pluged shore power in with panel on generator

[pjdaddo]

Hello,
Well I cant believe what a dumb mistake I just did ,being in a hurry last night after my madden voyage up from NJ when I finished tying her up I needed to charge my cell phone asap because I didn't bring a 12v charger (generator wouldn't start I'll save that for another post) and I plugged in the shore power before I switched the panel over from gen to shore and it blew the face of the volt meter off so can you guys give me an idea of what I'll need to replace thanks

[prowlersfish]

That should not have happened . I have to assume this in not a factory generator install . There should be a 3 way switch "shore/off/gen " so it would be imposable to power on with shore power with the generator in the circuit . ( some panels use a "slide to prevent both from being turned on at the same time .

You need to pull the panel cover back and inspect for damage if your lucky a breaker popped before any damage was done . you need to repair or install a switch so this is imposable to happen again .

Do you have a photo of your panel ?

[RWS]

In addition to Paul's comment above . . .


I am in the process of changing out the three "sticking" analog AC voltmeters on my panel to digital LED voltmeters at about $10.00 each.


RWS

[aaronbocknek]

yipes!!! paul is right. that should not have happened. agree that you need to check behind the panel for burned/fried wires and any other damage that the blow out may have caused. was the breaker shut off at the dock first? i know most people don't do it, but, before i ever leave the dock and i'm disconnecting the shore power, i always turn the shore breaker off first and the breakers on my panel. like i said, most will find that first step unnecessary, but, it's the way dad taught me and it's engraved in my head.

[Big D]

...it would be imposable to power on with shore power with the generator in the circuit.....some panels use a "slide to prevent both from being turned on at the same time....

....generator wouldn't start.....

I'm confused, was the generator running when this happened?

[pjdaddo]

Thanks,
here is a picture of my panel

[pjdaddo]

No the generator was not running ,I did have the switch set on generator already and forgot when I plugged in the shore power

[aaronbocknek]

again, check for wire damage behind the panel. as i look at your generator panel, i notice that the selector switch is only a two position one. and, judging from the panel writing, it looks to be original. my selector switch, reading from left to right reads
SHORE OFF GEN. to be honest, i've never seen a two position selector switch.

[RWS]

You never know what the previous owner may have done.

I found wire nuts behind my panel and solid Roamex at the wet bar.

be methodical and safe.

Something is wrong - needs to be diagnosed and corrected.

RWS

[aaronbocknek]

You never know what the previous owner may have done.

I found wire nuts behind my panel and solid Roamex at the wet bar.

be methodical and safe.

Something is wrong - needs to be diagnosed and corrected.

RWS

aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh the wire nut issue. i found them in the fwd bilge pump when i bought the boat. it was the FIRST thing i changed out. waterproof butt connectors, heat shrunk into place. what IS IT with the wire nut thing? i have yet to understand that. i also found solid wire running from the panel to two 'newly installed' house hold hard wired carbon momoxide detectors. the wire has been removed, and the CO detectors as well and replaced.

[prowlersfish]

Perhaps we could be over analyzing this ? I have gave this some more thought .

First if the panel is wired up correctly , there should be no problem with having the shore power ON when the selector switch is in the gen position . And it looks like a stock panel .

Second you blew a volt meter , this meter only reads voltage ,NO heavy current flows through it and even if there was a feed back from the gen set it would not cause the meter to blow .

This leaves me thinking the two most likely scenarios , the meter was bad and shorted or the could be a shore power issue from the dock where you may have gotten 220 volts
unplug the boat and check the voltage at the cords .

I would still look behind the panel for damage to be safe

[pjdaddo]

Perhaps we could be over analyzing this ? I have gave this some more thought .

First if the panel is wired up correctly , there should be no problem with having the shore power ON when the selector switch is in the gen position . And it looks like a stock panel .

Second you blew a volt meter , this meter only reads voltage ,NO heavy current flows through it and even if there was a feed back from the gen set it would not cause the meter to blow .

This leaves me thinking the two most likely scenarios , the meter was bad and shorted or the could be a shore power issue from the dock where you may have gotten 220 volts
unplug the boat and check the voltage at the cords .

I would still look behind the panel for damage to be safe

thanks,you have given me a starting point ,I didn't even think of it being 220 I'll have to get down to boat and start looking for what could've happened thanks again

[yorklyn]

I have the same panel in my mid cabin. it is only a a two selector switch between gen and shore. leaving it on gen (especially with the gen not running)and plugging in shore power should not have been an issue. did any breakers blow? I would like to think that 220 would have tripped the main breakers? I agree with everyone else and check the incoming shore power first. I would then disconnect shore power, remove the screws and inspect the wires behind the ac gen control panel looking for anything burned or loose. i have found that it is pretty easy to spot "custom Electric" that was installed by previous owners .
Good luck

[pjdaddo]

Yeah I plugged in the power using the 220 outlet,the electrical post at the marina uses 4 outlets 2 on top of eachother labeled 120 /220 next to the lower plug and just looking down the dock I see everyone pluged In the lower plug and I did use the top plug with it popped

[Big D]

That would do it but I'm wondering how you managed to put your 120V plug into a 220 volt outlet...should be two different pin configurations to prevent that from happening!