Electrical Smoke near AC panel

D

dialtone

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Jul 3, 2014
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154
Fluid Motion Model
C-24 C
Non-Fluid Motion Model
CW30 Sedan
While connected to shore power, running the inverter (shore/charger mode), and using the coffee machine (while many other breakers were ON) white electrical smelling smoke started to come out of where my remote generator/inverter/air conditioner switches are located. I promptly killed the inverter and turned everything off.

I then proceeded to remove panels and I think I found where the issue is occurring but I'm not sure why.

Check out my pics here: http://www.screencast.com/t/96wI3ANwKV2c

1) Where my finger is pointing - I think this is the mouse fur that started to melt?? Maybe due to heat. What do you think?

2) You'll notice one of the electrical lines has a open cut in it (I'm assuming from rigging). How do you recommend I repair and could this have caused some sort of short/heat?

Thank you for the advice in advance. Normally I would post this in the cutwater forum but I was hoping to get some advice so I can put things back together this afternoon.
 
A friend of mine suggested that the discoloration on the mouse fur is actually glue adhesive. After zooming into the photo the fibers don't look burnt. Open to ideas of how/where to trace this down. Smoke only occurred under load in the areas I removed.
 
Just curious...If you were on shore power (plugged in), why were you using the inverter? By my understanding, the inverter turns 12V DC into 120V AC using the batteries as the source. Maybe using the inverter while on shore power overloaded something?
 
dialtone":11uhzkfp said:
2) You'll notice one of the electrical lines has a open cut in it (I'm assuming from rigging). How do you recommend I repair and could this have caused some sort of short/heat?
Click to expand...

Hello DT,

You have provided excellent pics of the violated outer jacket of the 12/3 marine cable. Part B of your question...YES this can cause a short. But, further investigation is needed. It may be that there is NO DAMAGE to the wires inside the bundle which means the wires are innocent of wrong doing...i.e., the problem is elsewhere.

First, TURN OFF ALL POWER...Then, I would carefully split open the white outer jacket going 1-2 inches in both directions from the hole (total 3-4"). Be careful not to damage the 3 wires contained within. With the outer jacket split, carefully pull out the 3 wires and inspect them for damage to the insulation. A short could occur if TWO wires are damaged in such a way that they make an electrical connection whilst inside the bundle/cable. I doubt this is the case as you would usually know immediately because breakers trip. More likely, just one conductor is compromised, resulting is increased resistance to current flow and INCREASED HEAT production. Actually, given there is no discoloration around the damaged outer case, it's likely there is no damage to the conductors within.

If one or more inner conductors ARE damaged, then you will splice in a piece of 10AWG tinned marine wire using marine grade butt connectors and a proper ratcheting crimper. DO NOT use automotive butt connectors and DO NOT use non-ratcheting crimpers...you want a PROPER repair that will not turn into a liability to create more smoke sometime down the road.

This vid (https://youtu.be/8DqizFbQarA) shows proper technique...adding a length of heat shrink and/or using heat shrink butt connectors will make the repair more water resistant if that matters in this location.

Let us know what you find,

dave
 
Hi,

Nothing in your photos looks like it's been damaged. I would start looking at places where there are splices or connection points in the wiring. That's usually where there the problem will be and a high resistance point is created which things get hot. Sometimes the insulation doesn't get stripped back enough and some of it gets trapped in the connection reducing the amount of contact with the wire. The connection then cannot handle the load it's seeing. And it happens slowly enough that the breaker/fuse does not pop but is hot enough to start making the insulation out gas which is probably what you smelled.

Hope you find your problem.

Regards,
Ken
 
I'm going to remove the access areas around the breaker panel and inspect. I'll report back. Thanks for the info.
 
If your problem is not the wires and now that you have everything open, you may want to replicate the same load and visually look and see if and where the smoke occurs again. I concur that the stain may be glue.
 
Yes sir. I was thinking the same.
 
That is a scary situation! Good thing you caught it before a fire started. It is difficult to see, but was that the lead to the 30 amp house? I would definitely change that out. It should have blown if there was an overload. However, I had a similar situation at the connection right at the shore power connection. The hot lead was loose and it caused arcing and melted the connection without the main tripping. I replaced the shore power with the Smart Plug. Perhaps the lead into the breaker was loose and the poor connection started to arc. Let us know how things progress.
 
Yup, you were another 60 to 90 seconds from being a news item
Our little boats won't support that level of energy consumption
I suggest moving up to a Marlow 62 with their twin 50 amp power cords . :mrgreen:

All joking aside - that picture is frightening
 
Hey there Nick,

Thank you for the great photos and explanation of what had happened. The photo clearly shows that the issue happened within the ELCI breaker which is intended to stop this exact thing from happening. The ironic part about this is I had the same exact thing happen on a Ranger 31 that I personally inspected, removed and sent back to Blue Sea Systems to diagnose. These ELCI breakers are now required on all boats now and the only time I have ever had a problem with shore power systems was when one of these was installed! :shock:

Ralf is working with Blue Sea systems as we speak to determine the next steps in making sure this doesn't happen again. We will get you a new breaker asap and have it installed.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

Andrew Custis
 
Thank you Andrew. Mr. Ralph also called me this morning.

Things happen. I'm thankful my family caught the smoke early and even more thankful I have a factory that supports me. I'll wait to hear from your team.

To everyone else: Thanks for helping me over the weekend. Your comments helped me find this and I learned a lot during the way.
 
@tlkenyon : from what I understand - the pro mariner in shore power/charge position passes the A/C through to the panel and charges your batteries (DC). On my remote switch this is the UP position. Middle position is OFF. Down position is inverter only from DC batteries. I'm not 100% sure but I think this is how it works.
 
@dialtone....thanks for the explanation.
 
Replaced ECLI - I once again have shore power 🙂
 
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