Shore Power Inlet Plug Fire Hazard: Marinco vs. SmartPlug

S

Sea Wolf

New member
There are several discussions here on the C-Brats regarding this topic. After you read the post noted below, feel free to add your comments.
If you have made a post on the topic before, please also feel free to find it and copy it and post it to the discussion with any additional comments you feel necessary.
Thanks! Joe.

For now, read this very informative and superbly written and illustrated post from the BeneteauOwners.com:

Shore Power-SmartPlug vs. 1938 (Marinco utilized) Design by Hubbell
 
Joe, the link you provided goes into detail & shows in photos the disparity between the Shore Power Smart Plug & the Marinco, that I couldn't find when trying to determine if the change over from Marinco to Smart Plug was worth the expense. However I did find enough information to convince me do do so, but this would had made the decision even easier at the time. I went with only 25 feet of the Smart Plug cord instead of the 50 feet of Marinco cord I replaced. The Smart Plug cord I found to be more pliable & the 25 feet easily rolls up to be stored in the gunnel while attached to the boat Smart Plug shore Power inlet. Roughly 90% of the time I've connected to shore power 25 feet has been enough & on those rare occasions that it's not I carry an adapter for an extra 25 feet of 15 amp cord. The combinations have made it easy for us to go from the different distances needed for shore power & use of the Honda generator while making the storage in the very limited space of a 22CD acceptable for extended cruising while lowering the chance of a shore power connection caused fire on the boat.

Jay
 
Jay-

Thanks for your thoughtful and very useful comments! :wink

I'm hoping others will add to this discussion so that we can have most all of our thinking on this subject available
in one place that's easy to find and research, w/o searching all over the site! :lol:

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Jay, are you saying that the smart plug cord is smaller and more flexible than the marinco cords? One of the reasons I use a regular extension cord when I can.....PITA to pull the big heavy marinco cord out of the floor compartment. Not to mention how much space it takes up! I might be more inclined to switch over to the smart plug if the cord is smaller in diameter and easier to coil up than the old style.... Colby
 
Jay, I guess I haven't noticed a big difference in cord diameter or flexibility but I'll check it out when I get home. For the past 5-6 years though, I've used a Cord-Pro cord organizer for my power cord. It helps keep it more manageable but increases rather than decreases the total volume. However, I like it since I can just pull out what I need from the holder and the rest of the cord stays neatly coiled inside.
 
Colby, maybe it's just my 14 year old, 50 foot Marinco Cord has stiffened up with age, but for sure the new Shore Power Smartplug cord is much more pliable than my old Marinco cord. There isn't any way I could have rolled up the first 25 feet of the Marinco Cord & have it fit where the new Shore Power Cord does in a nice package, perfectly suited for the gunnel. I don't have a micrometer, but with a tape both Marinco & the SmartPlug cord are very close to 5/8 ".

Roger, I like the idea of the Cord Pro & will checking to see if it might further improve my set up or not.

Jay
 
Since most marinas have the Marinco receptacles, I plan on putting a smart plug on one end of a Marinco cord and leaving the Marinco plug on the other. Will the plug fit the cord? Our 22 has no shore power now so it's a clean install at the boat end.

Charlie
 
Captains Cat":3bopf7wm said:
Since most marinas have the Marinco receptacles, I plan on putting a smart plug on one end of a Marinco cord and leaving the Marinco plug on the other. Will the plug fit the cord? Our 22 has no shore power now so it's a clean install at the boat end.

Charlie
Click to expand...
That's what I did when I installed. However, the strain relief on the connector that you can attach to a pre-existing cord is not as robust as the molded in strain relief if you buy the pre-made Smart Plug cord. On the one I made up from my previous Marinco cord, the strain relief broke in < 2 years and I wound up buying the pre-made Smart Plug cord. If I were to do it all over again, I'd buy the pre-made cord up front and sell my Marinco cord to someone else in an attempt to partially cover the difference in price between the pre-made cord and the component to make one from a pre-existing Marinco cord.
 
Charlie, I think it will work, as why else give the option of just the Smart Plug connector to the Smart Plug receptacle or the complete Shore Power Smart Plug cord. I would have done just as you suggest & reduced my old Marinco cord to 25 feet, but was hoping the Shore Power Smart Plug cord would be just as pliable as it in fact is for a better storage fit, which we really need in the majority of our cruising. The only other downside I see is perhaps the superior construction of the Shore Power Smart Plug cord over the Marinco, but maybe not worth quite that much extra cost, when you already have the Marinco cord. Hopefully someone else who has already done this or knows someone who has will post, so you will know for sure, before proceeding.

On edit I see Roger posted before me & now even more glad I didn't just add a Smart Plug to my old Marinco cord.

Jay
 
We use a 100' power cord. Since I did not see any Smart Cords available that long; I went ahead and converted my existing Marinco cord. I followed the instructions but not exactly. One finger which serves as part of a three piece strain relief system broke. They shipped a new one for free and when I followed the direction the T it went together as expected. I have the boat plugged in anytime we are not using it. The run from our house out to the boat calls for just about all of that 100'. We have seen situations in marinas where we needed almost every bit of the 100'. Almost all of the hookups we see in east marinas do require a 30 amp plug. We have been using the Smart Plug system of the boat side socket and the replacement end for our existing power cord for a couple years now with good results. No doubt in cooler weather our cord is a handful to get it wrapped up neatly as Jay has mentioned. We do carry a 20 amp conversion plug for hookups in RV parks as their 30 amp plugs are different from the 30 amp marine versions. For me thermal protection on the boats socket was something I thought to be quite important after seeing pictures of fires and burnt sockets on boat side receptacles for shore power.
D.D.
 
