Shore Power question

[jassink]

Purchased a 86 270da last summer and had a survey done before purchase.
The PO had installed a second shore power inlet on the starboard side. The inspection revealed that both inlets were directly wired to the shore power panel.
Last summer I disconnected one of the inlets to avoid any electrical issues or risk of shock from the unused inlet. The surveyor recommended installing a selector switch so that only one inlet could be used at a time and the other would remain "dead". Has anyone installed such a switch. Blue Sea makes a rotary three position switch, wondering if anyone has any input on this switch or install.

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[Lanier Tom]

Assuming you don't have a generator, then yes I believe this will work. You would wire one shore inlet to "Shore" and the other to "Gen" which would allow you to have one or the other connected to the panel or neither in the "Off" position. If you have a generator then you could get a 4 position switch to add another selection. I have not had to install one of these, but have used Blue Sea electrical products before with good results.

 

[peterkvs]

There is a more elegant solution to the three way switch. Use a Contactor. It is essentially a high current relay. A single pole double throw contactor should do the trick. The contactor has three poles for the power wire, C Common, NO normally open, and NC normally close, and two poles for the actuator coil. When the coil has no power the C and NC terminals are connected. When the coil is powered, the C and NO poles are connected. Wire the rear shore power connector HOT lead to the NC terminal, wire the boat to the C terminal, wire HOT lead from the aux shore power connector to the NO terminal and wire the coil to the HOT and NEUTRAL leads of the AUX shore power connector.

When you plug into the rear shore power connection the power goes through the NC and C terminals to power the boat. The NO terminal is open because the coil isn't powered and so there is no power at the aux shore power connector. If you plug into the aux shore power connector the coil is powered which connects the NO and C terminals and leaves the NC terminal open. This then routes power to the boat through the NO and C terminals and does not allow power to get to the rear shore power connector.

This is automatic and can be mounted anywhere. So you don't need to find panel space.