120 VAC breaker for outlets on boat

John S

I have a question regarding the 120 VAC shore power system.

My boat has two 120 VAC electrical outlets that are powered when the shore power is plugged into the boats receptacle.

My boats AC Panel has a 5 Amp breaker for the electrical outlets,
a 15 amp breaker with nothing attached to it and labeled as "spare",
last there is a battery charger breaker.

5 amps to my electrical outlets is not enough for MANY of our devices such as a dehumidifier, an electric heater or an electric burner.

Is there any reason I can't use my "spare" 15 amp breaker for my electrical outlets?????

Thanks,

Sea Wolf · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 12:43 am Post subject:

John S-

(To my knowledge) No, there's no reason you can't switch it over. Just switch the wires or the breaker.

15 amps @ 120 VAC is 1800 watts, so you'll have quite a bit of power available.

The one possible exception would be if your outlets or wiring were not of a large enough size or gauge to handle more than 5 amps, but no C-Dory with an $800+ factory Shore Power system would have under gauge wiring! (Fingers crossed.)

P.S.: Do you have a GFI (Ground Fault Interrupting) outlet among the ones on your boat that will protect anyone from a large electrical shock between an electrically "hot" appliance and a ground?

Joe.

John S · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 4:02 pm Post subject:

Joe,

It is definitely the factory shore power option and it came with GFCI outlets.

I guess I'll swap the breakers, I couldn't think of any reason not to, but I wanted to see if there was a possible reason why they would do this from the factory. I don't remember the wire rating when I checked it, but three of us agreed it was hefty enough (12/3 I think) when I was looking at it.

Thanks

thataway · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 5:05 pm Post subject:

Some one put the wrong wires on the wrong breaker--I had several of those types of things. Switch out the breakers. The 5 amp should be for the battery charger or refigerator (as I recollect)--15 amp for the outlets (under table and galley)--I added another 15 amp outlet for the microwave on the aft counter over the hanging locker. I also put the inverter output thru this additional outlet. The water heater should also be 15 amps. The two pole breaker on the input of the pannel is 30 amps. You can have more than 30 amps on the outlet breakers and water heater etc--but you are limited to 30 amps by this input breaker.

John S · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 10:59 pm Post subject:

Bob,

Thanks that helps even more with making the right decision on moving this over.

Currently my boat doesn't have a permanent inverter installed. Any suggestions on what is the best way to come up with a solution to this. I have the standard C-Dory electrical panel right now with the factory installed battery charger system. I would like the option of powering the 120VAC outlets occasionally for charging the laptop and such without using my present portable inverters.

Appreciate any thoughts on the best way to go at this using the already installed outlets.

Thanks,
John

thataway · Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 2:22 am Post subject:

For the Tom Cat 255 I purchased the Prosine Inverter with a transfer switch--no charger. I wired the 110 V part directly to the breaker for the microwave, and continued the output the the microwave outlet. For 12 volts, I used the two group 31 AGM batteries I have under the dinette seat directly (thru a 150 amp breaker). Doing this gets away from the having to split the bus bar and taking the battery charger and water heater from the circuit which goes thru the inverter.

For the CD 25, I have a cheaper 1500 watt inverter, dedicated to one outlet by the microwave. I will also have a second outlet which is from the mains 110 V supply. This means I will manually transfer the 110 plug from one outlet to another. One can use a 110 volt manual transfer switch, but these are pricey. On this unit, I also have a 150 amp 12 volt breaker to an AMG battery. This is a simpler and less expensive--about $150, vs $ close to $800 (with my discounts) for the unit with the transfer switch.

If you just want to run a computer of small battery chager for AA batteries etc, use a cig lighter plug 200 watt inverter. I have used these for years in these applications.