Genset small red LED blew - why?

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Oct 10, 2008
277
Catalina 445 Yorktown
Ok, I'm at a loss on this one. Here's the deal. Had a new generator (35 amp/4200 watt) installed on the Hunter 386 and the technician hooked the supply current 10/3 wire to the Hunter installed "generator" double breaker on the instrumental panel. Black to black, white to white and green to the ground bus. Additionally, I have a slide pole breakers to switch between shore and gen power. Same deal on side 2 to parallel with side 1. Didn't give the small red LED indicator lights a thought as they were original as installed by Hunter.
When we started the genset, the red LED next to the gen breaker blew. We shut down the genset and rechecked everything. Didn't see why the LED blew. We restarted the genset and all was OK until we tried the parallel switch, which caused the small red LED next to that breaker to blow.
We checked with the wiring schematic that came with the boat and the wiriing seemed the same.
Here's how the red indicator LED lights were wired. On the gen side breaker (side 1) the red wire from the LED light is attached to a spliced-on wire that runs over and attaches to the red LED wire on the parallel LED light (side 2). This red wire is then run back and attached to the gen breaker (+) screw. The yellow wire on the parallel LED is attached to the neutral bus. Back on the gen side the yellow wire from the LED is attached to the gen breaker (-) screw. We had a reverse polarity plug and it indicated no reverse polarity.
I need to check to insure the LED are in fact 120 VAC, and not 12VDC lights. But short of that problem, what's wrong and why did my LED indicator lights blow? Need some help on this one. BTW, the green "ON" lights work fine on both sides 1 and 2. The red "reverse polarity" lights are "OFF" as they should be.
I'm getting 120 VAC per my volt meter and power seems fine at the outlets. Believe my indicator LED lights were jury rigged or improperly wired, but I'm at a loss to know one way or the other. Any experts out there?
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
Uummm... what where you trying to parallel what to? Not the shore power, I hope.
 
Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
Umm can you post a wiring diagram of the setup? Verbal descriptions of wiring are generally difficult to get right.
 
Oct 10, 2008
277
Catalina 445 Yorktown
Saildog, here's a rough sketch of the how the LED lights were connected by Hunter. I think the neutral on the LED (side 1) should have been connected to the neutral bus rather than the neutral screw on the breaker. Your thoughts?
 

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