Electrical problem

gastite

gastite

New Member
Dec 23, 2007
18
Seattle
:smt021
I have 115v 28amp coming into my panel from shore, from the panel I have one circuit breakers for all the outlets and that is set for 15amps.
I am getting 115v 28amps to the panel but I am still getting 115v 28amp out, it does not matter what side I test on the breaker pole, it’s the same and it’s breaking the GFI in the bathroom. At the bathroom I have 115v 28amps and will not let me reset because of the amps

Why is the breaker in the Panel not breaking at 28amps?
I installed 2 new breakers and it’s the same. It there a time limit I need to wait for the breaker to reset in the Panel?

This comes and goes as pleased, I could go days with no problem and I can go 1 day.


Any help would be appreciated
 
Sorry, but the issue is not clear to me. What year and model boat?

The shore power cord likely has a marine NEMA L5-30P twist lock plug connected to a 115VAC / 30A receptacle.

The panel is powered and supplies the various loads.

Is the head receptacle being loaded w/ 15A and the panel breaker not tripping?

Is the combined load from entire vessel drawing 28A
 
"it’s breaking the GFI in the bathroom"

I'm sure we have an electrical expert or two on here and I am not, but in my experience it sounds like there is something else plugged into the bathroom circuit. Check all of your outlets and unplug everything that is plugged into a 120 volt outlet, try to reset and if that fails it's possible the GFI is old, bad and needs replacement. It's tripping because it's sensing a second ground somwhere...??? Ok you electrical guys weigh in here and rescue me before I dig myself to deep of a whole.....:smt100
 
How do you know the system is drawing 28 amps? Continuously or intermittently?

If the GFI in the head is tripping it is either that outlet has something faulty plugged into it, or another outlet downstream if it. The GFI outlet itself could also be faulty. Not much data to make a diagnosis.

Best regards,
Frank
 
I believe all GFI's are either a 15amp or 20 amp.
They are very sensitive to just a tiny voltage drop from the common wht wire going back to the breaker ground panel.
So a dirty or loose common wht wire could maybe trip the GFI

Your GFI may be wired in with all your other outlets and appliances. Water heaters,refers etc.
So if there would be a ground or short issue anywhere down the line.
That could trip the GFI

Dang, ive never played around with the amp function on a Multimeter. :huh:

Pulling 28 amps with everything turned off?
Sounds like maybe a high Amperage item is messing up.

I would start with checking or replacing the GFI first.
Then test or start disconnecting some of the elec devices on board.
The ones that are on the same circuit as the GFI.

Check your amp draw at your breaker panel or GFI after each disconnect of a turned off item.
Ive only messed with checking voltage and grounds.
I'm guessing checking amps is the same process:huh:
 
It doesn’t matter what boat, what matters is the panel breaker should trip.

Put it this way. Take your home wire. Black white green. Keep the white wire and green wire and don’t cut them, Take that black wire that is 115v 30amp and cut in half, take your panel breaker the is 15amps and hook one side with your black load wire and connect the other wire on the other end of the breaker, the other end of the breaker should me 15amps now because you have a breaker that is rated 15amps.

I get 28 amps after the breaker; I get 28amps on all the breakers now. I use my fluke meter and the volts are fine and the amps are good to the panel, were it makes me nuts is the wire that comes out of my breaker to the first outlet, witch is the GFI in the bathroom (its new) The GFI is reading 28 amps also. So it’s like not having a breaker in place. The outlet breaker from the panel goes to the GFI first and then to the 4 other outlets. So basically if I can’t get the GFI in the bathroom working nothing else matters.

I AM JUST AT MY ENDS WITTS WITH THIS. :smt021:smt013:huh::smt089:smt101
 
I'm a Electrician, As asked before how are reading 28 amperes, and where are you reading this, A GFCI will not trip due to amperage, it only trips on a ground fault. Need more info. Bob
 
doozie said:
I'm a Electrician, As asked before how are reading 28 amperes, and where are you reading this, A GFCI will not trip due to amperage, it only trips on a ground fault. Need more info. Bob
Click to expand...

I wonder the same thing, how are you reading the amperage? Are you using a clamp on Amp probe?

If you are reading 28 amps then something is drawing 28 amps of current. At 110 volts that is over 3000 watts of power. That’s a lot of power there. At 28 amps something else is going to trip long before it gets to the GFI.

