Electrcal Fire, Engine Room

If everything is good on Benny, everything works, even loaded up then the problem is not in the panel, inverter, charger or any circuit.

Now, when you said that voltage coming in at the breakers is good, what happens when you start pulling a load? You said at that point the reverse polarity indicator comes on, what is the voltage on on both your 30amp lines.

Have you tried using a 50 cord on your 50 amp shore inlet?
It sounds to be like I you have a problem in the wiring between the inlets and the panel, trying the 50amp connection will bypass that
 
Just arrived at the boat for the weekend. The marina , who has a very experienced boat mechanic, electrician has done all the above test. Today they ran a power cord and wired direct to the panel, completely eliminating power from the outside conection to the panel. Same result, they are now going to order in a new main breaker. Thought being the main breaker could be the problem. There still is a thought that somewhere a ground wire has fused or brunt. A real puzzle to try and find. Thank you all for the input, any more ideas are welcomed.
Don
 
strange they will replace the main breaker without finding the problem. I would open the panel and see what look bad.
 
quote:
Originally posted by preferred

Just arrived at the boat for the weekend. The marina , who has a very experienced boat mechanic, electrician has done all the above test. Today they ran a power cord and wired direct to the panel, completely eliminating power from the outside conection to the panel. Same result, they are now going to order in a new main breaker. Thought being the main breaker could be the problem. There still is a thought that somewhere a ground wire has fused or brunt. A real puzzle to try and find. Thank you all for the input, any more ideas are welcomed.
Don

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So have they tried both the 30a and 50a connections and have gotten the same results on both circuits?

If they are replacing things just on the basis of "the thought being" and not based on known facts or faults it means they have no idea what is really wrong and are just guessing. That is a waste of your time and money. I'd get an outside qualified marine electrician to come in and find the problem before just replacing parts in a random manner.
 
I have to agree the shotgun troubleshooting approach isn't the best method of finding a problem like this.
If an AC backfeed occured then it's possible the main double pole breaker could be bad. I have seen bad breakers and there are usually visible signs (excite wounds, black charred or broken bakelite).
Bill
 
Not only that but a breaker can be tested for proper operation. No need to replace it on a whim with a part that in many cases is non-returnable after the sale.

As Bill mentioned, I would think a double pole breaker damaged bad enough to allow reverse polarity would show some external signs of that damage.
 
I don't see how the breaker could be the culprit either. It can't reverse polarity unless there is a massive short and if that was the case, even if it didn't trip, the breaker on the dock would trip.

My next step would be to disconnect the inverter and the charger, not at the units but at the panel itself to eliminate their wiring. Since the only visible damage occurred in these units, the wiring to the charger, and the wiring to and from the inverter is suspect.
 
I had an AC main breaker melt down in my boat. It wasn't from an AC backfeed it was simply age and corrosion. I replaced all the breakers in the panel eventually but after one of the mains went I replaced both mains and the generator breakers. Mine almost fell into pieces once I touched it and it had all the signs black marks from arching and pieces missing from the bakelite.
As a side note my rear transom breakers were new but they didn't trip and the dock breaker never tripped because it was a slow burn. I stopped it by simply shutting what was left of the breaker off, then shutting off the transom breaker.
Bill
 
Disconnecting circuits one at a time, like the ones for the charger and inverter, is something your service people should have done by now. This statement seems to imply they have: "electrician has done all the above test.". But have they for sure done that? And if so what were the results?
 
A main breaker can cause this to happen but depending on the breakers age something caused the breaker to fail. In my case it was age and condensation as mine failed (I'm not sure of the order) I did get a reverse polarity indication.
Bill
 
I have spent the weekend opening the panel, taking individual circuits off line then on line . When the inverter has charged the batteries the red light goes off. As soon as I put on a load and the amps go over 12 , I have a faint red light. As I increase the load over 12 the light gets brighter. I have tried every combination. Taking the inverter off line , then the main battery bank. I shut down the DC with alll the test. Running the washing machine ,oven ,battery charger, inverter, and the hot water tank all combinations with no luck.. I think I mentioned on Friday the panel was direct wired ,bypassing the shore power conection at the boat.
There were no indications on the breakers that showed any faults. With all the testing , the only alternative is to replace the breaker. I will let you know how I make out, thank you again for all your input. .
 
Did you isolate the hot, neutral and ground wires for each circuit? If not you most likely just wasted your time.

Why not just bypass the main breaker and see what happens before you replace it?

"Running the washing machine ,oven ,battery charger, inverter, and the hot water tank all combinations with no luck."

Does this mean no matter what appliance you run if the load goes to 12a the reverse polarity light goes on?
 
What does the red light indicate??

If it is reverse polarity that means the neutral is getting a voltage above the ground. You could probably measure it. They are both supposed to be zero. A resistive (bad) connection somewhere in the neutral line could cause the voltage on the neutral to increase as load increases. Since it does seem load related it would probably be some location that all the loads have in common. Shore power connections and cables are very suspect. Have to opened them up?

Looking back you said there is no revere polarity when on generator power. That is another indication that something is wrong on the shore power side between the panel and the power company. Cable and outlets,Cable and outlets,Cable and outlets,Cable and outlets,
 
Reverse polarity is what the red light is supposed to mean, what does it mean here? I'm with Bruce a neutral and ground are at a different voltage potential. Now I wonder if the amps reported "12a" is DC or AC related?
Bill
 
I was just thinking, your RPI should have a 25,000 Ohm resister associated with it. If that fails you could be getting a reverse polarity indication.

Also, have you plugged a RP receptacle tester into your outlets to see what it shows?
 
I was leaning toward a common connection issue as well. The bad connection might not even visually appear bad.

Some one with the correct skill, equipment and knowledge needs to get involved. I'm not convinced that has happened as of yet.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Billylll

Reverse polarity is what the red light is supposed to mean, what does it mean here? I'm with Bruce a neutral and ground are at a different voltage potential. Now I wonder if the amps reported "12a" is DC or AC related?
Bill

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Hmm, since it's not truly reverse polarity the light indicates (since AC current has no polarity) but phase shifting, can the light even read stray DC current?

Also I would think since the amperage indicated is being read off of an AC amp meter and he was not using any DC equipment at the time it would have to be AC amperage, no?
 
I'm wondering if somehow the DC negative got tied to an AC positive? They are both black leads? That's why I like using yellow for DC negative leads.
I'm leaning towards a switching/ hookup problem that involves the charger/ inverter.
Without being able to test each AC source and individual AC load myself everything is a WAG.
Bill
 
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