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Old 08-16-2016, 08:37 AM   #2
psneeld
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City: Ft Pierce
Vessel Name: Sold
Vessel Model: Was an Albin/PSN 40
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 28,149
The 50 amp 125/250 cords don't hang from the contact blades, the 30s do.

While people talk corrosion being the enemy, my cut is that corrosion is secondary to the loose fit many 30A twist locks achieve/maintain. Many a time I have had a good twist and yet by the next morning it has almost fallen out of the inlet/outlet into my hands.

The 50s are locked on by nubs in either a metal to metal male/female sleeve, or in some cases plastic on the female with metal ground inside. These sleeves are robust enough to practically stand on, except the socket in the pedestal may not support that. Once twisted on, I have never had one work loose from wind, people kicking the cord, cord motion from the boat tugging on it, et, etc.

As far as less contact area...not sure who wins that with the 50 plugs, but yesterday I had 3 air conditioners, a 75 amp battery charger, and all the boat outlets on just one leg. True it may valve only exceeded 30 amps part of the time..... but there was no perceptible difference in temp on the shore power inlet or wires to the rear of it.

But that is also the point of using a 50A for the in between small and larger boats like mine. It came with one 30A inlet. Add air conditioning, add another 30.

But the boat was wired where EVERY outlet on the boat, water heater, stove, fridge, newclarger battery charger, etc..etc... was still on that one 30A circuit. So taking both 30s to their limit was common.

My argument to upgrade is 2 fold, one because you just may need the higher amp service, but even not, the 50A twist plugs just don't suffer the same loose connections that the 30 do routinely.

Just like a partially connected lamp cord, it may not be drawing many amps, but the tiny surface contact is heating up like crazy....and ultimately the whole connection.

Smart plugs are a great upgrade for 30A setups, they haven't convinced me yet for 50A.
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