Your GFI more than likely will have additional outlets wired downstream from it which could be the problem. You can start the troubleshooting by removing the hot wire from the GFI that feeds downstream and tape it off. Power up your 110 and see if the GFI trips, if not check out you additional 110 outlets and devices to see what is no longer working. This will tell you what else is connected to this breaker that you can check next. If the GFI continues to trip with the wire removed, then replace the GFI… They do go bad. I have had to replace one in my boat already, no problems since it was replaced.
 
I am using my Fluke meter on the amp side.
Touching white and to load on one side of the breaker and then white to line on the other side of the breaker.
I am also getting 28 amps from the line side of the breaker to the first out let that is the GFI.

One thing that does make sence and its cheap enough is to replaces all out lets and get a new GFI. This would make me look at each conection. I know that most if not all are from 1984 when the boat was built.

Thanks doozie.


doozie said:
I'm a Electrician, As asked before how are reading 28 amperes, and where are you reading this, A GFCI will not trip due to amperage, it only trips on a ground fault. Need more info. Bob
Click to expand...
 
I had a GFI in my bathroom that was tripped, I could reset it with the power off, but it would trip again once the power was turned back on. Everything was dry so I couldn’t find any reason that the switch was tripping so I assumed that I had a bad GFI. I changed it, but had the same problem with the new outlet. I then started pulling the boat apart and found the central vacuum in the aft cabin was wet (on the inside) and was plugged into an outlet that was tied into the GFI in the bathroom. I unplugged the vacuum and the GFI reset without a problem.

My suggestion is to unplug everything that you can find and then try and reset the GFI.
 
I agree with earlier reply 28 amps is a bunch. If you have something down line of a 15 amp breaker pulling more than 15 amps it's going to kick that breaker. It may pull up to 18 or 20 amps before it kicks. Are you sure you are wired into the 1st breaker correctly. I'm not doubting your ability it just seems like somethings not wired right.
If a breaker is rated at 15 amps it will break at something slightly over that. Ive never seen a breaker fuse together and let more amps through than what it was rated. It's a fail safe.
Unless something is shorted into the system downline of the 1st breaker bringing more power into it. For instance the power from a larger breakers line has rubbed into your GFCI line.
Jack
 
Last edited:
Vince_nj1 said:
I had a GFI in my bathroom that was tripped, I could reset it with the power off, but it would trip again once the power was turned back on. Everything was dry so I couldn’t find any reason that the switch was tripping so I assumed that I had a bad GFI. I changed it, but had the same problem with the new outlet. I then started pulling the boat apart and found the central vacuum in the aft cabin was wet (on the inside) and was plugged into an outlet that was tied into the GFI in the bathroom. I unplugged the vacuum and the GFI reset without a problem.

My suggestion is to unplug everything that you can find and then try and reset the GFI.
Click to expand...

You will find on your boat there is GFI in the cockpit, in the compartment right next to the cockpit refrigerator. These GFI also feeds the 110 volts to this refrigerator. My refrigerator stopped working on 110 last year and would only run on battery power. It turned out to be this GFI
 
I had the GFI trip (in the bathroom) I unpluged everything and checked and checked for the problem. I got out my wiring diagram and found the outlet on the starboard side of the flybridge was in the circuit. Sure enough it was wet and the wires were corroded. I cleaned it up, made new connections and sealed the outlet. No more problems.
 
Thank you guys for your input.:smt038
I could shoot myself for not using the proper meter; I used a regular meter that does not measure true amps, I used my amp clamp meter and it looks to be doing ok, I was reading 13-16 amps. Being a guy that serviced HVAC equipment for years I am embarrassed.

What I did is replaced all 8 outlets and the 1 GFI. Thank god I did. I went with all 20 amp
Outlets. The inside outlets were all 1984 units and they looked old, they looked in ok shape but real old. The one that I think has been giving me problems was the one that is in were the blower motor is inside a small storage area in the aft deck. That outlet was wet, corroded and just dangling and not mounted because water has been dripping down the back of the steps. It is where you get on and off the boat. It was real nasty. After replacing all the outlets and putting a new GFI on it works. I had to take the old caulking off the one side were the outside outlet was and make sure no more water ran down to it. I took my plug and tested each outlet to make sure each outlet was all grounded and made sure all the wires to the outlets were nice a tight and secure. So far so good.

Thank you again for your help.

Jim in Seattle:thumbsup:
 
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