AC Reverse Polarity Light

[vlepage]

I just bought a 2006 28TE flush deck. I wired up a land based extension cord to supply AC power through the shore power plug using a L5 - 30 amp - 125v female plug. Before throwing the AC main switch I noticed the red light indicating reverse polarity. I reversed the two hot leads in my extension cord , but still have the reverse polarity light. Any suggestions ?

Thank you,
Vic Lepage

[crowra]

Vic,

If you are absolutely sure the hot and neutral wires on your extension cord aren't reversed, or neutral possibly touching ground, is there another 30-amp shore outlet you could try? If not, here's a pretty good article to get you started http://themarineinstallersrant.blogspot ... aking.html. If that doesn't help, there are plenty of other articles you could Google or play it real safe and hire an electrician -- especially since you said you just bought the boat.

Rob

[jetter]

I experienced the same problem at my home yacht club dock. I noted the the light did not come on when I was at other marinas. Turned out that the shore power supply had a ground fault. New wiring. Problem solved.

[Pitou]

I have had experiences where the run was too long for the size wire used getting to a shore power outlet and this created a slight voltage drop down to 105 volts and slightly below. At the time I did quite a bit of research to find out that the reverse polarity light will illuminate if you do not have at least 110 Volts. This could be a possibility.

[Tree]

One thing is for sure. They don't even light up at 240 volts.

[vlepage]

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you for your replies.

I am still working through this.

I get the reverse polarity light with all of the following scenarios:
A) Using factory shore power cord direct connect to a Honda Generator.
B) connecting to my home using factory extension cord, connected to a home made, jumper cord to boat. I also check my phase and reverse my phases on the home made jumper cord. I also checked my ground connection on my home made jumper cord.

I will let you know if I get it resolved.

Thank you
Vic Lepage

[Bernie]

Hello Vic

On several occasions I have had to trouble shoot the " reverse polarity light" situation and found the Neutral (white) wire faulty in the supply line.

Good luck

[johnmurray]

I experienced a reverse polarity light when my power cord line worked loose on the shore power terminal. The reverse polarity light went out when I tightened the connection.

[vlepage]

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond. I think I found the problem. The AC Shore ower supply goes below deck to an AC breaker in a box. When I removed the cover to the box , water came out ! I need to sel the box and drill a drain hole or move it away from the aft main deck hatch.

Thanks again Vic Lepage

[RobS]

You're playing with fire, literally. I would change out that AC main pronto and reconfigure it to be dry from here on out.

[jleonard]

You're playing with fire, literally. I would change out that AC main pronto and reconfigure it to be dry from here on out.

What "The Count" said......
AND closely inspect the wires because it's possible (and likely) that the water can wick thru the insulation and start the corrosion process, esp. if there is any salt present. It may be rainwater that is leaking, but it is carrying the salt that was on the outside of the box.

[RobS]

What "The Count" said......

Not "The Count" for long. She's shrink-wrapped with build-out framing at the stern to allow full access to the transom this off season so a transom door can get cut in and installed and a name change to follow..

[jleonard]

Awesome!!

[RobS]

Awesome!!

Yes, exciting but a bit unnerving to know a big chunk of the boat is gonna get cut up! Here's how she sits now:

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And getting back to the topic of this thread (so I'm not accused of hijacking it), just this morning I installed an AC Main in the aft port corner of the salon, as close to the shorepower connection as I could. I wanted it in a dry location. Beforehand the distance between the shorepower connection and my AC panel was much much too long as the AC panel is in the forward starboard corner of the salon and the shorepower connection is in the forward part of the cockpit but port side . It was probably a 30ft run between the connection and the AC main , now it's 3ft

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[Pitou]

My 31TE also has a weather box below deck housing the 2 - 30 amp AC Main Breakers. Sounds similar to the OP's Flush Deck, but in a dry area about 3 feet from the shorepower inlets. I've pulled the cover and both 30 amp breakers were clean and dry. It appears as ABYC Standards have eveolved that Albin evolved with them. My 2002 28TE had a pretty long run from shore power inlet to the AC Main Breaker. It came up at survey during time of sale and when I had a mechanic buddy on board one year into ownership when I was installing a Galvanic Isolator. Both stating that the set-up was outside of ABYC.

Nice job on moving your AC Main breaker Rob. Glad to see that you're pulling the trigger on the transom door. It's hard to live without it once you've had it and we all know that you aren't getting any younger ....