Shore Power

[RAINMAKER]

The main breaker in the cabin is tripped and will not reset. The boat has a heat/ a/c unit , water heater , battery charger, outlets, and microwave.I usually leave the heat or air on . I also leave the battery charger on, but that's all. My dad was checking on the boat and found the main breaker tripped ,tried to reset it but no go. He fiddled with the shore power cord , but he felt it was ok. Tried another cord from my dock neighbor to no avail.
My question is ... is there some type of fuse or breaker under the gunnel between the plug in and the distribution panel in the cabin :?: seems like there would be. Thanks in advance

 

[bc282]

check your Grady owners manual and diagrams of boat elec layout.
this should show how the shore power flows so you can trace back from point to point to trouble shoot.

if you've replaced the blown fuse and no power yet, you might find that your galvanic isolator is OFF. mine is located under the starboard gunnel.
it needs to be ON for power to go to panel (i've made is mistake before).

IMO, i'd leave all AC devices switched OFF until shore power is connected and then switch the devices/appliances ON from the panel one at a time rather than leaving them always ON. Most devices or appliances require significantly more power at the start than when running so switching then ON one at time with some delay in between allow each device to have as much voltage and amperage it should have to operate better. Lots of demand can lower voltage which means devices are required to pull more amperage to do their work so the devices work harder and hotter and lead to earlier device death.

 

[seabob4]

You have a couple of possibilities here, but from your description, it sounds like it's the shorepower receptacle at the dock. You tried a second cord to no avail. So, if you know how to use a multimeter, check for the proper voltage at the dock. The funky shaped prong is ground, you should have 120V on one of the other prongs, nothing on the other one.

If that checks good, pull the panel down and check for the same voltage on the back side of the breaker. Also check for continuity between the white wire on the breaker and the neutral bus behind the panel.

 

[RAINMAKER]

Thanks , I'll get on it when I get to the coast

 

[BobP]

What tripped the breaker to begin with ?