Electrical Problem

[JoeH]

A few months ago I mentioned a problem I was having with my 120V system. I'm getting power to my microwave etc. However my outlets are not working. At the suggestion of one of our members I just replaced my Ground Fault Interrupter. Still not getting power to the outlets. Any other suggestions before I have to hire an elecrrician.

Thanks in advance.

Joe H
Scituate, MA

[RicM]

Joe,

If you have a multi-meter you can trace back to were the power is still live and that will pinpoint the problem. If you don't have a meter, Radio Sack sells a great little one about the size of a cell phone that is very handy to just leave on the boat.
See:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search
You can just get a little socket tester at a hardware store if you don't want to pay $29 for the meter.
The AC power on my boat goes straight from the shore power socket to the AC Panel. There is a switch on the panel for the AC outlets. See if you have power to there. Turn the switch on and check to see if there is power on the "out" terminals at the switch If yes, just keep following the wiring until you find the point where it dies. That's basically what the electrician will do.

[JoeH]

Joe,

If you have a multi-meter you can trace back to were the power is still live and that will pinpoint the problem. If you don't have a meter, Radio Sack sells a great little one about the size of a cell phone that is very handy to just leave on the boat.
See:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search
You can just get a little socket tester at a hardware store if you don't want to pay $29 for the meter.
The AC power on my boat goes straight from the shore power socket to the AC Panel. There is a switch on the panel for the AC outlets. See if you have power to there. Turn the switch on and check to see if there is power on the "out" terminals at the switch If yes, just keep following the wiring until you find the point where it dies. That's basically what the electrician will do.

Ric
Thanks for the timely response. I do have a multi meter and will try your suggestion tomorrow. What really confuses me is that I'm getting power to my in house 120v power i.e. the stove, microwave, air conditioning etc. except the wall outlets arn't working even though I just changed the GFI today. The sw on the AC panel is on the on position.

Thanks again for the help.

Joe H

[RobS]

Make sure the reset button on the GFI is not popped & check power coming out of the AC Panel switch for the outlets as Ric suggests. It's a simple system you're bound to find the problem..

[RicM]

Joe:

The switch could be burnt out or corroded, there could be a bad (corroded) splice somewhere, if several outlets are in the circuit together the hot wire to the first outlet could have yanked out, yielding a positive reading at the switch but no juice in the plug or the subsequent outlets down the line. Take apart and examine any connections. On my old boat I found lot's of home type "wire nuts" on the system which looked normal from the outside but consisted of green dust only when taken apart. People do odd things, assume nothing.

[joe.baar]

Our 28TE has two GFCIs, one just forward of the galley sink and one just aft of the helm chair. Other outlets might be wired downstream of a GFCI you're not aware of yet.

Also, all our AC goes through the inverter even when we're plugged into shore power so the breaker for that must be ON, as well as the "AC Outlets" breaker. This seems odd until you read up on transfer switches and grounding systems for boats and RVs.

You will find it. Take your time.

[Mike Ebert]

I was having the same problem until I realized the outlets were mis-labeled in the panel.