Electricity hook up

[Noggin]

I am on a farm mooring and have the only 240v hook up which I use to keep my batteries fully charged via a Sterling Power 3 in 1 combined pure sine wave inverter UPS/battery charger.  The boat on the adjacent mooring has asked if there is any chance they can also use the hook up.  

 

I would like to help my neighbour and wonder if we could use the adapter below (or something similar) to keep both boats charging safely at the same time - electricity is black magic to me!

 

[PD1964]

The standard splitter that most boaters have on board just in case they need to share a bollard/hook-up. You just have to be careful of the other boats power consumption if you are paying the bill and not to overload the bollard/hook-up amperage rating to cause it to trip.

Edited November 20, 2019 by PD1964

[ditchcrawler]

Have you got a Galvanic Isolator or isolating transformer ?

[The Dreamer]

No expert, but know a little.  In short, yes this will provide power to both boats.  However you need to accept that, if both of you are using electricity at the same time, you will be sharing the available amps to the bollard socket.  In simple terms if the rating is 16 amps then you will have half each, so 8 amps.  Or of course any combination, say 4, 12 or 2, 10 or whatever.  But if you both push the limits, then you will either pop the fuse, or find you are encountering a power drop.  I remember a few years ago, on a campsite in France, we just couldn’t get the caravan fridge to cool anything, off of mains supply.  We eventually realised that the rating to the bollard assumed that only two out of every three pitches were occupied, and plugged in.  August bank holiday week, the site was full, and everyone wanted to chill their beers, have the TV on and in some cases the AC too.  Needless to say the system couldn’t cope!

[Slim]

I've come across such splitters and the only thing I would say is make sure you get a good quality one and that when in use all parts are well supported.

[Markinaboat]

Lovely gesture!

 

May sound obvious, but make sure your neighbour has the correct RCD panel in his boat.

[Sea Dog]

I have that very one aboard for occasional sharing in a similar fashion on a boat club wharf. It's fine: seems well made; the covers work well and are decently sprung; electrically, it does the sharing bit well (but note the load sharing comments above). That little tang on the side allows the cover flap of the socket to lock the adapter in place taking the weight as Slim mentioned above.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Sea Dog
Tang bit for Slim.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

Have you got a Galvanic Isolator or isolating transformer ?

[Mike Todd]

18 hours ago, Noggin said:

I am on a farm mooring and have the only 240v hook up which I use to keep my batteries fully charged via a Sterling Power 3 in 1 combined pure sine wave inverter UPS/battery charger.  The boat on the adjacent mooring has asked if there is any chance they can also use the hook up.  

 

I would like to help my neighbour and wonder if we could use the adapter below (or something similar) to keep both boats charging safely at the same time - electricity is black magic to me!

 

If you are intending to 'sell' the electricity to your neighbour then you might feel the need to check out the legalities, as well as the technicalities. In particular, you might want to be reassured than no electrical malfunction on your neighbour's boat can damage yours - both boats are down-line from the circuit breakers on the supply line.

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, Mike Todd said:

If you are intending to 'sell' the electricity to your neighbour then you might feel the need to check out the legalities, as well as the technicalities. In particular, you might want to be reassured than no electrical malfunction on your neighbour's boat can damage yours - both boats are down-line from the circuit breakers on the supply line.

Good point about the reselling. You can get an in line meter - I have one called "meter maid" ut I'm sure others are available - so instead of "reselling", you could see how many units you'd used in order to divvy up the bill fairly. Just an idea. 

[Dav and Pen]

Used these type of splitters a lot in France especially at the popular moorings where the lecce was free. My victron inverter/charger could be set for a range of amp draw and I used to set it on 6 amp and then if we needed more the inverter would cut in. Overnight the batteries would top right up.

[WJM]

I have one of those permanently on my hook-up point. But I do not use it to power a second boat. Whenever I leave my mooring I leave the splitter behind. Why? Because I got totally fed up with the Meter-Macs system. Normally, when I unplug, Meter-Macs automatically disconnects my account. And on my return I have to key in my details at the master panel. BUT, the re-connection system is hopeless. I can key my details in 10, 15, 20 times and it fails over and over. So if I leave the splitter plugged in the system thinks I am still there and I avoid the whole painful process. have moaned repeatedly to CaRT about this but nothing has improved.