shore power problem

[Ed A]

Plug in the shore power cord, all ok. turn on ac pannel switch. ok
turn on air conditioner all ok.
turn off air conditioner all ok.
activte west marine charger. a.c breaker blows, charger breaker blows.

Note. on second shore power cord in 9 months. one terminal gets hot turns black over time.. may be related or not>

I'm listening guys. any suggestions?

I think i just have a bad charger.

 

[RichH]

First, check the voltage at the dock outlet. It may be much below 115/120vac. Low voltage cause an inverse rise in amperage requirements, thus the burned cord connections. Very long runs of wiring will cause the voltage drop due to their long distance and resultant inherent resistance.

 

[Steve Dion]

Check the receptical end on board the vessel. Good chance that one of the wires in almost burnt through.

 

[Prime Time]

GFCI Issue?

I've heard that battery chargers sometimes cause GFCI outlets to trip. Is this the issue?

 

[kenn]

What current ratings are the breakers that blow?

Really sounds like a blown battery charger. Is it possible to pull the charger out, take it ashore and try it on the bench?

 

[thereisabelle]

i'm with steve on this one. had to remove the rec. found old corrodid wires, cliped them back a couple of inches and cleaned the contacts where the screw clamped the wire.put it all back together. now all the rec. onboard check good with the plug in tester.i should have done this before buying a new cord. jimbob

 

[druid]

My guess is that the charger has the neutral grounded, and somewhere your hot and neutral are reversed. So, line(hot) gets grounded, breaker trips. Probably the AC doesn't ground the neutral.

Your connection that gets hot is probably a separate issue - it's corroded, creating resistance, which creates heat ( = I^2*R)

druid