Power Management

[Barry Cohen]

I posted this on the Tugnuts Facebook page and got a variety of answers. Let's see what I get here:

"There are times when I can’t seem to comprehend the simplest principle and this may be one of those times.
For those of you who own an R31, there are two 30 amp plugs in the stern. As I understand it, one is for one A/C unit and the other is for the second A/C unit and the rest of the DC circuits.

So if I am on shore power and I want everything powered up, do I use 2 separate power cords plugged into 2 separate 30 amp shore power receptacles? Or do I use a splitter at the cockpit end of the power cord and plug into 1 30 amp shore power receptacle? Or do I use a splitter at the cockpit end and use 1 50 amp power cord and plug into 1 50 amp shore power receptacle??"

 

[BB marine]

If you dock shore power receptical has 2 30amp plugs plug both of your shore power cords into each receptacle. If your shore power receptacle has only one 30 amp receptacle you can only use one of your 30 amp services on the boat. One of the 30 amp services on the boat operates every thing except the air conditioners. The other 30 service on your boat operates the air units.

If you dock receptical has1 30 amp receptacle and one 50 amp receptacle you would use the 50 amp receptical on the dock with a 50 amp to two 30 amp splitter. Then plug your two 30 amp cords coming from the boat into the splitter at the dock. this will provide 50amps to two 30 amp circuits on the boat.

This shows the shore power wiring,
download/file.php?id=731

 

[S. Todd]

I ditto what Brian says, but thought if you missed it (the R29 also has two 30 amp inputs) one of them does both AC units and the other does the rest of the house 110 needs. You can successfully use just one 30 amp splitter to one 30 amp cord to the power source on the dock. The trick to doing this is to use your power carefully so that you don't trip the breaker by drawing more than the 30 amps. This can be done by only using one of the air conditioners at a time and not when the water heater element or other large loads are on. It saves you from having to run two power cords up the dock which can be time saver for a one night stop in conditions where one air conditioner is more than sufficient to cool the entire boat. I carry both a 30 amp splitter to a 30 amp and a 30 amp splitter to a 50 amp so I can have the best of both worlds. (Half a boat dollar just for power cord splitters.)