Battery isolator or isolation transformer? A battery isolator usually wouldn’t affect the current paths involved in stray current or galvanic corrosion.
Galvanic Corrosion/zinc depletion question.
- Thread starter BAD ORCA
- Start date
I wish i had the room for an isolation transformer. They are not terribly expensive, just so little space left on a 36 ft boat after all the essentials are in.
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Jim...
Sailboat Owner's Guide to Corrosion
Open discussion on the effects and remedies on corrosion.
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Jim...
Thanks. Yeah this is getting frustrating. Just got billed for another set of zincs this weekend. Thats about a two month interval. Re-tested everything with silver/silver chloride, and when all systems turned on, both sides DC and AC, my hull potential only drops by 10mV which is well within acceptable range. I tested yesterday when all three of my neighbors on my stbd side of boat were away with their boats. My neighbor on port has a giant catamaran was there though. Dive comapny says they are still using same brand of zincs. I guess i need to go down the rabbit hole fairly deep now to try and solve this.
Interesting, thanks. Not that i know of. Typical Southern California marina filled with local boats. We have had a few new boats show up over the past few months on our dock, but most look to be typical locally wired boats.
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 24,494
I don’t see why having a 50hz designed boat receive 60hz would have any impact on zinc loss. Many appliances are designed to work with both. The ones that aren’t might have some issues, but that won’t affect the circuitry of the boat or the path electricity takes to ground. The AC system should be connected to the ground system in only one place on the boat - at the ground point. The AC neutral should only be connected to ground at the shore pedestal. Nothing about how many times per second the AC current oscillates affect the paths the current takes in this configuration.
And that’s why diving or swimming near boats in fresh water is not recommended - In salt water the current has a pretty conductive medium to go through, so only enough gets through the diver’s body for a tingle. In fresh water with the same fault the water can’t carry the electricity, so the human carries it all, sometimes with tragic effects.
50Hz vs 60Hz makes no difference. As stated, AC current has little impact on stray current corrosion. If the culprit does happen to be AC current, then the specific frequency plays no part in it.
Mark
Mark