AC PAnel question

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RyanK

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2021
Messages
34
Vessel Name
Poerava
Hello Group! I have a question regarding our AC panel on a 1988 Marine trader.
She has a breaker on the AC side labeled "BRKS" it has a white (assume common) wire going into and out of it it does not have 120v , more like 4-6v.
What is this?
Also seems strange they labelled both Common and Earth wires as "Ground" on the AC Busses and it all looks original, ive seen other MT's like this, strange, I know in Homes they do this in the US, connect the two, I am wondering they did that here as well.
Thanks in Advance,

Ryan
 
Follow the wire to see what it's connected to. Hard to give much of a guess without a picture of the wiring or the wire gauge size.

Ted
 
Follow the wire to see what it's connected to. Hard to give much of a guess without a picture of the wiring or the wire gauge size.

Ted

ts 10 awg, I cannot determine where it goes, or where it comes from without cutting open the entire wire loom. Did boats have a breaker on the Common/Neutral back in the 80s?
 
What shore power inlets do you have (1 or 2 30 amp or 1. 50 Amp 220 volt).

Do you have an inverter?

Do you have a generator?

Ted
 
What shore power inlets do you have (1 or 2 30 amp or 1. 50 Amp 220 volt).

Do you have an inverter?

Do you have a generator?

Ted

2x 30 amp plugs

victron multiplus 3kw on shore power 2 leg.

No genset,
 
Answer to question in post 3 is yes the put a breaker on the neutral.
See a lot of older Taiwanese panels with a neutral breaker just below the main line breakers.
 
Answer to question in post 3 is yes the put a breaker on the neutral.
See a lot of older Taiwanese panels with a neutral breaker just below the main line breakers.


I think I know why this is:


Typically, two 30amp 120V inlets would be connected to a single 240V circuit (which is usually just two 120V circuits 180 degrees out of phase) in the dock pedestal and the neutral wires only carry the difference between the current draw on the two 120V hot leads. If the two 30 amp 120V inlets were connected to 120V sources that were in phase and one of the neutrals became disconnected, the current on the remaining neutral wire could reach 60 amps, so the extra breaker is there for that.
 
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