Galvanic Isolator

mddogpilot

mddogpilot

Active member
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
Messages
27
Fluid Motion Model
R-29 CB
Hull Identification Number
FMLT2934E818
Vessel Name
Bon Courage
MMSI Number
368217360
My neighbor at the marina with a RT29CB had his zincs replaced in July and was told they were at zero 2 weeks ago by his diver. As a new owner I'm astonished at how fast they played out. Have diver scheduled to inspect mine in a week.

Has anyone installed a galvanic isolator on their tugs, especially a RT29?
 
IMO any boat that is in a marina and plugged into shore power should have a Galvanic isolator. This will help to reduce the amount of erosion to the anodes. When plugged into shore power your green ground terminal is attaching your boat to your neighbors boats ground system. This makes your anodes protect your neighbors boat too. The Isolator will help prevent this from happening and the anodes protecting your boat are isolated from the rest of the dock. A Galvanic isolator should be standard equipment in a boat that has a shore power system.
 
I agree with Brian 100%. On the R29S we had I installed our galvanic isolator in the starboard standup locker. As I recall I purchased a piece of starboard and secured it to the interior hull with 5200. I then mounted the galvanic isolator to the board. Depending which R29 you have, Northwest or Luxury pkg, the isolator will be different. Different because Luxury pkg has 2 power inlets vs 1 for the NW edition……so keep this in mind in order to get the proper one.

Jim F
 
We installed one on our R29 Classic.
 
I, too, agree with Brian... Any boat plugged in at a marina would benefit from having an isolator installed.

If I may be so bold to add to this question: Will my boat with an isolator installed help protect other boats plugged in to the same marina? I believe there are diodes, etc., in an isolator, so I wasn't sure if it's a "one way street"...

I was at a marina this summer and the rather rude "gentleman" at the next slip was 'unkindly' telling me that my boat is going to "screw up my (his) electrical system" (as accurate a quote as I can remember) if I don't follow his instructions on plugging my boat in... to which I answered that I have a galvanic isolator. He said that it didn't matter for his boat. I had no answer to that, so to keep the peace, I followed his instruction on where to route my electrical cable.

Upon returning to the marina after a dinner out, I found that he took it upon himself to unplug my cable and route it differently. I suppose he second-guessed himself, and felt he had the right to re-do my cable. He mumbled something about my cable possibly getting knocked by waves (very protected marina, but oh well) and dipping into the water, causing immediate degradation of his zincs. Again, didn't know if a sheathed electrical cable partially in water would cause zinc degradation, so I just went with it and we gladly left the marina the next morning.

Luckily, I can count on one hand (one finger, to be exact - and yeah, you know which one 😉 ) the number of fellow boaters that have been less-than-awesome... but it did raise some interesting questions about how my boat affects others.
 
The galvanic isolator was a really good addition. This thread reminded me that I hadn’t tested my unit for a couple of years. It’s important so I just wanted to say thanks. It’s one of those things that you would never know had failed until you notice your anodes disappearing.
 
Channel Surfing spends her time in brackish water, moored at a marina, plugged into shore power.
My boat came from the factory with a galvanic isolator installed. My trim tab anodes last about 6 months while the engine transom anode lasts about a year. The rudder anode I've not had to replace yet (going on 18 months) as the outboard spends most of it time out of the water.

However... I like to know what's going on, and I'm always looking for ways to improve, ways to identify a problem before something becomes a problem. Instrumentation is important to me.

I recently ran across a video on YouTube (not one of my own, though I will probably make a video about this).
I ordered, and it just arrived yesterday, a Corrosion Reference Electrode from Boatzincs dot com. It attaches to your digital volt meter, you drop the probe in the water near the underwater metals at the back of the boat, the other end of the digital volt meter attaches to the DC grounding bus on the boat. The readings it gives you will let you know the electrical hull potential. Said differently:

"Do I have enough zinc on my boat?"
"Are my shaft zincs still attached?"
"Is my bonding system working okay?"
"Are boats next to me eating my zincs?"
"Is my galvanic isolator working?"
"Is all of my electrical equipment installed correctly?"
"Do I have stray electrical currents either in my boat or at my dock?"
"Is my dock and/or marina operating at the correct corrosion potential?"

https://www.boatzincs.com/corrosion-reference-electrode-specs.html

I'll be trying this out this coming weekend down at the dock.
 
Does the factory install galvanic isolators, and if so, what brand?

What did you install on your tug?
 
OK.... I'll chip in with my experience using and installing a Galvanic Isolator.

I installed one on my R25 Classic that was kept in salt water 100% of the time shortly after finding that my underwater anodes got eaten up quickly over a 6 month time frame: especially the prop anode that was always gone when the diver arrived.

After having the Galvanic Isolator installed and in use with my boat in the Port of Edmonds, WA the anodes erosion was not really improved over the same 6 months as before, and not what I was expecting. To me, it was a waste of my money and the time for installing it.

I had my marina check the shore power pedestal for any leakage and it was good and not a problem.

Some Marinas are very 'hot', and suspect my Port of Edmonds is one of them.
 
Try the ProMariner FailSafe 30. There’s a picture of my installation in my album.
 
