I have a 1990 Catalina 28 that has lost power to my 120 AC outlets, none of them work. My battery charger is working and the panel light turns on so I think I’m getting power to the panel. I’ve pushed the reset button on the panel (circuit breaker?) but nothing happens. Do you think I need a new circuit breaker? Or does anyone else have any other ideas out there? Thanks John
Lost power to my AC outlets
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AC
GFI stands for Ground Fault Interrupter it senses a current difference between the hot and common side of the circuit and will "trip" and break the circuit if it senses a difference. Often one GFI is wired in series with multiple outlets (or in your case all of them) and will knock them all off line if it senses a fault at any of them. If you have power to your panel there is a good chance this is what happened to you. Good Luck.
GFI stands for Ground Fault Interrupter it senses a current difference between the hot and common side of the circuit and will "trip" and break the circuit if it senses a difference. Often one GFI is wired in series with multiple outlets (or in your case all of them) and will knock them all off line if it senses a fault at any of them. If you have power to your panel there is a good chance this is what happened to you. Good Luck.
AC Outlets
Check all your AC outlets, might be more than one GFI...my boat has at least two. Always something to confuse us.
Check all your AC outlets, might be more than one GFI...my boat has at least two. Always something to confuse us.
Buy a book and learn
AC systems are a bit trickier than DC. How about buying a book and learning about it in its entirety? Calder's or many others. You need to learn how your boat is wired. Stu
AC systems are a bit trickier than DC. How about buying a book and learning about it in its entirety? Calder's or many others. You need to learn how your boat is wired. Stu
Stu
I have the book and this is my seventh sailboat. I've had this weekend warrior only a couple of month. My ego doesn't mind asking for help if I'm not sure. I have more than my share of open ocean miles. Don't assume you know me!! What a smart ass remark. Aloha JOHN
I have the book and this is my seventh sailboat. I've had this weekend warrior only a couple of month. My ego doesn't mind asking for help if I'm not sure. I have more than my share of open ocean miles. Don't assume you know me!! What a smart ass remark. Aloha JOHN
Sorry, John
but the question seemed so basic. Check the all of the many connections if you have power at the main breaker. Good luck, Stu
but the question seemed so basic. Check the all of the many connections if you have power at the main breaker. Good luck, Stu
Master Breaker-different location
I have a C310 and I have another seperate breaker swich for the AC power in the cockpit starboard side lazerette. (this is in addition to the AC switch at the main breaker panel inside the boat at the nav station) your boat may have something similar
I have a C310 and I have another seperate breaker swich for the AC power in the cockpit starboard side lazerette. (this is in addition to the AC switch at the main breaker panel inside the boat at the nav station) your boat may have something similar
AC
John, The way to go at this is to get a multi-meter or at least a simple circuit tester (lamp type) if you don't have one already. You can find them at any home improvement store or hardware store. Start at the source of your A/C power and test various locations in the circuit. Get behind the panel and verify that you have power coming into and out of the switch/c-breaker. Once you have done that and you do indeed have pwr there is no need to check anything upstream of that location. Continue to trace the circuit downsream from the source and figure out the first place power is lost. It is possible to have a broken or bad wire(s) but I suspect you probably have either 1. a bad connection somewhere or 2. a malfunctioning switch/circuit breaker, GFI, etc. If you drop pwr at one of these locations that is probably the culprit and I would replace it. If you exhaust this troubleshooting method and still have no success you can try to do continuity checks on the wiring. That is a little more complicated and I think you will find the problem in step one. Use a logical flow of troubleshooting and you will eventually find the problem. Let me know how it goes. Good luck.
John, The way to go at this is to get a multi-meter or at least a simple circuit tester (lamp type) if you don't have one already. You can find them at any home improvement store or hardware store. Start at the source of your A/C power and test various locations in the circuit. Get behind the panel and verify that you have power coming into and out of the switch/c-breaker. Once you have done that and you do indeed have pwr there is no need to check anything upstream of that location. Continue to trace the circuit downsream from the source and figure out the first place power is lost. It is possible to have a broken or bad wire(s) but I suspect you probably have either 1. a bad connection somewhere or 2. a malfunctioning switch/circuit breaker, GFI, etc. If you drop pwr at one of these locations that is probably the culprit and I would replace it. If you exhaust this troubleshooting method and still have no success you can try to do continuity checks on the wiring. That is a little more complicated and I think you will find the problem in step one. Use a logical flow of troubleshooting and you will eventually find the problem. Let me know how it goes. Good luck.
Thanks everyone, Fixed it !!
Used my meter and found a bad GFI (only one) hidden in a head outlet. Why, in the head outlet I'm not sure. I would think the galley would have been a better place to put the master GFI. Mahalo, JOHN
Used my meter and found a bad GFI (only one) hidden in a head outlet. Why, in the head outlet I'm not sure. I would think the galley would have been a better place to put the master GFI. Mahalo, JOHN
Great!!
Good for you , John!! This forum is great help....I just hope you weren't turned off by the snide remarks from Stu Jackson. He is bad about that....and has a past record for condescending remarks. Anyhow...... Please write this forum again with any questions.....It has sure helped me. Douglas
Good for you , John!! This forum is great help....I just hope you weren't turned off by the snide remarks from Stu Jackson. He is bad about that....and has a past record for condescending remarks. Anyhow...... Please write this forum again with any questions.....It has sure helped me. Douglas
AC
John, Congrats! Makes you feel good when you find it and fix it yourself. Electrical systems are all logic. Attack the problem with logic and you will succeed! Paul
John, Congrats! Makes you feel good when you find it and fix it yourself. Electrical systems are all logic. Attack the problem with logic and you will succeed! Paul
GFCI in Head
John, Logical places for GFCIs is based on the wiring, not the location of the outlet on the boat. If the GFCI outlet is placed as the FIRST outlet in a wiring string, it will protect all the other outlets (non-GFCIs) downstream. So, it seems that if your boat is wired properly, that GFCI outlet would be the first in the wiring string. You may want to check that out, physically, on your boat, could well be that it may NOT be wired that way. So, don't make assumptions that it is regarding "downstream" protection. I installed GFCI outlets in the first of the two sets of AC strings on my boat and used the labels that came with the GFCI outlet and placed them on the downstream outlets to know they were protected. All the best, Stu
John, Logical places for GFCIs is based on the wiring, not the location of the outlet on the boat. If the GFCI outlet is placed as the FIRST outlet in a wiring string, it will protect all the other outlets (non-GFCIs) downstream. So, it seems that if your boat is wired properly, that GFCI outlet would be the first in the wiring string. You may want to check that out, physically, on your boat, could well be that it may NOT be wired that way. So, don't make assumptions that it is regarding "downstream" protection. I installed GFCI outlets in the first of the two sets of AC strings on my boat and used the labels that came with the GFCI outlet and placed them on the downstream outlets to know they were protected. All the best, Stu
Your right
Even though the head outlet is not the closes outlet to the panel it did turn out to be the first outlet in the wiring string. Aloha & Mahalo & great sailing to all, JOHN
Even though the head outlet is not the closes outlet to the panel it did turn out to be the first outlet in the wiring string. Aloha & Mahalo & great sailing to all, JOHN
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