1984 H34 120vac circiut issues

May 3, 2021
11
Hunter H34 Marina Del Rey
Hello everyone:)
My name is Albert. Im new to the forum. I recently purchase a 1984 Hunter 34. Im new to sailing, also, and am very excited to get my boat up and running so i can go out and get some sailing experience under my belt sorta speak. She has a few issues witch was what i was looking for when i was looking for a boat. I wantdd to buy a boat that had some issues i can fix myself. I originally was looking to buy a catalina 30 but i ran into this boat (1984 Hunter34) and liked the layout better than the Cat30. Since the day i biught the boat its been a little hectic for me because of some miscomunicational issues betwedn me and the seller. The seller that sold it to me said i would have a month to move her from the slip it was in and slip was not transferable. I figured it was ok because i figured it was enough time for me to get her up amd runnig so i can make the move from Marina Del Rey to Shoreline Marina in Long BeCh Ca...once i ought the boat and the Marina found out about thd zale they informed me that i would need to move the boat that very same day. Eversince then its been a roller coaster ride. At the moment i am slipped in their Guest slip area and paying high daily fees. Ive had the boat for a week now and have rebiult the engine (Yanmar 3gmf) and got her purring mike a kitten:)...but know im trying to tackle the electrical and i was hoping that maybe you guys can help me with some issues im having with the A/C110v circuit. Whenever i plug the shore power to the boat everything turns on but if i turn the main breaker switch at the panel on and off a few times it will blow the breaker at the shore power connection on the dock. Another thing i noticed is that the lights next to the switchs (on the A/C side of the panel only) look dimm (sometimes not all the time). I, also, noticed that the main breaker trips when i have one or more of the other AC breakers (a load) on when i turn the main breaker on. Im thnking it either the breakers are going bad or there is short or grounding issues. Ive been reading about the grounding system on boats and needless to say its not the same as a residential house system. I read about the galvanic isolators and isolating transformers but am stuck. Im not sure if the boat has one or if it had one installed from the manufacturer but.. Im wondering if you guys can shed some light on this for me. I tried looking for either one of tose isolators on my boat (1984 h34) but could not find neither one. I looked for it on the between the boats shore power plug on the boat to the breaker panel but it dont see anything. Please help?
 
Feb 21, 2013
4,638
Hunter 46 Point Richmond, CA
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new Hunter 34!!

Is the reason the marina wanted you to vacate the same day you bought it is that you may not have had an approved berth application with insurance naming the marina as an additional insured. I cannot speak to your electrical issue, but if it was my sailboat I would have a marine electrician inspect it since you do not want an electrical safety risk. As far as whether you have a galvanic isolator or isolation transformer the boat may not have one because of its age. I just purchased a1984 boat and it did not have either so I installed a galvanic isolator. This SBO forum thread post # 5on isolation transformers might be helpful: Isolation Transformer | Sailboat Owners Forums
 
Nov 6, 2006
9,884
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Welcome to the forum !! Congratulations on the H-34.. I have owned mine for 30 years now and I believe I made a good choice!
shore power breaker tripping ... inspect the power outlets and the power cable on both ends and look at wiring to the breaker panel in the boat from the power inlet.. Is the shore breaker one that has ground fault protection? a minor fault in the plugs or outlets or even salt deposits could trip a GFI breaker.. On the little neon panel lights, mine have never worked consistently .. sometimes some work, sometimes they all work.. sometimes they flicker.. It has never concerned me enough to fix them, but I'd think that it is a bad connection in that indicator circuit.. The bulbs are sort of a standard size .. I did not change the ones on the AC panel to LED's when I changed the indicators on the 12 volt side.. The H-34 did not include an isolator when it was built but a previous owner may have installed one. Good luck !
HunterOwners.com downloads (sailboatowners.com)
 
