2003 396 ShorePower

[650Guy]

Ok, so I have a question for all you 396'ers out there.

My boat is equipped with TWIN 50amp/125v receptacles at the boat. and from looking at the electrical diagram, that looks to be the way it was designed from Carver. My marina (and just about every marina around me) only provide either twin 30amp or single 50 amp shore power.

The previous owner simply had 2, 50/125 --> 30amp pigtails on each line and ran it to the twin 30amp house.

on shore line 2, I run all 3 a/c units and on a hot day, under a full load, I'm pulling 100% of the 30amps and it does heat up the lines and wear out the breaker at the house. I have had to have the marina replace the breaker 2 times now. This is a bad scenario if you ask me.

Just wondering what you all are doing out there to combat this, can I convert this to a single 50 that diverts power where it needs to go? That is what my friend with a 2000 444 has from the factory. Seems odd that my newer version was set up the way it is??

[Midnightsun]

Not sure when but the 125v 50a were discontinued sometime between your 2003 and my 2007 as I have a single 50a 250 inlet. Lots of juice available on this as it is equivalent to dual 50a 125v or 100a total available power from a single 250v 50a plug. That being said, the 250v version carries 2 hot lines, a neutral and a ground and just makes more sense. You could easily convert to a single 250v entry as the 2 hot lines would be equivalent to the existing 2 hot lines coming in from your dual inlets. Easily may not be the correct word as it involves a new inlet and some electrical knowledge not to mention a new shore power cord. The only drawback is if you need to connect to a marina that has only 30a sockets you will need a reverse Y adapter which works very well by the way however can be rather pricey.

[650Guy]

Hmmm so I could go to a single 50/250v at the boat? I want to convert my boat to the smart connectors, maybe this would be the way to go?

1 single 50amp/250v inlet with the safety connector, with a Y-adaptor til the end of the year, and have the marina change my house to a single 50amp over the winter. They have done that for others as well.

[Midnightsun]

Smart connector for sure. Did so on my boat however in my case it was simply to swap out the inlet. The shiny chrome one is the Smart connector 250v 50a.

[650Guy]

Oh my! I so want to do that!! I'm pretty handy and don't mind doing electrical work, but have not done anything like this to a boat of mine.

So if I understand it correctly.

The new smart plug would do this:

Line 1 Black (hot)
Line 2 Black (hot)
Combined line 1&2 White (Neutral)
Combined Line 1&2 green (Ground)

Does that sound correct, and that would be my setup? I guess my only question would be I don't think I can simply twist together the 2 white/Green lines and they will fit into the whole in the new smart receptacle, so what would be the correct way to do that?

[650Guy]

Basically looking at this, but I would just label the second black as "Line 2" as I'm not going to run a whole new line just to make the color look right.

[Midnightsun]

QR_BBPOST Oh my! I so want to do that!! I'm pretty handy and don't mind doing electrical work, but have not done anything like this to a boat of mine.

So if I understand it correctly.

The new smart plug would do this:

Line 1 Black (hot)
Line 2 Black (hot)
Combined line 1&2 White (Neutral)
Combined Line 1&2 green (Ground)

Does that sound correct, and that would be my setup? I guess my only question would be I don't think I can simply twist together the 2 white/Green lines and they will fit into the whole in the new smart receptacle, so what would be the correct way to do that?

Sounds perfect to me. Do not think there is enough room to insert 2 lines into the smart connector, will have to be trial and error. A small junction box would also do the trick assuming you have enough room for this.

[650Guy]

Sounds like nothing money can't solve... On to my next issue... where do I get the money!! LOL!!!

I'm headed back out to the boat tomorrow, i'll take a look and see if there is room for a junction box behind the receptacle. There might be as i'm removing an entire receptacle from the area, ya know.

[Midnightsun]

The most important of all is to make 110% sure your wire pattern matches the way they are intended to be. If you do install a junction box do chose a weatherproof plastic style one.

[650Guy]

QR_BBPOST The most important of all is to make 110% sure your wire pattern matches the way they are intended to be. If you do install a junction box do chose a weatherproof plastic style one.

Ok, so by "Wire pattern matches", that means.... what? I was assuming as long as I got L1 & L2 etc in the right slots of the new receptical I was ok? is that what you mean?