Amps and output help

DDD

DDD

New Member
Oct 27, 2012
268
Tampa, FL
Boat Info
2008 45
Engines
Diesel
I am certifying now that I know nothing much about electrical stuff.

Have a 50 amp cord.
Our marina plugs into 50 amps power.

Our battery charger is a "Charles 100 amp" charger.

Shore power keeps tripping.

Does the Charles 100 amp need a 100 amp outlet to work properly?
Could it be "asking for more" than the 50 anps, and so tripping the shore power?

Any help on amps, output, needs, and this situation would be helpful!
 
Your 50 amp shore power is more than enough. The charger will put out 100 amps.
 
Sorry did not answer the real question. Is the breaker on the dock tripping or one on the boat
 
Your battery charger is 100 amps at 12 volts DC or 1,200 watts. Your shore power is probably a 4 wire (4 prong plug) 50 amp at 120 volts AC and a second 50 amps at 120 volts for a total of 50 amps @ 240 or 100 amps @ 120, 12,000 watts. You have plenty of power for that charger by an order of one magnitude. That's not your problem.

I'd recommend ensuring that all breakers in your panel are turned off including the outlets, charger, air conditioning, etc. Also turn off the main breaker. Then connect the cordset to shore power. Turn on the main and see if you get warning light indicating a polarity problem, which will also immediately flip the main breaker back to off. This is indicative of the power outlet on the dock being mis-wired. If the main remains on and your voltmeters register power, turn on each circuit one at a time until something goes off. The bad circuit is the one that causes the fault when it's activated.

I think you have a mis wired dock connector.
 
DDD said:
I am certifying now that I know nothing much about electrical stuff.

Have a 50 amp cord.
Our marina plugs into 50 amps power.

Our battery charger is a "Charles 100 amp" charger.



Shore power keeps tripping.

Does the Charles 100 amp need a 100 amp outlet to work properly?
Could it be "asking for more" than the 50 anps, and so tripping the shore power?

Any help on amps, output, needs, and this situation would be helpful!
Click to expand...


That boat has a 50 AMP cord on it? Or 30 AMP??
 
fc3 said:
Your battery charger is 100 amps at 12 volts DC or 1,200 watts. Your shore power is probably a 4 wire (4 prong plug) 50 amp at 120 volts AC and a second 50 amps at 120 volts for a total of 50 amps @ 240 or 100 amps @ 120, 12,000 watts. You have plenty of power for that charger by an order of one magnitude. That's not your problem.

I'd recommend ensuring that all breakers in your panel are turned off including the outlets, charger, air conditioning, etc. Also turn off the main breaker. Then connect the cordset to shore power. Turn on the main and see if you get warning light indicating a polarity problem, which will also immediately flip the main breaker back to off. This is indicative of the power outlet on the dock being mis-wired. If the main remains on and your voltmeters register power, turn on each circuit one at a time until something goes off. The bad circuit is the one that causes the fault when it's activated.

I think you have a mis wired dock connector.
Click to expand...


The boat has a single, 50 amp cord.
I believe it is a 3 prong, but can not remember for sure.

So being that it is a 100 amp Charger, and a 50 amp cord to shore power, would that be a problem?
 
I agree with fc3, most likely the pedestal is wired wrong. However , go with the simple stuff first. Borrow another power cord from a dock neighbor and see if the breaker still trips eliminating one possible problem. Then move on from there. Have the marina check their pedestal before you go tearing into anything on our boat. Hope you find the problem.

Garry
 
DDD said:
The boat has a single, 50 amp cord.
I believe it is a 3 prong, but can not remember for sure.

So being that it is a 100 amp Charger, and a 50 amp cord to shore power, would that be a problem?
Click to expand...
It isn't a problem. You're not drawing anywhere near the 50amps the pedestal can supply. You're not tripping the boat circuit the charger is on, the problem is upstream.
 
Thanks everyone.
Of course the marina wants to blame
my boat.

Why is the Charger called a 100 amp charger?
 
fc3 said:
Your battery charger is 100 amps at 12 volts DC or 1,200 watts. Your shore power is probably a 4 wire (4 prong plug) 50 amp at 120 volts AC and a second 50 amps at 120 volts for a total of 50 amps @ 240 or 100 amps @ 120, 12,000 watts. You have plenty of power for that charger by an order of one magnitude. That's not your problem.

I'd recommend ensuring that all breakers in your panel are turned off including the outlets, charger, air conditioning, etc. Also turn off the main breaker. Then connect the cordset to shore power. Turn on the main and see if you get warning light indicating a polarity problem, which will also immediately flip the main breaker back to off. This is indicative of the power outlet on the dock being mis-wired. If the main remains on and your voltmeters register power, turn on each circuit one at a time until something goes off. The bad circuit is the one that causes the fault when it's activated.

I think you have a mis wired dock connector.
Click to expand...

Dock Power - Like residential power there are two 120VAC feeds that are out of phase and if measured across the two 120VAC legs you will get 220VAC. Assume your boat has two cords that you plug into a splitter and that splitter plugs into the 50A receptacle on the dock? The two cords are 30 amp rated each which each have one leg of the power from the dock, a neutral, and a ground. The dock receptacle has three prongs with the ground being the outer shell of the plug assembly. One prong is the neutral and the other two are the two 120VAC legs. So there are several ways a dock breaker can be tripped provided it isn't a GFCI; one or the other 120VAC legs are shorting to neutral, one or the other 120VAC legs are shorting to ground, or the 120VAC legs are shorting to each other.
Your charger, if the output is 100 amps, which is a very large charger for a 330 Sundancer draws up to 10 AMPS. Very unlikely your batteries will demand that kind of current unless you have quite a large battery bank. There is also an inrush current when the charger is first turned on but in no case should be in excess of the charger's circuit breaker (probably a 20 amp breaker)
 
Last edited:
Something isn't right. When I look up your boat specs it says two 30amp inlets. What do you have on the boat where you plug in the cord? Is there a 'Y' adapter, one splitting into two? Are you positive you are plugging into a 50amp plug at the pedestal? A 50amp cord is a big heavy cord or are you using a 50amp adapter to a 30amp cord?

I wondering if you are just plugged into one 30amp at the pedestal and splitting that at the boat to supply both inlets. Then it would be possible for you to draw enough to trip the 30amp dock breaker.
 
Woody said:
Something isn't right. When I look up your boat specs it says two 30amp inlets. What do you have on the boat where you plug in the cord? Is there a 'Y' adapter, one splitting into two? Are you positive you are plugging into a 50amp plug at the pedestal? A 50amp cord is a big heavy cord or are you using a 50amp adapter to a 30amp cord?

I wondering if you are just plugged into one 30amp at the pedestal and splitting that at the boat to supply both inlets. Then it would be possible for you to draw enough to trip the 30amp dock breaker.
Click to expand...

haven't updated our profile.
sorry- the Admiral said- I think we need a bigger boat
 
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