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May 3, 2021
11
Hunter H34 Marina Del Rey
@sail sfbay...thanks for the reply. i apreciate you. Yea thats pretty much why they needed me to move the boat (understandable). I should have did my due diligence and asked the marina instead of taking the sellers word for it. Its all good. Im kinda on a hurry to mive it to shoreline because they will be paying less than a quarter of what im paying at marina dell rey to slip it there( im not a rich dude). All of the mechanics/electricians ive spoke to are swamped and cant get to me for another 3 weeks. Ive made an appointment to have my boat hauled out on the 17th of this month to get her bottom painted, refitted with new thru hulls and the prop shaft and dripless seal insalled....im confident i can wire it up (i have electrical experience) myself seeing as hiw im kinda in a rush to get it done. Im trying to have it done before it is hauled out because i will be tKing it to shoreline when the marina is done with her and she will be going thru a compliance inspection so i would like to have her ready by then. Im sure with a little help from all you guys/gals we can make it happen..:)..im kinda thinking it might be the main breaker at the panel because the light flickers when i wiggle it a little like a loose connection or something im pretty sure they are the original breakers ...i was looking into buying all new breakers for the 120 circiut and am wondering who the manufacturer is for the panel? .i read that pa eltronics was making the panels for hunter boat back then and am wondering if any paneltronic breaker will fit? The breakers it has now are made by "Airpax" but when i google search i cant find the right amp rating from that manufacturer. I found some that are for paneltronics panels but am not sure if they will fit? If any of you guys can point me in the right direction az far as where i can get the breakers or some info on the panel i would apreciate it to say the least. I looked for a branding on the panel but cant find it...
 
May 3, 2021
11
Hunter H34 Marina Del Rey
@sail sfbay...thanks for the reply. i apreciate you. Yea thats pretty much why they needed me to move the boat (understandable). I should have did my due diligence and asked the marina instead of taking the sellers word for it. Its all good. Im kinda on a hurry to mive it to shoreline because they will be paying less than a quarter of what im paying at marina dell rey to slip it there( im not a rich dude). All of the mechanics/electricians ive spoke to are swamped and cant get to me for another 3 weeks. Ive made an appointment to have my boat hauled out on the 17th of this month to get her bottom painted, refitted with new thru hulls and the prop shaft and dripless seal insalled....im confident i can wire it up (i have electrical experience) myself seeing as hiw im kinda in a rush to get it done. Im trying to have it done before it is hauled out because i will be tKing it to shoreline when the marina is done with her and she will be going thru a compliance inspection so i would like to have her ready by then. Im sure with a little help from all you guys/gals we can make it happen..:)..im kinda thinking it might be the main breaker at the panel because the light flickers when i wiggle it a little like a loose connection or something im pretty sure they are the original breakers ...i was looking into buying all new breakers for the 120 circiut and am wondering who the manufacturer is for the panel? .i read that pa eltronics was making the panels for hunter boat back then and am wondering if any paneltronic breaker will fit? The breakers it has now are made by "Airpax" but when i google search i cant find the right amp rating from that manufacturer. I found some that are for paneltronics panels but am not sure if they will fit? If any of you guys can point me in the right direction az far as where i can get the breakers or some info on the panel i would apreciate it to say the least. I looked for a branding on the panel but cant find it...
Welcome to the forum !! Congratulations on the H-34.. I have owned mine for 30 years now and I believe I made a good choice!
shore power breaker tripping ... inspect the power outlets and the power cable on both ends and look at wiring to the breaker panel in the boat from the power inlet.. Is the shore breaker one that has ground fault protection? a minor fault in the plugs or outlets or even salt deposits could trip a GFI breaker.. On the little neon panel lights, mine have never worked consistently .. sometimes some work, sometimes they all work.. sometimes they flicker.. It has never concerned me enough to fix them, but I'd think that it is a bad connection in that indicator circuit.. The bulbs are sort of a standard size .. I did not change the ones on the AC panel to LED's when I changed the indicators on the 12 volt side.. The H-34 did not include an isolator when it was built but a previous owner may have installed one. Good luck !
HunterOwners.com downloads (sailboatowners.com)thanks for the info
Welcome to the forum !! Congratulations on the H-34.. I have owned mine for 30 years now and I believe I made a good choice!
shore power breaker tripping ... inspect the power outlets and the power cable on both ends and look at wiring to the breaker panel in the boat from the power inlet.. Is the shore breaker one that has ground fault protection? a minor fault in the plugs or outlets or even salt deposits could trip a GFI breaker.. On the little neon panel lights, mine have never worked consistently .. sometimes some work, sometimes they all work.. sometimes they flicker.. It has never concerned me enough to fix them, but I'd think that it is a bad connection in that indicator circuit.. The bulbs are sort of a standard size .. I did not change the ones on the AC panel to LED's when I changed the indicators on the 12 volt side.. The H-34 did not include an isolator when it was built but a previous owner may have installed one. Good luck !
HunterOwners.com downloads (sailboatowners.com)
@kloudie1 Thanks for the info bro. Yes the shore receptacle is a gfci. I replaced the 10/3awg wire from the main plug to the panel because i noticed they had a pigtail that was feeding a receptacle to the battery charger. I thought that would fix it because it looked like it was a bad connection. From my understanding the galvanic isolator should be installed inline with the ground wire coming out of the boats 120 plug?.ive checked the shore power cord for continuity and it tested out good. Im thinking maybe i should swap out the plug ths shore power cord plugs into on the boat?..can it be the wires themselves just gave what they were going to give and have deteriorated to the point were they are good conductors anymore? Does the salt water eat away at the wiring on the bkat as well? If so how long on average would you expect them to last being in salt water?
Thanks again fellas.i appreciate it.*thumbs up*
 
