Funny plug

Here's a funny receptacle. Rated 125V 15A or so it says.


The pic does not show the Chinese writing and the Olympic rings molded into the plastic. I have a few of these to replace. There is evidence of overheating so I am replacing them all.

The wiring to these had Black, Red, and an "off white" This one was wired Black to the hot, red to neutral, and "off white" to ground. Does that sound right? I have to dig further to see if they are all wired this way. I didn't have a MM with me today.

That's a standard household receptacle rating.

Normal 120V AC would be Black hot, White neutral, Green ground.

Black also being a color used for negative 12V. Boat wire for 12V is available with yellow instead of black to avoid confusion. In addition any 120V AC should be in conduit.

Red is usually used as another hot for 220V. Paired with the white.

Of course once you find things like you have, the color is not to be relied upon. Where the other end is connected needs to established.

Nigel Calder's book is the go to resource, but I do not have access to it right now.

Be safe. Good luck.

Actually that plug looks like the ones on my boat.

They are marine plugs on my boat because you can take the screws out and reinstall with crimped eyes.

Most receptacles I find for houses now you can't get the screws out and back in.

I think it's some kind of marine plug, but it's 40 years old, here you can see some additional connections on the side. There is certainly Chinese writing on them. I know the color code is non-standard. I intend to use a good quality heavy duty replacement receptacle and follow the relevant standards.



Cheers!

Good time to add GFCI protection if your 120V circuits don't already have that.

You can purchase high quality 20A sockets at Home Cheapo for about $6.00 each.

What you pay for is the ease of installing the wiring.

Remember home wire is usually solid , so can just be bent under a screw head.

Good marine wire will be multi-strand and coated .

So the choice is to add a terminal end,or dip each wire end in molten solder to make it solid (so under a screw down is OK) or to spring $$ for the better clamping connections .

If you chose terminal ends use marine , not auto, and the real 60 buck crimping tool.

Modern house recepticals expect solid wire. While boats use stranded. They still have screw terminals but are captive so u connectors instead of hole wire ends are needed.

The outlets I have used have a captive plate that the wire goes under and then a screw that tightens the plate. Works with solid or stranded wire. I haven't used a receptacle where you have to bend the wire around a screw in years.

Bob

psneeld said:

.............. Most receptacles I find for houses now you can't get the screws out and back in.

Click to expand...

You just have to turn a little harder. They will come out.

The (40 year old) AC wiring I have is aluminum strand 12/3 in a round rubber casing. Modern marine 12/3 copper looks to be available tinned, in a flat casing and is ABYC approved. 12/3 AWG Marine Grade Wire Tinned Boat Cable Flat 100 ft

So I will get good quality Leviton commercial grade receptacles and a roll of the tinned wire. And marine CGFI's for the head and galley.

Cheers

dhmeissner said:

................... The wiring to these had Black, Red, and an "off white" This one was wired Black to the hot, red to neutral, and "off white" to ground. Does that sound right? I have to dig further to see if they are all wired this way. I didn't have a MM with me today.

Click to expand...

No, that's not "right" at all. Hot (the narrow slot) should be black, neutral (the wider slot) should be white and ground (the round hole) should be green.

However, Electricity flows equally well in wires regardless of the insulation color so if your boat's wiring doesn't follow the conventional color coding, you will have to figure out which wire is which and wire the replacements accordingly.

In theory, you could just see how it's wired at the electrical panel but it's always possible that some dufuss changed the colors at some junction point so you would be wise to get an outlet tester at your home center and check everything when you're done.

Adding GFCI protection as someone suggested above is worth while at this point. You can do this by using a GFCI receptacle as the first receptacle in each circuit and wiring it following the instructions that come in the box.

Thanks Ron, I'm on it. Going to the boat today to pull the AC panel and trace out what the previous duffus did. I think there are only 6 oulets on the entire boat so it should be pretty easy, and not that expensive to do things correctly. I have a meter and know how to use it.

dhmeissner said:

Thanks Ron, I'm on it. Going to the boat today to pull the AC panel and trace out what the previous duffus did. I think there are only 6 oulets on the entire boat so it should be pretty easy, and not that expensive to do things correctly. I have a meter and know how to use it.

Click to expand...

Given what you posted above, I think you have a good plan. Remember you can install a GFCI receptacle at the beginning of the circuit and protect them all.