240 v hook up

[Jayne Bingham]

Hello new to this we have taken our boat into a Marina for the 1st time and every time we hooked up to mains to boat the unit tripped, tests have shown that theres nothing wrong with the unit on land just when we plug in it trips any ideas why ?

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Hi ya,& Welcome to the Forum.

Well, I would imagine the first thing to do is Start one end like the power supply end,Check the Amps it supplies,EG 6a,,13a,,16a. Then check your connections in Plug,your lead,your plug the otherend of your cable then your socket .then if poss turn everything off . Then start turning One thing on at a time,and make sure the load required on your boat doesn't out weigh the load supplied from the power point !.

That's probably a easy quick and best place to start the fault finding.

Don't forget a Battery charger can deliver a lot of power if battery bank is big and low.this uses a lot of amps by itsself.

Edited March 16, 2014 by Paul's Nulife4-2

[Jayne Bingham]

its a brand new lead we have tested this so it cant be that

its a brand new hook up cable we tested it and thats fine

we have also turned everything off and it still trips so do you think the boats wiring is at fault

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Ok,,can you plug it momentarily into another power supply !.

[Grace and Favour]

Hi Jayne,

 

Have you used a shore-power line anywhere else, on this boat - or is this the very first time?

[Paul C]

its a brand new lead we have tested this so it cant be that

its a brand new hook up cable we tested it and thats fine

we have also turned everything off and it still trips so do you think the boats wiring is at fault

 

Did you also turn the boat's RCD and MCB off?

Also, what kind of setup is on the boat to receive incoming mains? Is this going through an inverter/charger combo, or a separate RCD/MCB consumer unit, then onto sockets and possibly a permanently-wired battery charger? Does the boat also have an inverter?

[Eeyore]

its a brand new lead we have tested this so it cant be that

its a brand new hook up cable we tested it and thats fine

we have also turned everything off and it still trips so do you think the boats wiring is at fault

Turning things off isn't usually enough in the circumstances; you have to be sure that everything is unplugged/disconnected as well. If it works try plugging things back in one at a time until the fault reoccurs. If it doesn't work you may need to check your wiring, connectors and any changeover switches.

[OldGoat]

It can only take a tiny fault - such as something damp - to trip an rcd out.

 

I've inadvertently connected myself between neutral and earth circuits and the unit tripped out. I only felt a slight tingle at the time!

 

They are very sensitive - and so they should be.

 

As others have said there's no absolute / easy answer, you just have to remove everything until there's no fault, then work forward.

 

 

[nicknorman]

Do you have an inverter or Combi (inverter/charger)? If so, it might be something to do with the neutral-earth bond that is normally installed when operating from an inverter. If this bond remains in place when shore power is plugged in, this will trip the RCD. Decent Combi inverters have automatic switching of the neutral earth bond. If your's is not a Combi, make sure it is not connected at the same time as the shore power is on.

 

I suppose it's possible that someone has installed such a bond within the boat's wiring so that it permanently in circuit - this would be a bad idea!

Edited March 16, 2014 by nicknorman

[Pete & Helen]

Hello new to this we have taken our boat into a Marina for the 1st time and every time we hooked up to mains to boat the unit tripped, tests have shown that theres nothing wrong with the unit on land just when we plug in it trips any ideas why ?

 

Jayne,

 

Unless you or your crew are competent at understanding electrical wiring then you will probably need someone on the boat to help you out. Not knocking the valid information you will get off this forum, but turning that into things you can do yourself is limited if you don't understand electrical wiring.

 

By the way never take anything for granted. Your new lead could be faulty, how did they test the land unit? if you can borrow a lead and plug into another unit.

 

If your in a marina ask around your fellow boaters if anyone can have a look for you (beware the amateur though). A good electrician won't take long to find the offending problem.

 

Good luck, Hope your sorted soon

[nb Innisfree]

Older Victron combis such as ours don't have auto E/N bonding. Earlier than approx build 17 don't have it IIRC, in fact they're not bonded at all so the boat RCD won't trip unless the combi is updated to auto bonding or an external setup is installed, I fitted a manual switch to ours.

