Shocking problem...lol.

quote:
Originally posted by Shore

quote:
Originally posted by KiDa

quote:
Originally posted by JimPend

Something in your boat has the common (white) wire hooked to the ground bus bar.

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My thoughts. I used to wash the Regal in the driveway with none of the problems you describe. Voltage leak?

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With your shore power hooked up and a two-prong extension cord?

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No. Shore power hooked up to a 30 amp to 15 amp THREE prong adapter. Maybe the lack of a ground is the problem. When you touch the tabs you are acting as the ground for the boat. I'm not an electrician so I'm reaching here. Logically, it makes sense. I used to get zapped by my electric guitar if I was playing in the basement and the floor was damp.

Just a thought.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Shadowcruzr

You plug a boat into a shore side GFCI outlet and you will get this condition. I'll bet if you used the prongless extension cord and plug it into a regular outlet you wont have that problem. GFCI outlets dont like being plugged into GFCI outlets and that is what happens when you plug a boat into one.

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RE: Washing the Regal. My home was built before garage outlets were required to be on a GFCI. That may have been one of the reasons for no shock in my above post.
 
"I get a zap..not bad but enough to make you go HEY NOW!!..do it a couple times and it trips the breaker in the garage"

I got a kick out of this portion. Reminds me of how you cant stop touching a tooth with a toothache[:-bonc01]except a toothache cant kill ya [:-angel] Good luck finding the problem, and stay safe.
 
One spring my old wellcraft would zap me thru the port outdrive or trim tab, it turned out to be the heat excanger in the electric hot water heater had corroded thru and running current into that engine thru the water in the hoses, Idon`t know how it was getting to the tab.
 
I don't think some people are reading the thread and are just responding.That makes things confusing.

The garage has a GFCI.The boat was on the trailer in the driveway with the shore power hooked-up via the standard yellow shore power cord but I had to use an extension to get it to reach the garage gfci outlet.The extension cord had the 3rd prong broken off prior to this.I would touch the outdrive or trim tab and get a healthy shock...naturally like all males I had to do it over and over again because it felt neat ...lol.If I held my hand for more than a 2nd the GFCI in the house would trip.

Once I changed the cord out with one that had the 3rd prong still intact the shock went away completely.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Shore

I don't think some people are reading the thread and are just responding.That makes things confusing.

The garage has a GFCI.The boat was on the trailer in the driveway with the shore power hooked-up via the standard yellow shore power cord but I had to use an extension to get it to reach the garage gfci outlet.The extension cord had the 3rd prong broken off prior to this.I would touch the outdrive or trim tab and get a healthy shock...naturally like all males I had to do it over and over again because it felt neat ...lol.If I held my hand for more than a 2nd the GFCI in the house would trip.

Once I changed the cord out with one that had the 3rd prong still intact the shock went away completely.

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Well....Isn't that precious.
 
Shore,
Of course the shock went away. You provided a better path to ground than through your body. But that does not change the fact that there should be no current at all on the ground plug. Remember the ground is a safety, not a normal path for electricity. You have a short. Good thing you're not slipped at a dock. The stray current would destroy all your running gear.

Brett
 
so we are saying that the stray current is only on the 110 side and I should probably get to checking the 110 panel and it's stuff?

I'm just trying to find a starting point.
 
Yes. Your first step is to get a multimeter instead of your hand. Connect one lead to your house ground and the other to a boat ground. Leave the boat plugged in with only the hot and neutral plugs, leaving the boat ground isolated. Turn off all your ac breakers and see if you get a voltage. If you don't, turn on breakers until you find the culprit. If you do, you know there is a problem from the inlet to the breaker box.

Brett
 
It must be a very small current leak, since the GFI in your garage should trip on 5 milliamperes of current on the ground wire. I am still thinking there is something wrong with one item of your 120V equipment on the boat. The battery charger is a good possibility. I agree, it shouldn't trip the GFI, even with no ground, although it is certainly safer with the ground than without it.
 
NO. The problem could be in any system because all ground circuits, DC, AC and thru hull are tied together. THe bleeding over can be on any one.

One question you never answered was the Mercathode one. If you have one and it is on, it will tingle your shivers when the conditions are right...
 
The only 120v item that was on was the outlet(house fan drying carpet in cabin)and the battery charger.

Maybe I should just plug that old extension cord in and flip the switch for those two items and then grab that old outdrive..lol.

I do have a good mulitmeter but have only used it a couple times....still a newbie to that.
 
Diconnect the GFI outlet in the boat and recreate the original conditions. I'll bet you find the problem will go away. GFI outlets do not like it when GFI outlets are plugged into them.
 
WRONG! GFCI outlets DO NOT use the ground (green) wire, and could care less whether one or more of their brethren are connected together. They work by comparing current in the black (hot) and white (neutral) wires. More than ~5 mA (.005A) DIFFERENCE in the current flow in these two wires will cause the GFCI to trip.
In the instances cited above (the original post and the link) a GFCI will try to protect someone, whether they are standing on wet concrete, or swimming around a boat that's connected to shore power. That STILL doesn't make it wise or safe to remove a ground pin, or to "hold my hand on it" to see if the GFCI really works...
 
I'm just trying to figure out where to look and if this is actualy a problem.Had I used a 3-prong to begin with I wouldn't be asking these questions.
 
in a properly wired system there should be zero current in the third wire unless there is a failure somewhere or you are useing an automotive charger which connects AC neutral and dc ground. I suspect that your wiring is reversed. Buy a polarity tester from home depot and see what’s up.
 
I find it difficult to believe the GFCI in the garage has not tripped with the ground plug issue resolved.
 
It has an onboard Guest Charge Pro marine charger 10/10 charging two deep cycles.They are both just under 13v showing on the dash.The charger red-green lights come on/off with load like they should.

The GFCI in the garage has not tripped once since the extension cord change.I've tried fipping everything on/off to make it and everything works right.

Like I said earlier, the only thing odd to me si the voltage drop when using the bildge blowers or the dash lights.It drops maybe 2v when either is turned on.A touch more when both are on.

I have two electrical panels.one is a 12v and the other 110v.The 110v has a polarity light that does work.The needle gauge on the 110v panel shows 85 or so hooked up to shore power.Not sure if that is correct or what.
 
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