May 3, 2021
11
Hunter H34 Marina Del Rey
I have a question. Will it not having a galvanic isolator make it more susceptible to tripping breaker? I knownits to save the thru hulls from deteriorating as quickly and to keep the waters around the marina safer and all but will it make the circiut more vulnrable to being triped reverse polarity?
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Here's what I would do and why:

Move the boat. You do NOT need AC power to motor the boat to the new marina.

Once you get her there, you will have the TIME to research and do it right. You do NOT need an IT or GI for your boat. Those are both electrical enhancements, not necessities.
 
Jan 24, 2017
666
Hunter 34 Toms River Nj
congrats on your boat and welcome,
I have 1983 h34 original owner, watched is being built, had a similar issue once and found slight corrosion on the end of the power cord to be the issue, after of corse replacing breakers, outlets and so on. Apparently slight corrosion can cause enough resistance to cause the breaker to trip. Also try plugging into a different shore power supply, maybe a marina issue if in a transient slip.

Hope this helps
 
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Jan 22, 2008
309
Hunter 34 Herrington South, MD
Hello everyone:)
m trying to tackle the electrical and i was hoping that maybe you guys can help me with some issues im having with the A/C110v circuit. Whenever i plug the shore power to the boat everything turns on but if i turn the main breaker switch at the panel on and off a few times it will blow the breaker at the shore power connection on the dock. Another thing i noticed is that the lights next to the switchs (on the A/C side of the panel only) look dimm (sometimes not all the time). I, also, noticed that the main breaker trips when i have one or more of the other AC breakers (a load) on when i turn the main breaker on.
I have the same 84 H34 and have gone over most of the systems in some major restoration efforts. As for the AC you need to be systematic and realize that the breakers can/do go bad, and the neon yellow lights are probably past their expiration dates! I have a few of the 12 v red lights and a few yellow 110 v lights that are already dead.

