Ship to Shore Tripping Dock Breaker

BananaBanditLOZ

I have a 2004 Rinker 282 Captiva Bow Rider.  When I plug in the ship to shore cord it trips my dock breaker.  It also trips my neighbor's dock breaker which is a separate circuit to his house.  When I turn on my dock lights or use my boat lift blower pump to raise my lift the dock breaker does not trip.  Only when I plug in my boat. :-(  I have an Inteli-Power Marine Series Converter / Charger.  Model: PD2020.  The red power light does come on for the split second I plug in to the time the dock breaker trips.  I've replaced ship to shore power cord.  I've check the electrical connections.  No loose wires, no blow fuses.  Everything on the boat works and I have no issues, only when I plug in. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

JC290

did you check the cord it self? 

MarkB

Is the dock breaker okay?  Did you try plugging your boat into another breaker?

LaRea

It's not the cord (he replaced it).  And it's not the breaker (same thing happens on the neighbor's circuit).  

Do you have a multi-meter to check for a short at the boat's battery charger inlet (where you plug in the shore power cord)?  Does it have any signs of scorching or heat damage?  

Handymans342

Plug cord in without it being hooked to boat

Michael T

Are you using It's Shore Choice Tm shore power connector?

I hade a wire that was loose in the It's Shore Choice Syatedm in my 2013 EC 310 and it kept tripping the shore power pedestal's breaker. We looked at the cords first (brand new Marinco EEL cords) then the shore power pedestal grounds and hot lead(used a meter), the other boat on the pedestal's system. BTW It did need some work.

We looked in my electrical panel and checked the connections on my Intellipower charger and my galvanic isolator, but in the end the friggin' loose wire in my shore power inlet was the culprit. It wasn't east to spot as it looked good. In the end  we took them all of the shore power inlet wires off and re-tightened everything. end of problem

TonyWalker

It looks like the ground fault interrupter is doing its job.  Try this if MT's idea does not pan out.  Turn every switch on your panel off as well as appropriate switches if any, in the panel by the swim deck near the boat power inlets.  Plug the shore power cord in.  If the main breaker is still holding, proceed one panel breaker at a time until you find the culprit.  This happened on my brother's boat.  By following this procedure he found that his problem was caused by a fault in the electric galley stove.

Not much help but this might point to in the direction of the problem

Tony
Salt Shaker 342

Michael T

Good points Tony. Also I forgot to mention that one time the shore power breaker on a pedestal at a marina I was visiting tripped several times. It was MY big shore power breaker in the panel by my refreshment center (there's one at the transom/swim platform door too) It looked "on" but obviously wasn't making good contact. I turned it off and on a couple of times and there has never been another problem, probably just a poor contact......this happens from time to time in my house breaker panel with those friggin' re-set breakers. If they trip they have to be pushed ALL the way back to the "off" position then fully over to the "on" position to re-set properly!

MarkB

Yes Tony is correct. Everything should be off, including your shore power switch main isolation (not sure if you have 2 shore power inlets - I do, starboard is at stern just in front of bench seat, port side is on DB board) and the 110V main breaker.  I plug in boat FIRST (not pedastool, in case live end then falls in water!). Then pedestool, then energize shorepower breaker, then 110V main breaker, then 1 circuit at a time.

LaRea - if the 2 pedestool breakers are using a common ground, then his breaker could trip the other breaker. I would not rule out a bad breaker.  It's so easy to just try and use another pedestool, or even your neighbor's breaker for a second.

BananaBanditLOZ

Thanks for the ideas!  I've had no issues for 6 years.  This problem started late last Summer and I want to correct it before this Summer.  Like I said, my shore breaker trips on my side and my neighbor's side.  They are two different circuits from two different houses.  I've used a different cord, still trips.  I've taken the Hubble twist lock apart to make the connections are good.  I've removed my power inlet on the outside of my boat to make sure it was fine and connected.  I did find a small ground wire that wasn't connected to the fuel inlet.  I reconnected and it still trips.  This weekend I will try the following:

1.  Plug the ship to shore power cord into the outlet by itself on the dock to see if it trips (and not into the boat).

2. If that doesn't trip the breaker, I will remove fuses from the rear panel where the battery switch is located and then proceed to install each fuse while the boat is plugged into the dock outlet. 

We'll see. 

Handymans342

I believe the fuses are in the DC side. You should turn off all the AC breakers first as suggested prior. 

BananaBanditLOZ

So in the panel where the battery selector knob is located, I have several fuses and the two pole switch.  I plan to first plug the cord into the dock outlet first before plugging into to boat.  If nothing happens I'm going to back out all the fuses in the panel then plug in.  Should I also do the same to the fuses under the stiring wheel?  I have a bank of fuses there as well.

Handymans342

Can you post any pictures?

TonyWalker

On the cord procedure, many of us would recommend this.   Plug the cord into the dock facility first.  If nothing bad happens, unplug the cord.  Then connect it to the boat.  Then connect it back to the dock facility.  That will verify the cord itself is not the source of the breaker tripping.  And you avoid plugging a live cord into the boat connector.

Tony
Salt Shaker 342

BananaBanditLOZ

I'll post pics tomorrow.  Thanks!

raybo3

You need to isolate everything to see what is causing this problem. Shut all breakers off in the boat, Shut off battery charger or anything else that may not have a breaker and see if the shore breaker trips. If it does then remove the connection at the boat and see if there is a problem with the wiring. If the shore breaker does not trip then start turning on the breakers on the boat one at a time to see witch on trip the breaker. BTW the things that run off the batteries should not trip the Shore power breaker.......