Marina Voltage

raybo3

Does anyone know what the Marina voltage is at their Marina? Also if any of the larger boats that need 250 volts are having problems? 

Thanks

Ray*

Black_Diamond

I know my home marina has 115VAC @ 30A and 230VAC @ 50A at select larger slips.  I have an adapter to take the 230VAC to 115VAC for travelling around and have made use of it. 

Babyboomer

We have 30 Amp and larger slips have 2 50 Amp plugs I haven't seen a 220 volt hookup I guess when you plug up the 2 50 Amps it creates the 220 volt in the breaker box. The voltage has always been good where i'm at no low voltage that I've ever seen

raybo3

Ok here is my problem. My club has 208/120 volts 3 phase. The larger boats need 250/120 volts. I some how need to step up the voltage to 250/120 3 phase. Problem is 250/120 has a high voltage leg that will be around 140 volts. I was just wondering if other Marinas ran into this problem......

Black_Diamond

I highly doubt it is 3 phase power, that's only used in big power draw applications, usually large motors your equipment has to be specifically designed to use it. I bet it is 230VAC single phase. I can't imagine what you could have on board that needs 3 phase?

Cableguy Greg

I have never seen three phase at a marina. When I wired the docks at my last marina, I ran 2 single phase lines down the dock. Each lighthouse had both 120V lines in it so that the boats that were connected to it wouldn't be pulling off the same phase. If a boat needed 220V, all I needed to do was replace one of the outlets with a 220V one.

Black_Diamond

Smart wiring move Cableguy.

raybo3

Maybe I am not explaining myself right. Its a 3 phase system at the club 400 amp 208 volts. I know boats do not use 3 phase. The larger boats use 250 single phase. Its those boats that have the problem. At 208 the boats that need 250 volts start drawing to much current and are popping breakers or "burning" up their A/C units. BD its 3 phase and RY its not crazy that is what all commercial applications are.

TikiHut2

Ray is absolutely right that 3phase is typical in commercial lighting and larger industrial motors/warehouses/commercial spaces but it should be adapted to a typical single phase line voltage on your docks. I can imagine that many older wharfs/warehouses on an old working waterfront (like Ray has in the Boston area) may have previously been set up for high voltage commercial/industrial/freight applications and later adopted a less commercial/industrial use. The problem may have been that appropriate conversion eqt may not have been installed for your particular dock even if the clubhouse (for instance) still has 3phase lighting and HVAC eqt.

Your local commercial journeyman electrician friend needs to stop by and see what you have vs what you may need. Being a former electrician earlier in my life I'd say that cold beer is the universal bait to land some local advice. Cheers and be safe. Mike

Black_Diamond

In short, you have a problem.  With the 3-phase 208VAC system, you cannot run 240VAC single phase off it for high load equipment (A/C, heating, etc) unless it specifically had 208VAC connections options, as you only get about 75% of the power requirement, thus the popped breakers and burning up of motors needing the 240VAC.  I bet you need to have a 240VAC power drop from the utility to power the docks correctly.   I might have just exhausted my electrical knowledge on this topic   I do have a brother in-law that is a licensed electrician in NJ, I could ping him for 'expert' thoughts if you want.

raybo3

Ry I think your confused. Its not a 3 phase power cord. Its a 3 phase power panel that feeds all the hubbles on the dock. The hubbles are 208/120 single phase just like you would find in your house. Problem is that the larger boats need 240/120 volts. Next time your in West Marine go look at the 50 cords and see what they say for voltage. Then you might understand a little better what I am talking about. I did call the power company and they wanted the club to pay to have a new pole and transformer installed. about $75000.00. I feel we can just add a 400 amp 3 phase transformer on a poured pad however my thinking is 3 phase 240/120 volts will have what is called a high voltage leg or an orange leg. There is another term for it but I think its a banned word on this forum...lol

Black_Diamond

Only $75k?  lol  They have you by the short hairs on this stuff.  I believe you are correct about the 'high leg' and a lot of people stay away from that thought just because of that.  I'd call in an independent electrical contractor and get some ideas and costs besides the utility. 

TikiHut2

Ray, that's the solution but not knowing how large your group is, will 400a feed your slip mates on a high use day? It's likely that a bigger boat could draw 30-40a or more on it's own when an a/c starts up. If you get a few days where guys are running heat then it might take even less of a crowd to overtax your transformer.

You'll probably still need to hire a licensed guy to put it all together just to avoid any liability but I thought you might already know what the answer was....  Be safe an build in some hedge room. Mike

Black_Diamond

From my electrician relative: Need to install a 10% buck/boost transformer on the single phase 208V to bring it up to 240V. You may still have amperage issues, but solve the vac problem.

raybo3

400 amp on a 3 phase system is 1200 amps at 120 volts. Buck boost does not do it either. To much voltage across the neutral. I know this is a major problem. We have 5 or 6 boats that this effects. I could just use the orange leg (high voltage) on the 240 volts boats and use single phase for the rest of the marina...