Chimo":vzi7gigr said:
Try the ProMariner FailSafe 30. There’s a picture of my installation in my album.
Click to expand...
Mine was also a ProMariner FailSafe unit. 😱
 
Thanks for the reminder, I should install a GI also soon. Anyone have experience with C302 Luxury Edition and recommendation on which model to use? I'm guessing the inline isolators are not adequate.
 
Brian98133":1c5rw3ai said:
If I may be so bold to add to this question: Will my boat with an isolator installed help protect other boats plugged in to the same marina? I believe there are diodes, etc., in an isolator, so I wasn't sure if it's a "one way street"...
Click to expand...
No the isolator is just protecting your boat. The ground from your boat is still connected to the common green wire at the power pedestal. It needs to! That is why the new isolators are called fail safe. You must always have a connection to ground from the power source to the user. The old isolators were not fail safe. In a older style isolator if the diode failed there was no connection to shore power ground. These isolators needed to be checked frequently to confirm they were functioning properly. The ABYC then determined that isolators need to have a fail safe function because most boaters do not check the condition of the isolator and this presented a safety hazard.

it is still a good idea to test the fail safe isolators once a year too. Why? If the failsafe has failed the isolator is doing nothing. I have talked to folks that have a isolator and stated that their anodes are eroding quickly even with the isolator. My first question is have you checked to confirm it is working properly and not in the fail safe mode. Usually the answer is "no". If it is in the fail safe mode there is no isolation it is by passing the electronics.

As Baz as experienced the Galvanic isolator only does one job to protect your boat. It's only function is to isolate your boat's grounding system from any boat that is on your dock and is plugged into the shore power pedestal. That is all it does. Your anodes are connected to the bonding system in your boat. The bonding system is connected to the green safety ground in your boat. The green safety ground is connected to the green safety ground at the dock pedestal. Your boat is plugged into it. The boat next to your boat is plugged into the dock pedestal your boat's bonding system is now connected to your neighbors bonding system. Your anodes are also protecting your neighbors boat. If your neighbor has an issue your anodes erode. Isolator in place the connection is interrupted. If there is any other electrical issues in the marina a " hot Marina" or there is a 12V system issue in your boat the isolator will not help.
 
This topic is not in my real field of expertise, but just to throw more confusion into a topic that is confusing enough, here goes.

As I understand it there is a level of protection up a notch from an Isolator. And that is a Galvanic Transformer.

I am not the guy to dissect the differences between them.

Though I'd heard of them, it really came to my attention when a friend in the PNW mentioned there was a popular destination marina who would no longer accept boats unless protected by a Transformer.

Better marinas seem to be trying to up their game, and are tired of boats bringing in electrical problems to the marina that then get blamed on the marina. No protection might freeze you out sometime. If making the upgrade at least look into transformers. I have noticed at least one builder who had Isolators as standard equipment has now upgraded to Transformers as a result.
 
On our trip to Alaska in 2019 some of the newer marinas had installed ELCI’s or equivalent on the docks. Older boats that potentially have grounding issues will trip the ELCI’s and the marinas recommend an isolation transformer to mitigate this potential issue. As far as I know all he recent Ranger tugs have an ElCI. If i GC in, Thus all Fluid Motion boats should not have an issue. With ElCI shore Our partner boat owner (older large yacht) decided to add an isolation transformer. Neither of our boats had an issue with shore power throughout the trip:

Regarding the difference between a Galvanic Isolator (GI) vs. an Isolation transformer (IT): A GI uses diodes to block low level (<1.2 VDC) voltages but typically passes 60Hz AC signals (to meet safety requirements). An IT uses a transformer to block all stray AC and DC voltages at significant cost and weight relative to a GI.

CurtJ
 
Submariner":14eicnfw said:
I ordered, and it just arrived yesterday, a Corrosion Reference Electrode from Boatzincs dot com.
...
I'll be trying this out this coming weekend down at the dock.
Click to expand...

Very interested about your findings Martin. As always, posting a video to your channel would be great! 🙂
 
My boat is a R29S, luxury edition. I got the suggested higher powered unit:

With AC unit--50/60A Galvanic Isolator/Pro Mariner (part #22074).

I assume that both shore power grounds will go to the same pin of the pro mariner, and then outputs will go to ground?
 
batate":1798956y said:
My boat is a R29S, luxury edition. I got the suggested higher powered unit:

With AC unit--50/60A Galvanic Isolator/Pro Mariner (part #22074).

I assume that both shore power grounds will go to the same pin of the pro mariner, and then outputs will go to ground?
Click to expand...

Each 30 amp shore power receptacle will have a green ground wire. Connect the green wires (2) from shore power inlet to one of the isolators terminal studs. Connect a green wire from the boats bonding system terminal strip to the other isolator terminal stud.
 
Hi,

Not sure I'm following. The schematic for the ProMariner that I saw indicated putting the GI in line with the ground wire coming from the shore power connector. It appeared that it was to be installed in line on the ground wire between the power inlet and the ELCI. Didn't look like a separate ground wire was specified to run from the GI to the boat's ground or the bonding system. I can't post the schematic with the issues the web site has right now.

But maybe I missed something?
 
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