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SmartPlug Shore Power Upgrade

Farlander

Member II
First saw this on marinehowto.com, and heard some other folks talk about it, so I decided to give it a shot. I'd rather not be 'that boat' which caused the marina fire, and having reliable shore power is also a plus.

I decided not to buy the entire 50' cord and receptacle pre-assembled, since it was $370 from the cheapest vendor, so I splurged for the $170 plug and receptacle combo kit, and the $10 watertight cap accessory.

Installation was straightforward, though soapy water is an absolute must for sliding the old cable through the new rubber gland. Final installed product is a rock solid, immovable plug, which one would literally need a sledgehammer to dislodge. A size 12 boot with 100 lbs of force is probably not going to move this thing.

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The lid on the receptacle actually clicks into the plug as well, making it very secure, as well as the two tabs on the side. The whole setup is very watertight and secure. Only downside is the receptacle mounting holes did not line up with my old holes, so be prepared to drill new ones. They were only off by a few mm so they still fit in the same gasket profile.

What I found next was a shocker - the circuit breaker panel on the aft side of the quarter berth bulkhead is a Federal Pacific, which are known to be fire prone. It is getting replaced ASAP with an Eaton box and some new 15A breakers, one for each receptacle.
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sharonov

Member II
We all know how every boat project takes three times longer than expected, has to be done at least twice to fix what you did wrong the first time and often requires a tool you do not have. Well, SmartPlug install happened to be an exception. It takes very little time, requires little expertise and only basic tools. And results are quick and satisfying. I had to install mine after I noticed heat discoloration on the old plug. Highly recommended. They only minor hustle was that I had to slightly overdrill screw holes to accommodate old larger screws.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Even safer yet with an ELCI 2 pole main breaker . . . .

That's a good looking 'fix'.
Thank you.

Ten years down the road, I might well do that if doing this electrical upgrade again.
Interesting that my 1988 EY main panel also has a reverse polarity indicator.
 
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Parrothead

Member III
I made my own panel and it also includes a reverse polarity indicator. It came into play a few years ago when I requested a different slip assignment. Plugged into shore power and the light popped on. I reported it immediately to the marina office - - on a Sunday - - and there staff was on it within 30 minutes.

My main 2 pole breaker is not an ELCI but all of my branch circuits are GFCI protected.
 

bigd14

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
Check wiring

Fire prone indeed! I agree, use a proper marine grade panel. Blue Sea is great stuff. Also really important: If someone installed a breaker box designed to be used in homes they may also have used solid copper wiring. This is a big no no on boats! Tear out any solid wiring and replace with the proper marine grade tinned stranded copper wire.
 
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Farlander

Member II
There is solid core copper wire running from the shore power plug to the distribution panel and to both receptacles, the connections are clean and tight though so I'm not sure why this would be a problem? I'm a residential / commercial solar electrician and I have yet to come across any 120V receptacle that prefers stranded vs. solid wire.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
The idea is that house wiring isn't designed for the movement and vibration of a boat, so more flexible stranded wire is required, tinned against corrosion.

But, uh, I had a new battery charger installed a few years ago, and I seem to recall Nomex. This will take some looking into by me. Amazing how these threads cause you to consider your own boat. But paranoia is painless.
 
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markvone

Sustaining Member
Replace the cable.

Unless you know the age and history of your AC shore power cable, I would highly recommend replacing the cable at as well as the socket/plug.

I would be highly suspect of any cable that has experienced high AC loads anytime in the past, for example liveaboard use or in my case winter heaters (2 heaters x 5 winters before partial failure). If there is any indication of plug or socket burning I would replace the entire cable. I kept my old (probably original) cable in storage until I received post #13 of this thread:

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?14163-Shore-power

I should have cut it open for inspection before I threw it out. It was old, stiff, dirty, faded and obviously time to be replaced. They tend to fail regularly when they get old:

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?11930-Bzzzzzzzztt!!!&highlight=

It's just not worth the risk of a fire if you have an old cable and you are pushing significant AC amps to your boat.

