, etc. all OK. When I called Formula, Ryan in Tech Support said they have seen this before and recommended that I purchase a "Class B" 30 amp GFI breaker. Problem is when I checked with a couple of electrical supply houses, they act like they have never heard of such thing. When the electrician was there we did get the AC shore power to stay on only one time. We shut it off and tried again several times with no luck. My greatest need is so I can use the built in battery charger. I am going on the third summer with this boat and have never had to charge the batteries until this year. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

scottc

It has to do with the polarity checker in the boat. Install a normal 30amp shore power plug on your boat house. Insptech on this board found this on his silverton a few years ago. The gfi sees the link between the netural and ground then trips the breaker.

jrm55

Scott, thanks for the input. Are you saying to eliminate the GFI breaker at the boathouse and use the same wires for the GFI to install the 30 amp plug? I think per code around water I need to have the GFI installed somwhere on this circuit. Thanks for the clarification.

scottc

For some reason boats just don't like GFI's. I agree it's not to code but that's how marina's are wired. I have never seen a GFI plug for a boat, just adapters 15 amp to 30 amp.

GoodTymn

Mine is a 30amp, plugged into my house GFI circuit outside, never had issue one with it, thats with everything on, I think I would explore it a bit more before removing GFI from the boat house. If possible try using a generator or another source for your power. I had a neighbor that lost his Formula due to fire and faulty wiring while charging the batteries, I was told the issue was the way he had it wired to his house, not a boat issue. Be carefull, Good Luck, if you nail down the issue, please post so we can pass it on.

Boomer 880

I had the same issue with our old boat. If I plugged into the outside house GFI outlet, it would click off. Once I plugged into a non-GFI outlet in the garage, it worked perfectly.

Can you run an extension cord somewhere and test it on a non-GFI outlet?

jrm55

All, thanks for the advice. The 30 amp plug on the dock at the boat is not a GFI outlet but the 30 amp circuit breaker that feeds this outlet is a GFI breaker loacted on shore at a storage/boat house in a 100 amp panel box. I am going to test a non GFI breaker to see if this fixes the problem. I just dont like not have a GFI breaker when that line is located on the dock. There has to be another reason why this isn't working. You dont pay this kind of money for a boat and not have things work properly. Anybody heard of a "class B" breaker that Formula is recommending?

PremierPOWER

I have to agree with GoodTymn, I have two boat shorepowers pluged into a GFI at the dock. I am an electrical engineer, unfortunately I don't do much low voltage work. It sounds like you may have the neutral grounded at the receptacle at the dock or somewhere in the boat, this would alow a multiple return path for your nuetral and the GFI will consider this a ground fault and trip out. If you plug into a conventional breaker it certainly will hold, but you will be without the very inportant protection that a GFI breaker offers.

Hope this helps,

Andy