We just purchased a used boat with a magnum ms2000 inverter/charger. When the boat was removed from the water we had a small dehumidifier plunged in and we had the shore power connected and everything seemed to be working. We return to the boat a month later to discover the gfci at the pedestal was tripped. I unplugged the shore power reset the gfci and it trips instantly with all the boat breakers and switches turned off. I tested the shore power connection on the boat and the ground and neutral are linked together causing what seems to be a short? The inverter works fine but I wasn’t able to confirm the charger was working. The unit is not throwing any codes And from the logs it was serviced approx six months ago and a new board was installed. Im just not familiar with inverters and any help would be greatly appreciated. Should the nuetral and ground have continuity when everything is turned off on the panel including the invertor switch?
Help needed with Magnum inverter problem
- Thread starter robertcropdust
- Start date
If the boat is plugged into the shore power pedestal, the neutral and ground will be connected, back at the transformer for the dock. If the boat is not connected to the pedastal, but the inverter is on, the neutral and ground should be connected at the inverter. If disconnected from the pedastal and the inverter is off, then the neutral and ground should be open.
To expand a bit on what @mermike said. When the boat is plugged into shore power the inverter should break the connection between the Neutral and Ground (white and green wires), This is not happening. Some inverters do this automatically, some may not.
One other possibility is the boat was wired incorrectly and the neutral and ground are connected where they should not be.
If you're not comfortable digging around in the AC electrical system, then it would be wise to hire an ABYC certified marine electrician.
One other possibility is the boat was wired incorrectly and the neutral and ground are connected where they should not be.
If you're not comfortable digging around in the AC electrical system, then it would be wise to hire an ABYC certified marine electrician.
Thanks for the reply. Looking through the the logs the inverter was installed by a certified marine electrician and everything is nice and tidy. I removed the inverter from the boat and found that the Ac hot out wire and AC neutral out have continuity. The unit is on the work bench without any power source connected. I believe I misspoke on my first post stating the neutral and ground where communicating but actually it’s the hot and natural out of inverter. one of the butt connectors has a small amount of soot on it and I also found one of the cooling fans seized.