Unreliable shore power

[SycloneDriver]

I moveed the boat to a new location, a sailboat club. So far my only complaint is the longer drive and the unreliable shore power. It seems that the main breaker for dock C, my dock, is tripping.

I keep a few things in the fridge, mostly drinks, and I keep the fridge on year round. This is now a problem because it runs the batteries flat,112Ah from 110Ah bank down to 10.7 volts. Another time 47Ah. This is gong to kill my house bank.

I generally day sail and I prefer not to have to stop and provision the boat every time I visit. That kind of defeats the purpose of having a fridge.

Do I set-up a power monitor? Which one? The wifi doesn't reach my boat. If do I would still have find someone willing to rest the dock breaker.

I could convert to a LiFeP04 battey bank and let the BMS deal with it. I think this is the better option.

Suggestions?

 

[SycloneDriver]

Forgot this screenshot.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Perhaps you could work with the marina to address the power interruption issue.

FWIW, I treat my boat fridge like a boat fridge. It's off unless I am there. It only takes a half hour to cool off drinks, and I bring 12 or 24 packs when I go to the boat, always some around.

Your boat, your choice.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

I like your mindset of personal responsibility but why not (get whoever runs the club) replace the breaker or figure out what the problem is? I assume it affects more people than just you.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Breakers get old and fail and need to be replaced. Marina responsibility. Or, as you have not revealed, you are using too much electricity and so the breaker breaks, but usually the breaker on the boat would break first.

 

[dlochner]

In the past few years there have been changes in the electrical code that affects marina wiring. As a result, breaker trips are more common with boats that don't have compatible wiring. If the new marina has upgraded wiring then this might be the issue. I'd like to tell what the specific changes and remedies are, but since it hasn't been a problem for me, I never took the time to learn exactly what the cause was and the fix. @Maine Sail would know.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

While you may be looking for an excuse for a battery upgrade, it might be cheaper to replace the club's faulty breaker, even if it's at your own cost

 

[walt]

Maybe an auto low voltage disconnect for the power to the fridge... something like this https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-Battery-Protect-65-A--100-A--220-A-EN-.pdf

 

[Foswick]

I think I would tend to agree with the advice to see if there is an easy fix with the marina and go from there. But, if an AC power failure will lead to a battery drain, I think I would also address that, since there are many reasons for power interruptions. We have even had the neighbor (or somebody) just turn off our breaker, for some reason.

I don't know your specific setup, but I am inferring that your fridge is DC. Why not install a switch that allows you to switch between running off of the battery or running off of an AC->DC converter? So, when parked, you flip the switch to rely on that AC power source. If it fails, you just lose power, so at least your battery is protected.

Would require you to remember to flip the switch. So, it wouldn't work for me because I can't remember to do anything. But, you might be more organized than me.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

How long is the power off for? If it's long enough for mold/mildew to start growing in your fridge, you could use a solenoid or power door lock actuator to push the fridge door open assuming there isn't a freezer plate that will defrost all over your floor

 

[SycloneDriver]

How long is the power off for? If it's long enough for mold/mildew to start growing in your fridge, you could use a solenoid or power door lock actuator to push the fridge door open assuming there isn't a freezer plate that will defrost all over your floor

The water in the bottom of the fridge from an unplanned defrost was my first clue the something was a miss.

So far mold hasn't been an issue.

 

[SycloneDriver]

I think I would tend to agree with the advice to see if there is an easy fix with the marina and go from there. But, if an AC power failure will lead to a battery drain, I think I would also address that, since there are many reasons for power interruptions. We have even had the neighbor (or somebody) just turn off our breaker, for some reason.

I don't know your specific setup, but I am inferring that your fridge is DC. Why not install a switch that allows you to switch between running off of the battery or running off of an AC->DC converter? So, when parked, you flip the switch to rely on that AC power source. If it fails, you just lose power, so at least your battery is protected.

