Electrical Panel question

[JC53]

Can anyone suggest a reason why I have 2 sets of switches for shore power? Thank you in advance.

 

[Mako]

Do you have two 30amp shore power connections?

Open the panel and trace the wires.

 

[FF]

Could be a po boy idea of load shedding , between a 50A power source and a 30A ?

 

[ranger58sb]

Looks like the switches shown aren't original? But also looks like there were two switches previously, too...

-Chris

 

[DavidM]

Your set up is a bit weird.

You have two genset/shore switches on the left side of the panel, presumably one for each leg of 120V.

You have a double pole genset breaker on the top right. That means that the genset is supplying 240V, to the two legs of the breaker.

You have a two single pole shore power breakers (middle right) which means 120V each.

Here is a WAG as to what is going on:

You have two 30 amp shore power inlets that each pass through one of the shore power breakers and then on to their respective genset/shore power switches.

The two pole genset breaker supplies 120V power to each of the two genset/shore power switches and then on to the house AC panel.

Your house AC panel probably has two 120V busses, one for each 30 amp shore power inlet or each leg from the genset.

It is a weird setup because most boats use a 50A 240V shore power inlet that passes through a two pole genset/shore power switch and then to the main house panel.

But I don't see anything concerning about what you have. To operate from shore power, plug in to two 30 amp shore power outlets or use a 50A 240V to two 30A 120V splitter. Keep both shore power breakers on and the genset/shore power switches set to shore power.

To use your genset, start it and make sure the genset breaker is on and turn both genset/shore power switches to genset.

David

 

[tiltrider1]

It is also possible that one switch is not market correctly. One switch could be shore/gen while the other could be for starboard or port shore source.

As previously mentioned, Trace the wires and be sure.

 

[STB]

As another poster said, you'll have to rrace to know.

How do you plug inbto power now? One 30A service? 2x30A service, 1x50A service, 1x50A service with a Y connector?

In Florida, a lot of boats have air conditioning that draw a lot of power. But, 50A service isnt super common. So, they have two 30A buses. And put the salon unit on one, the stateroom units on than other; the range on one, the water heater on the other, etc. Then the load is divided up and they can power via 2x30A or 1x50A (with Y)

My boats have always been just 30A, so I haven't had to worry about it.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I have 2 shore power switches like OP. My electrical panel is has 2 groups. Group 1 is the A/C, Ice Maker and battery chargers. Group 2 has everything else.

I also have 2 shore power connections.

 

[JC53]

Electrical Panel

Thank you all. I have one 30 amp shore power cord to the boat that splits onboard for two 30 amp inlets. The boat is a 1983 Kadey Krogen that was built for a livaboard in B.C. Canada and has both AC and DC plugs all over. Quite confusing for an amateur. Dave, you may be on to it, but as suggested I may have to trace it all out. Seems to work well but I would feel better if I understood it.

 

[STB]

What happens if you turn one switch off at a time? What works when one is on but not the other? And the reverse?

 

[ranger58sb]

Thank you all. I have one 30 amp shore power cord to the boat that splits onboard for two 30 amp inlets.

Can you not run two separate 30A cords from shore, one to each onboard inlet?

That would be a not-uncommon set up...

Often one 30A cord would power most of the panel, except the second 30A cord would power something like an AC/Reverse Cycle heating unit..

And then sometimes an internal transfer switch would let you sometimes power almost everything with some management, especially if AC isn't on...

-Chris

 

[Ventana]

I remember talking to my surveyor about that when we were looking at the boat. Let me check later and see if he wrote something in our survey about it. I would guess only one is connected but I don’t remember for sure. Can you open the panel and take a pic of the connections on the back?

 

[JC53]

Electrical Panel

Thanks Chris, don’t have the ability to run 2 30s. I’m in a boat house and my power pedestal has only the one 30 amp outlet. Rules and availability preclude snagging a neighbors extra. Just had the boat since November so really just starting to experiment with the system.

 

[Bacchus]

Thank you all. I have one 30 amp shore power cord to the boat that splits onboard for two 30 amp inlets. The boat is a 1983 Kadey Krogen that was built for a livaboard in B.C. Canada and has both AC and DC plugs all over. Quite confusing for an amateur. Dave, you may be on to it, but as suggested I may have to trace it all out. Seems to work well but I would feel better if I understood it.

JC
Do you have a 50A outlet available in your pedestal?
Your set up looks similar to mine. I have 2 - 30A inlets onboard, 2 main switches. I can run 2 cords and switch them independently or run one cord (#1) and combine #1 & #2 bus w a transfer switch that let's me choose dhat to run w the 30A available.
My pedestal has a 50A outlet and I can use a Y splitter from 50A to 2- 30A.
Is there a second 30A cord aboard?

 

[JC53]

Thank you Stripper, any insight is appreciated.

 

[bglad]

Looks like all the breakers to the right are double pole. Only one barrel switch is needed although someone may have thought two is better. If you have an inverter it is possible one of the two barrel switches controls the power source to the circuits that have inverter power as an option. I suggest that regularly since a kaput or malfunctioning inverter in some cases will not pass AC power through it. Nice to have a way to power those circuits directly from the regular buss in the event that happens.

Can anyone suggest a reason why I have 2 sets of switches for shore power? Thank you in advance.

 

[ranger58sb]

Thanks Chris, don’t have the ability to run 2 30s. I’m in a boat house and my power pedestal has only the one 30 amp outlet. Rules and availability preclude snagging a neighbors extra. Just had the boat since November so really just starting to experiment with the system.

Got it. Maybe you could negotiate with your neighbor to do a short-term test on your system that way, though, to learn whether it really works that way or not...

And if there's a 50A outlet on the shore pedestal, the suggestion Bacchus made could be a good improvement over a single 30A supply.

-Chris

 

[jsplichal2]

My boat panel is set up with two separate 30 amp buses and two separate 30 amp shore power connections. I have what would appear to be two double pole main breakers on each panel, one for shore power and one for generator power. However, I do not have 240 power split into 120, instead they break both the hot wire and the neutral wire for added safety and protection. Not saying that is what is going on with your generator power but another possibility.

 

[Juliet 15]

My boat has the same setup because it has a bow shore-power hookup and a stern cockpit shore power hookup. They're labelled Shore power 1 (Bow) and Shorepower 2 (Aft).

Might you have 2 shore power entry points?