2005 342 outlets not working

davidbrooks

I went through this last year also. The end result was simply reacing all 5 outlets on the circuit. The three in the cabin and two topside. I used exterior grade outlets from HD. 

Summerrental

On a separate note, in regard to the cause of this... I am wondering if the microwave is faulty. First the microwave circuit on the panel goes bad. Then when I bypassed it and plugged microwave into "outlet circuit", the plug melted. The previous day I had been running the AC and then a coffee maker with no issues. We do this all the time. The next morning, we turned off the coffee maker and also the AC before we used the microwave and this happened. It's the only thing that makes sense. 

Summerrental

In lieu of running a completley new wire, I have these solder heat shrink marine connectors that I think would work well as a permanent connection. I would then cover the splice with an additional layer of heat shrink tubing.

Thoughts?

Willhound

I see no reason they wouldn't be ok if the proper gauge. Perhaps someone with more knowledge of ABYC wiring specs can comment. A web search shows all kinds of examples of faulty microwaves drawing too much current. They're pretty cheap these days although finding one that fits your location might take some looking around. 

LaRea

Personally I would not want any splice in my AC wiring. I would replace the wire with new boat wire. 

If you do a splice, ABYC says it should be strong enough to resist a 30-pound pull for five minutes. (I think that’s the spec ... can’t look it up right now.). So imagine hanging your heaviest tool box from the wire. 

YYZRC

I love those connectors but I would sleeve a heat shrink tube over top. I don’t find them to be very strong but they are effective on 18 gauge wire. 

Summerrental

Well I read up on the ABYC splice requirements, and soldered connections are really not recommended/ allowed as the only means of connection, as they are no longer really flexible and the solder could crack. They recommend a crimped butt-joint connection for splices. So I took out my 10ga butt joint heat shrink connectors and tested it on a piece of 10ga stranded copper wire and it passed the pull test easily. I actually added 4 brick pavers into the bucket on top of the 30lbs in weights and it stayed no problem for another 10 minutes. No signs if fatigue at all. I think with that and an added shrink tubing over the entire splice would be a good connection.