Shore Power = Polebarn Power

[gssixgun]

This seems pretty straight forward but I figured I would ask

Welcome to Winter in Idaho



On the backside of our Polebarn is a Boat shed where the Kubota is sitting in the pic below



We stored our Bayliner back there every winter for the last 5 years and plan on storing the Maxum there now

We have shore power on the boat, and I have serious power available to the Polebarn

I would like to be able to simply create a "Shore Power Station" back next to the boat.. I should be able to plug it in and keep the batteries charged without having to unhook them and dragging them out each year right ???

Has anyone done this already at home ???

I could do it with our Generator also I guess and run it once a month as suggested but it is a healthy slog from the Genny storage to the Polebarn in snow hehehe

Thoughts

[mmwjr]

Shore power for the boat is the same as a house 110V just a marine rate plug. Three wires, hot, neutral, ground.

You can either install a box with a marine plug and use a shore power cable or make a cable with shore power on one side and a home three prong plug on the other. Just be sure hot to hot, neutral to neutral, and ground to ground.

[jimq26]

It gets a lot colder up here (40 below the odd time) and the majority of us leave our fully charged batteries on the boats over the winter. That would be a stretch for most of us from November to April.

No one is allowed to leave power connected to their boat for battery charging or anything else, unless they are present and accounted for at the marina office.

I've been leaving my fully charged batteries on boats since 1990, and never had a problem. Come back in April, test the batteries - they are usually around 97% full charge.

Just too dangerous leaving power connected to the boats.

[donald]

I live in California, a much milder climate but we leave our shore power on all the time!
Never have I heard of any problems from doing this, I have my 2400 scr connected to shore power as we speak and it is on a trailer next to my house!
I have also done this with the boat in the water with no problems!
Just be sure you do as Mike said and tie HOT (BLACK) to BLACK, NEUTRAL (WHITE) to WHITE
and GROUND (GREEN) to GREEN!
You should have no problems. Just check water level in the batteries every once in a while!
Don

[speedysprocket]

You can get the adapter plugs pretty cheap on eBay.
I'd bring them inside, though...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gssixgun]

I just got a quick look at the shore power cord but it looked like a standard 30-Amp 125V 2P3W (L5-30P) set up or did I look at it wrong ????

I think if that is correct I will just mount a new power box with a L5-30R outlet

[shrew]

Marina's don't want boats plugged unattended for a number of reasons. Mostly it will overload the circuit if everyone tries to run block warmers and what not. outlets in the yard are not sufficient to supply power to all the boats the way the dock shorepower system is. If a boat catches fire, it catches many boats on fire.

With a single boat there is little concern for keeping the boat plugged in, provided you don't overload the circuit. Plus if the boat catches fire it is your stuff at risk not other peoples or the marina.

I keep my boat plugged in from May until October on the dock and run shorepower and fridge constantly. Some folks run AC non-stop.

I doubt you need a 30am circuit. A 15amp will be sufficient for a battery charger. I would probably go with a 20a circuit. I use AGM batteries and leave mine installed all winter. I turn the battery charger off in October and turn it back on in May and the batteries are fine. However, I turn the main AC breakers on the boat AND the battery switch OFF for the winter as well.

[Baby Blue]

you can also just get a plug adapter.
http://www.corddepot.com/shop/marine...inlet-adapter/

[Phillbo]

Originally Posted by Baby Blue

you can also just get a plug adapter.
Conntek 17205, 15A to 30A Locking Pigtail Adapter w/ LED & Sealing Collar

This is the ticket... Been using one for years.

[Baby Blue]

I had one of our electricians make mine.
Home Depot would have those parts if you wanted to go that route.

[gssixgun]

One / Both / Off

Another question if anyone knows

The boat actually has two starting batteries and one power battery

The switch for "One" goes to the two starters
The switch to "Both" activates all three

The switch to "Off" kills all power

Sooooooo during the winter do I have to switch to "Both" when I want to charge all the Batteries ????

Or

Is the switch only for Output power and the Charger/Input is separate and always active ??? so I switch it to "Off" and the charger becomes active from Shore Power ???

I have no problem tracing power, but if anyone already knows the answer it would save time

[mmwjr]

I cannot say for certain but the battery charger is mist likely a dual bank. Mine is wire directly to my two batteries so I can have the switch in the off position and still charge them. I know with your model boat does not chime in you will need to trace the wires from the charger to see where they go.

[chrisnwmg]

My suggestion would be to check battery voltage prior to plugging in to shore power with a voltmeter on the batteries, then plug in and switch from Off/One/Both. Should be pretty obvious if charging

[shrew]

Is your battery charger running through the battery isolation switch or are the charging leads from the charger going directly to the battery terminals??

I prefer to connect the charger directly to the batteries and allow the isolation switch to dictate which bank is being drawn from. This also allows you to maintain a charge to the battery without any potential draw on the system.

[gssixgun]

This worked perfectly during the long cold winter

I pluged it in, went on board and switched the "Charger" breaker to the on position about once a month.. Left the battery switch in the "Off" position and every thing stay changed and unfrozen..

[mmwjr]

Originally Posted by gssixgun

This worked perfectly during the long cold winter

I pluged it in, went on board and switched the "Charger" breaker to the on position about once a month.. Left the battery switch in the "Off" position and every thing stay changed and unfrozen..

Glad it worked out, thanks for letting us know.