On several C Dory 22's I have used another option. That is the boat side recessed male plug which is designed for bass boats and battery chargers. It uses a standard 15 amp expension cord. I would only use it on a boat with low current (less than 15 amp) current requirements. I put on on the aft bulkhead between the cockpit and galley, under the cockpit combing/deck. This way it is protected from the weather, and you can easily rig a "strain relief" for the cord. I have then put the single breaker pannel and the battery charger, on the inside of that aft bulkhead, under the galley counter. One plug under the galley counter forward outboard of the helm seat, and run a second line under the "step" where the bilge pump is located, and water hose runs, to the outboard forward side of the aft dinette seat, to the second 15 amp plug. I use these plugs for USB chargers and no more than a total of 15 amps of current.

I generally do not leave power connected to the boat for any long peroid of time, unless we are aboard.
 
Bob, that's exactly what I was thinking of doing if I were to replace my marine connection. I really only use my shore power for charging my batteries. Don't drink coffee, and nothing else on the boat over 15 amps! :-) Colby
 
The 15amp connection is what we did on Ari. Installed on the STDB side of the transom cutout just under the bar.

http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_ ... _photo.php

Connects to a GFI triple outlet connector and we run an extension cord forward along the normal wiring route from there. We use about 3-10 amps max for our short duration needs.

TIP! I bought a 50ft extension cord designed for cold weather and it is much more flexible and easer to handle/store than most. Very worth it!

Like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-50-ft- ... 1vZc4neZrd

Greg
 
After reading everything here in C-brats in this thread, and the other one that started this discussion, I've decided to switch to the Smart Plug system. Probably not the most cost efficient decision I've made...but...
I really don't like the current Marinco system, mostly because it's a PITA to get my shore power cord in and out of it's storage compartment due to it's bulkiness. It's a 50' cord, and while I probably could have just replaced it with a 25' cord, reviewing all the information here just convinced me to consider the Smart Plug. I had also considered swapping out my 30 amp service for the smaller 15 amp thru the bulkhead connector which would easily handled any electrical needs I currently have and allowed for stowage of a less bulky standard extension cord. However, realizing that most all marinas now prefer if not require the use of at least 30 amp marine service, and continuing to keep the 30 amp system available on the boat, decided to go this way. I just ordered the Smart Plug 30 amp Connector set from Amazon for $159 and a new 25' Smart Plug 30 amp combination cord from West Marine for $125. Both overly pricey I think for what they are! I could have gotten just the Male end for the boat cheaper, but plan on using the additional Female end to make an adapter for standard extension cord use. Also hoping the 25' cord suffices. Most the times I've used shorepower, 25' would be fine, but there have been a few occasions where the pedestal was located more like 40'-45' away from the boat. Guess my adapters will come in handy there... My next question in all of this, is what size wire should be used between the boat connector and the boats shore power CB. Right now there is about a 3' length of 12 AWG marine wire. I suspect that is heavy enough, but was thinking 10 gauge was required for 30 amp service. I'll google it all later, but what are others finding on their factory installed shore power systems? Colby
 
If it is 30 amp service--#10 wire. That is what the cord should be. The wire should be tinned and stranded, plus vinyl sheathed, not solid wire.
 
Hi Bob. The wire looks like basic house wiring, but the print on it shows it is boat wire, 12 awg. Since it is "boat" spec'd, I'm thinking it is probably tinned and all. Again this is the wire that comes in from the back side of the Marinco male end in the cabin wall, and runs about 3 feet to the main boat shorepower system breaker. I'm pretty sure the Marinco cord uses 10 gauge wire, which is what I thought was required for 30 amps. But wondering if being such a short length, 12 gauge is acceptable. I'm assuming this was put in at the factory, otherwise the selling dealer. If the 12 gauge is fine, great. If not, then I should probably replace it with 10 gauge when I install the new smart plug receptacle.
 
As we had a discussion of this type of subject a few months ago. You want the entire circuit carring that 30 amp max load to be the 10 gauge. After the main breaker, is a different story. I would also be sure that the new inlet be 10 gauge; there may be times when you have to run the total lengh at 50 + feet.

Don't assume that all "marine wire" is tinned. I had one entire boat I rewired, which had non tinned wire. AWG vs SAE is also an issue, with the thickness of strands of wire. ABYC does not require tinned wire. There are any number of smaller cheaper boats which do not use tinned wire.
 
We use a simple adapter to go from 30amp connections to our 15amp cord to the boat. That is the normal configuration for us so we have a couple wraps of rescue tape on the adapter to cord interface to keep them together and keep moisture out. Just hope you didn't go 30amp because of the dock connections only.

Greg
 
Greg, that was one concern, dock connections that is. But a big factor was just looking at resale, if that were to ever happen! :-) The boat came with shore power, so as much as I hate spending the money, I'm just looking at this event as an upgrade. Kind of an expensive way to make using shore power less of a hassle (as I see it with 50' of bulky cord...) as I probably could have accomplished the same thing by just getting a shorter Marinco cord and leaving well enuf alone. But I do see advantages of switching to the Smart Plug system. Bob, I agree with you. I will replace that 12 gauge with 10 gauge when I put the new connector in. Hopefully my local West Marine sells it by the foot, and what they have is tinned! Colby
 
Well now that I have all the new parts, I've got to say this Smart Plug system actually seems beefier than the old system. And when I consider how I use shore power the 30 amp setup really is overkill. There is a part of me that says this will be a good system. But the simpler part of me, using my boat a/c electrics in very simple ways, wishes I would have just pulled the old system out and replaced it with the 15amp connector, and heavy duty cold weather extension cord...
:? Colby
 
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