Would require you to remember to flip the switch. So, it wouldn't work for me because I can't remember to do anything. But, you might be more organized than me.

Not a bad idea but I can barely remember my keys. Lost my car keys the day I moved to the new marina.

 

[SycloneDriver]

Several guys suggested addressing the issue with the dock shore power breaker.
This dock is newly rebuiltb due to a severe storm. It has new pedestals and some kind of specialized breaker, think gound failt interrupter, at the main power panel. I'll look into it but I'm not hopeful, I hear that those fancy breaker are prone to nuance tripping.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Several guys suggested addressing the issue with the dock shore power breaker.
This dock is newly rebuiltb due to a severe storm. It has new pedestals and some kind of specialized breaker, think gound failt interrupter, at the main power panel. I'll look into it but I'm not hopeful, I hear that those fancy breaker are prone to nuance tripping.

I’m unaware of any marina which didn’t have a GFI on each pedestal. if that’s the issue, you need to look into which boat has the problem.

 

[Straycat22296]

I had a breaker at home that would keep tripping, an electrician at work told me that due to constant tripping the contacts can wear out due to the arcing when tripping. With worn-out contacts the breakers can be prone to more easily tripping.
He suggested that I replace the old breaker to see what happens.
I did not have any further problems after the replacement. In This case replacing the old breaker may be all that is needed.
Unfortunately, this being related to boats, there may also be other issues in the marina like old wiring issues and more additional load on the panel than was previously expected when the main panel was installed.
Unfortunately, in my work experience, I sometimes found that doing something that sounded simple opened a big can of worms.
I hope you have good Luck in finding a cure to this issue.

 

[dlochner]

Several guys suggested addressing the issue with the dock shore power breaker.
This dock is newly rebuiltb due to a severe storm. It has new pedestals and some kind of specialized breaker, think gound failt interrupter, at the main power panel. I'll look into it but I'm not hopeful, I hear that those fancy breaker are prone to nuance tripping.

This the problem. You have a ground fault leak on your boat. Find it, fix it, and the problem will go away.

 

[jssailem]

I hear that those fancy breaker are prone to nuance tripping.

This issue has been around since 2019. Here is a link that explains the Ground Fault Interruption system (GFI) that became a requirement. This exposed the problems that some boats have with their electrical system when the dock GFI tripped.

How to deal with a boat that is trips the dock Ground Fault circuit breaker. - A discussion of the issues and possible solutions

 

[mermike]

A battery protector will protect your batteries but not your drinks. If there's nothing perishable in the fridge, why not just leave it off?
You'd need in excess of 400 watts of solar to keep the fridge running 24/7, which would be difficult to install on a 31' boat.
Your options seem to be fix the dock problem or leave the fridge off. Of course if your budget is unlimited, then I recommend a generator with a Victron Cerbo to auto-start it

 

[SycloneDriver]

I’m unaware of any marina which didn’t have a GFI on each pedestal. if that’s the issue, you need to look into which boat has the problem.

This the problem. You have a ground fault leak on your boat. Find it, fix it, and the problem will go away.

I doubt that my boat is tripping the main breaker at the subpanel and not the breaker in the pedestal. But you do make a good point, I assumed my boat was not the problem. I'll check my boat first. I need to check the hull potential at my new slip anyway.

 

[SycloneDriver]

A battery protector will protect your batteries but not your drinks. If there's nothing perishable in the fridge, why not just leave it off?
You'd need in excess of 400 watts of solar to keep the fridge running 24/7, which would be difficult to install on a 31' boat.
Your options seem to be fix the dock problem or leave the fridge off. Of course if your budget is unlimited, then I recommend a generator with a Victron Cerbo to auto-start it

I'm a power tech for a large communication company, but not an electrician. The generator idea sounds good but I don't have the space.

I've been interested in solar sense I saw my first solar cell as a child. I don't currently have any solar on the boat due to space limitations, I only day sail it and I find it unattractive. I'll get over all that if I ever get to take the boat cruising.