reverse polarity light

Reverse Polarity on main shore power panel is lit even when main breaker is off. If main breaker is on, if I try closing any circuit - for example battery charger or outlets - Reverse Polarity will flash to bright red and instantly trip out the main.

Is this indicative of a short? Would the problem be on the boat side, or something wrong with on the dock, or not enough info to tell?

Thanks

I would guess that (assuming you haven't been messing with the boat's AC wiring) that either the power cord you're using has the white and black wires connected backwards to the plug terminals on one end, or the AC outlet you're plugging into is mis-wired. Get a cheap outlet tester and borrow a power cord you know is likely to be OK to troubleshoot.

Be very careful!

You may have 208 or 240 volt AC on your power cord.

Measure the voltage on the end of the shore power cord or at the dock.

I reiterate what Tom said "Be VERY careful", if you've got that kind of juice.

Very Careful!!

thanks all

I should have mentioned that this has been working fine for about 18 years. Same power cord. Same dock. Same outlet (30amp, 120v). Four years with this boat and 12 years with the previous.

Just happened spontaneously.

Could there have been improper work on the dock electrics? Or can a short at my end do it - for example corrosion in the wire or the recepticle where the power connects to the boat?.

In any case, I agree with Thomas Edison that AC power is too dangerous. So I will call an electrician.

reverse polarity

I had this problem two years ago. All of a sudden the reverse polarity light was on and staying on. The culprit turned out to be the wiring on the back of the shore power plug on the boat. The plug in my E-32 is in the back starboard lazarette <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5COwner%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]-->and the AC wires make some hard turns to come around foward toward the main panel. The wires had frayed and were shorting between ground and negative and throwing the polarity off. New wire, fewer hard bends...no problem.

Lawrence B. Lee
E32-2OO Annabele Lee
Savannah, GA