Mark
 

Tin Kicker

Sustaining Member
Moderator
I recently replaced the shore plug with a SmartPlug because the spring for the cover door was broken. The SmartPlug is very impressive and I should have considered replacing the original regardless.

As shown below, the original plug was dirty but not browned (front or back) and gave no clues of a potential problem. However, once the strain relief bar was removed from the back of the 34 year old plug two of the three wires slipped right out and the copper had evidence of discoloring locally plus minor points of melting. One big benefit of the SmartPlug is that it will disconnect if it senses heat from this type of resistance, rather than letting a plug like mine build resistance till it begins to arc or burn.

So something for others is to consider at least adding to your Spring maintenance list a check for the tightness of the screws which hold the wiring into those old plugs. Takes about 20 minutes and costs nothing.
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Two more observations:

One is the blackness of the copper contacts shown. Periodic maintenance ought to include cleaning the copper prongs with Scotchbrite (not steel wool!)

Second, the prongs also had a number of arc marks. Somebody had not been plugging the cord into the boat THEN the cord into the shore box.
 

G Kiba

Sustaining Member
I upgraded to the Smart Plug a few years back. I too went with replacing only the plug. When I cut the old plug off, I noticed the copper was discolored. So, I cut it back another foot... then another 3'... then another. I threw it in the recycle bin and bought a complete cable. Great product but I hear that the company is very small.
 

frick

Member III
Remove Federal Pacific breakers and panels

Fire prone indeed! I agree, use a proper marine grade panel. Blue Sea is great stuff. Also really important: If someone installed a breaker box designed to be used in homes they may also have used solid copper wiring. This is a big no no on boats! Tear out any solid wiring and replace with the proper marine grade tinned stranded copper wire.


Those breakers fail 60 percent of the time.

http://www.ismypanelsafe.com/fpe.php

knowledge is power!

Rick
 

Tin Kicker

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Those breakers fail 60 percent of the time.

http://www.ismypanelsafe.com/fpe.php

knowledge is power!

Rick

There is always some level of failure, which is worsened by using breakers as switches. (There are exceptions designed to be used as both.) The high failure rate for house-level breakers is much lower than it was in the bad old days and in the worlds of aviation and military (including maritime), we've found the rate can be 5-20%, depending on style, age, and use.

That's one reason for breaking multiple poles in the more critical breakers. At that point you are at worse failure rate of about 20% for the first pole and then 20% for the second, so 4%. More likely, you are closer to 5% of 5% so around 0.25% failure rate.
 

driftless

Member III
Blogs Author
Just another "plug" for SmartPlug - I snapped the cover off of my plastic SmartPlug receptacle my first visit to the boat this spring. Some ice had invisibly built up in the hinge area. When I opened the cover it snapped off. I emailed SmartPlug and they had me submit a warranty claim online. I didnt have any photos on-hand or anything, so just gave my name and address and said what happened. Within the week I have a brand new receptacle cover in-hand. No muss, no fuss. A great product, from a great company with truly 5 star customer service. True commitment to backing up their product. Highly highly recommended (but maybe I'd spring for the SS cover if I did it again).
 

AlanO

Member II
I hadn't planned on a new receptacle as part of adding an ELCI, double pole circuit breaker and galvanic isolator to improve the shore power end of the system, but discovered the casing was cracked once I got into it. Since it needed replacing I went with the SmartPlug cord conversion and receptacle as well. Except for misplacing the little funnel shaped gizmo for sliding in the cord to the new plug, it was about as straight-forward an install as possible for a boat project, even for a relative neophyte. It certainly is a much sturdier connection and no worries needed about getting a good twist on the plug like the old one. Two thumbs up!
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Speaking of shore power inlet upgrades, here's my project for the backside of the combing. (On the off chance that this proves to be of interest.)

Since that time I have replaced the OEM 30 amp inlet with a nicer SS one. A conversion to a "smart plug" will probably happen someday...
 
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