[craftycarper]

Is it the trip on the post you plug into or the trip on your boat

Only asking as the ones I!ve been hooked up to have taken very little to trip out we're as my boat one never does even turning on something with a big draw I.e. A power tool will trip it out until I unplug something else to compensate don't know the correct term as I,m not an electrician but I guess in the modern world even an electric shock could lead to a claim so the tolerance is very low

[nb Innisfree]

Is it the trip on the post you plug into or the trip on your boat

Only asking as the ones I!ve been hooked up to have taken very little to trip out we're as my boat one never does even turning on something with a big draw I.e. A power tool will trip it out until I unplug something else to compensate don't know the correct term as I,m not an electrician but I guess in the modern world even an electric shock could lead to a claim so the tolerance is very low

A low load tolerance has nothing to do with safety, it doesn't afford any protection, more to do with limited capacity of the supply. What does give some protection is the RCD.

[craftycarper]

A low load tolerance has nothing to do with safety, it doesn't afford any protection, more to do with limited capacity of the supply. What does give some protection is the RCD.

as I said I,m not an electrician but if there boat is drawing to much current I am assuming that would be enough to cause it to trip

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Have we confused you Jane,

Because we have a habit of doing that sometimes, ,it's very difficult when no-one can see the set up you've got as you can imagine. Have you had any luck ?.

Don't forget to keep us posted,,even if you've forgot to turn a switch on or off,

Most of us have done similar,,!. Cough cough.

[Guest]

craftycarper, on 16 Mar 2014 - 2:03 PM, said:

Is it the trip on the post you plug into or the trip on your boat

Only asking as the ones I!ve been hooked up to have taken very little to trip out we're as my boat one never does even turning on something with a big draw I.e. A power tool will trip it out until I unplug something else to compensate don't know the correct term as I,m not an electrician but I guess in the modern world even an electric shock could lead to a claim so the tolerance is very low

 

Our boat used to do this when we switched our charger on our Mastervolt set up. The charger used to draw more than the bollard could supply in amps. and it would trip the bollard. I had to reduce how much it draws using the dip switches behind the lower panel and that sorted it.

 

If it's the boat RCD tripping rather than the bollard then this does point to some of the suggested reasons but I would also unplug anything plugged in one by one to see if it's a faulty appliance as we once had a kettle that used to cause this. Even switched off at the socket but still plugged in you can still get a leak to earth as the switches in UK sockets are not double pole and do not disconnect both the live and the neutral.

 

Gibbo once gave a very good explanation on here re this. After his explanation we isolated the kettle on our boat as the problem. Not that long after we isolated the problem the kettle went bang, we really should have stopped using it of course!!

[smileypete]

Could be the shore lead, something like a faulty combi, the fixed wiring, or a faulty appliance plugged into the sockets.

 

Pretty straightforward to eliminate the first and last by trying a known good lead and unplugging everything from the sockets.

 

If it's damp in the fixed wiring somewhere it might dry out itself after a few days, beyond that it could be a wiring, insulation, or equipment (eg combi) fault.

 

To check out the fixed wiring safely would need someone like a registered spark (electrician) or someone equally competent, maybe a good reputable marina/boatyard engineer type person.

 

It's not clear from the original post whether the RCD is tripping on earth leakage, or an MCB is tripping on current overload, sometimes these two functions are combined into one unit though.

 

If the boat works OK when tried with a portable inverter type genny, then it could well be an earth leakage fault.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited March 16, 2014 by smileypete

[Pykebird]

Hi Jayne.

Are you in the pond? If so you are probably on my old mooring. The fuses for the bollards will all be 16 amp, I helped the sparky do the tests for these last year. I also had trouble to start with, in fact it tripped my immersion heater the first time I used it.If you are still having trouble, have a chat to tom on "bug a lugs" the widebeam, tell him I sent you. He was also in the pond and is very knowledgeable and helpful.

[Alan de Enfield]

Hi Jayne.

Are you in the pond?

 

I think she is at Redhill - NOT Pillings Lock Marina

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Has she come back to any of us by pm since 13:07 !

Edited March 16, 2014 by Paul's Nulife4-2

[Paul C]

Has she come back to any of us by pm since 13:07 !

 

No. I suspect part of the confusion of the thread is that the original poster hasn't been specific with the setup on her boat, and hasn't responded to others' questions to clarify things. So lots of people have posted questions or suggestions for pretty much every electrical configuration and scenario.

 

In cases like these, I tend to prefer to simply wait for the OP to come back, or not, rather than going on a "if its this, do this, if its that, do that" style of generalised response.

[bottle]

She cannot until she has made five posts, excluding the pub.

 

If by PM you mean Private Message

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Yep makes sence.

& yep ok do.

Cheers to both.

Edited March 16, 2014 by Paul's Nulife4-2

[Jayne Bingham]

Thanks for all your help im at Redhill and have had no joy yet, i have seen the widebeam Big o lugs might just ask him before i get an electrician in