The way to check your AC circuit is to recognize (as I recall) that shore power comes onto the boat and then goes to the main switch panel. You need to be logical in finding the fault(s). First turn off all of the other AC breakers and see if you can create a problem. You can even flick the main breaker and see if that creates a problem. If it does replace that breaker. Then turn on the main and only one breaker at a time and see if you can create a problem. If yes, replace breaker and try again. If the problem persists then there is a problem down stream on that circuit. Regardless, do the same test for every circuit - port and starboard outlets, water heater, battery charger, etc.? Generally the AC wiring itself doesn't go bad, if it did you would have a MAJOR problem and most H34s would be burnt to the water line. The problem usually arises with the device at the end of the line - water heater, battery charger, anything plugged into the outlets.

You can also purchase a AstroAI Digital Clamp Meter 2000 Counts, Multimeter Amp Meter with Auto Ranging; Measures Voltage Tester, AC Current, Resistance, Continuity; Tests Diodes on Amazon for $21 and put it around one of the black AC wires on breaker circuit and it will show you how much current is going through the line. I think most of the fuses are 15amps, so your tester should show less. If the fuse trips with low current replace it. It should really jump if there is a short. I don't believe it will work if you put it around both the white and black wires within the cable. You must choose one or the other.

This process should help you zero in on the AC problem.
 
May 3, 2021
11
Hunter H34 Marina Del Rey
Hey fellas,
Thanks for the replies. I think i found the problem (with all you guys help).i pretty much did what you suggested Mike. Sistematically and pretty much isolating circiuts and with or wiyh out load and flicking the main 120 breaker to see if i would be able to force it to trip sorta speak. Im pretty sure its the main breaker because i had the cabin lights breaker on and and flicked the main 120 breaker on, led for main breaker was on so i new i aas getting juice up to the breaker but with the cabin breaker on and the main breaker on the lights were not getting any juice and with the led at the main breaker on i pretty much suspected bad/loose contacts in the breaker so i did a voltage test across the ground and input side of main breaker and there was juice, so i tested ot from the output and no juice with the breaker on. I went ahead and ordered a new main breaker (paneltronics 30 amp double pole) and am waiting on in thru the mail. Im hoping it fit. I also checkdd to see if it was bonded to the D/C circuit ground at engine and it was not so i ran a ground from the panels ground bus to the engine ground (located on tranny). I also went ahead and ordered a galvanic isolator Stu. I figured it would be best for safety and seeing as how im having her hauled out on the 17th of this month to check under her skirt. Get her refitted with new thru hulls, prop shaft and dripless packing box. I figured it would help my metal from oxidation.
 
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Jan 22, 2008
309
Hunter 34 Herrington South, MD
I'm not sure I followed everything you did but remember that the shore power comes in powers JUST THE AC devices - outlets, water heater and sockets. It then goes to the battery charger which turns it into ~13 volts to charge the batteries. All the cabin lights, and most other devices come off the 12 volt circuit and should continue to run regardless of whether the AC circuits are working or not. The only exception is if the batteries are dead or near dead and your lights while still running off the 12 volt circuit are drawing energy from the battery charger rather than the batteries. In general with good batteries, your cabin lights, etc are all virtually independent of what's happening on the AC side.
 
May 3, 2021
11
Hunter H34 Marina Del Rey
Wait. I meant to say the breaker to the receptacles not the cabin lights. I got confused because i had a lamp plugged in and was going off of that. Not many people follow what i say bro, its ok lol. By any chance do you guys know what this is for (picture bellow). It is located next to the bilge pump right in front of the V birth?
 

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May 1, 2011
4,189
Pearson 37 Lusby MD
By any chance do you guys know what this is for (picture bellow).
It is your speed indicator through hull. There should be a blanking plug that you can install so you can remove the speed wheel from the through hull and clean the paddles.
 
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May 3, 2021
11
Hunter H34 Marina Del Rey
Hello. I just wanted follow up on the electrical issues i was having. I finally got the new breaker thru the mail and installled it ...no issues anymore the leds lightas are still dimm depending on how or what other breakers i have on or off dictates how bright or dimm the leds are. All and all im very happy the problem is fixed i appreciate all the help

Thanks
Albert
#yourawesome:)
 
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