Upgrade Current, Keep Flexibility

[sparky66]

My boat currently has two 30A shore power cords. I installed 30A ELCI's a couple of years ago, and those feed the main panel. I like the main panel layout because I can have #1 and #2 feed their "normal" circuits, or I can parallel either one to all circuits. Same with genny. I really need two 50A circuits for more power. One of the circuits originally was 50A. Anyways, the most common 50A shore power these days is 120/240. I don't need 240 for anything. If I go with 120/240, I would have to run that through a 3-pole ELCI. All is good up to this point. What happens when I get to a dock that doesn't have 50A service. What if there are only two 30 receptacles, and they are protected by ELCI's. I get my splitter out and connect to my 50A cord. Won't the ELCI's trip because I split the neutral, and the return path isn't known?

 

[rslifkin]

That is a potential issue. I haven't actually heard of that adapter setup and ELCIs being an issue, although logically it has to be a problem.

If in doubt, you can go with the setup my boat has. 2x 50A 125V inlets (3 wire instead of 4). We carry 3 wire cords, plus adapters to connect to 30A sockets and a Y splitter to turn a single 50A 125/250 (4 wire) socket into 2x 50A 125V. I've kept that instead of converting to a single 4 wire connection for flexibility.

 

[sparky66]

That is a potential issue. I haven't actually heard of that adapter setup and ELCIs being an issue, although logically it has to be a problem.

If in doubt, you can go with the setup my boat has. 2x 50A 125V inlets (3 wire instead of 4). We carry 3 wire cords, plus adapters to connect to 30A sockets and a Y splitter to turn a single 50A 125/250 (4 wire) socket into 2x 50A 125V. I've kept that instead of converting to a single 4 wire connection for flexibility.

This is what I was thinking about trying. Are there any ELCI's for this setup(for on board the boat)? All I have seen are 125/250, not just 125.

 

[rslifkin]

This is what I was thinking about trying. Are there any ELCI's for this setup(for on board the boat)? All I have seen are 125/250, not just 125.

The Blue Sea 3103 looks to be a 2 pole, 50A / 120V ELCI that would work as a main breaker (breaking both hot and neutral). It's pricey though, I'm not sure if there are cheaper options out there.

 

[sparky66]

The Blue Sea 3103 looks to be a 2 pole, 50A / 120V ELCI that would work as a main breaker (breaking both hot and neutral). It's pricey though, I'm not sure if there are cheaper options out there.

Thanks! That would be it.

 

[twistedtree]

I think you are correct that any sort of a 120V to 120/240V combiner will trip shore side ELCIs for the 120V connections. But you could continue to bring a single 120V feed, either 30A or 50A onto the boat and use it to feed both onboard circuits.

 

[tiltrider1]

You can set up a selector switch that allows you to pull either from the 50a 120/240v socket or from two 30a 120v sockets. It would be a similar switch as the shore/Gen switch. These switches can break both l1,l2,N1 & N2.

 

[sparky66]

You can set up a selector switch that allows you to pull either from the 50a 120/240v socket or from two 30a 120v sockets. It would be a similar switch as the shore/Gen switch. These switches can break both l1,l2,N1 & N2.

Yes, that would work, but would require another shore power entrance. This might be a possibility, though, since I could keep my existing 30A in place, including the new ELCI's.

 

[rslifkin]

The 30A / 50A inlet combo and selector switch would work, but it requires carrying around more shore power cords vs just more adapters. And cords take up more space than adapters.