When a SmartPlug goes for a swim

[BruceK]

Should anyone be undertaking plug replacement, or cutting back the wiring and reattaching the old plug themselves, unless of course a qualified electrician. A new cord here must come with an Electrician`s certificate of safety compliance.

 

[Comodave]

The retrofit plugs are pretty easy to attach to the cord. But they don’t make a waterproof connection. I did 2 on our last boat.

 

[Bmarler]

I’ve done a few of the cord ends too, and they are a very well designed product. Granted, they aren’t immune to submersion, but they shed rain water just fine. I’ll never go back to the twistlock ends.

 

[Hydraulicjump]

I retrofitted our last boat (RT 29CB) to the SmartPlug system, including changing out the female connector on my existing dock line and installing the male connector on the boat. It was easy (a morning’s work), waterproof enough, and I will never go back to a standard plug which nearly caused a fire on the last boat. I notice that a lot of new-ish boats have gone to the SmartPlug set up. Slowly but surely this plug is taking over. Some interesting market dynamics here. Still, I cannot recommend soaking your connector in salt water for four days, well built as they are. Just sayin’.

 

[hollywood8118]

Anybody think of contacting SmartPlug and asking them what to do?
Hollywood

 

[Comodave]

I did the retrofit on the dock power cords for our last boat because the power cords were brand new. On our current boat I bought the SmartPlug power cords since the old cords were 20+ years old. Formula did an interesting way of bypassing the L5-30 plug on the boat end. They hard wired the shore power cords into the boat so there wasn’t any connection to go bad. However you had to stick all 50’ of both cords in thru a small hole into a locker. It was a PITA to do and took 2 people to do it so I wired in a SmartPlug instead. Now it is quick and easy to unhook the power to get underway.

 

[Nick F]

Anybody think of contacting SmartPlug and asking them what to do?
Hollywood

+1 !

 

[Comodave]

He already has replaced it.

 

[ronobrien]

My bet is it will fail and when you are not there again. Do you leave the air conditioning on while away? Food in the fridge? Inverter on standby? Concider the costs of replacing a dead house bank, spoiled food or a fire compared to a new replacement cord. Keep the old cord as a spare if you must or just cut the end off and give it away.

I agree with one variation. Cut off the end of the old plug, retrofit a new plug and keep that as a spare.

 

[CharlieJ]

Why call SmartPlug for advice? Does anybody really think that SmartPlug, if given all the facts, would truly advise to use their product after simply drying it off and squirting some WD40 on the contact surfaces?????

 

[Comodave]

Why not? Who knows maybe they would give him a new plug or a discount on a new one. Nothing lost by asking.

 

[Hydraulicjump]

Will report back on what I hear.

 

[sunchaser]

OK, I’ll bite. Why all the plaudits for smart plugs. They are apparently not without their problems. My take is if a Marinco is properly affixed and screwed on the boat with its large plastic fitting there are no issues. Naturally a lousy on boat receptacle will create issues for a Marinco.

How does a smart plug alleviate a pedestal issue whether 30 or 50 amp. In our marina standard dock electrical hookups outnumber smart plugs by more than 300:1. I’ve seen no flames in three decades.

All this said, where is ABYC guidance on this? Silent best I can tell. Am I anti smart plugs? No but I struggle with rationale vs hype.

 

[Hydraulicjump]

Each of us posses knowledge acquired in two ways: leaning from others (sometimes via the internet) and learning from experience. I cannot speak to your concerns other than to say this: I have had two previous boats each with Marinco connectors. Both had big scary electrical issues at the connector to the boat. The second boat I converted to a SmartPlug after hearing from others who had the same problem. It worked perfectly. This SmartPlug my current boat failed because it was soaked in saltwater for four days.



That is my knowledge learned through experience. And since it involves three data points I can plot a straight line through it.

 

[CharlieJ]

@sunchaser #43: The twist lock connector was invented in 1938 for use inside warehouses and factories. Best I can tell, there was no intention for them to be placed in the marine environment.

Cut a traditional shore power boat end one apart and you will see what the problems is. The male and female contact areas are minimal at best and require a positive turn so that a small dimple on one surface will engage the mating hole in the other surface. If the rotation is incomplete, the dimple does not engage and the contact area is significantly reduced. I used to have a five gallon bucket of traditional failed boat plug ends as a demo.

The contact area of the SmartPlug is >20 times the contact area of the traditional plug and the internals are significantly thicker. The SmartPlug positively locks with side squeeze locks and with the cover engaging a ridge on the housing. Oh, and the shape of the plug makes it easy to install without trying to observe where the "L" tab is.

Here is a link to all of the benefits:https://smartplug.com/features/

ABYC does not call them out specifically but accepts them because they meet the requirements of E-11.6.2.2.1.1 although they are not shown in Figures 6 or 7.

 

[Jeff F]

OK, I’ll bite. Why all the plaudits for smart plugs. They are apparently not without their problems. My take is if a Marinco is properly affixed and screwed on the boat with its large plastic fitting there are no issues. Naturally a lousy on boat receptacle will create issues for a Marinco.

I replaced my boat end with the smart plug after my shore power receptacle melted down and almost started a fire. The NEMA design is problematic. I was on my second or third cord, so knew about scorched cords, and was careful to have it well connected and supported.

I was living aboard over the winter and drawing 3000w through the cable 24/7.

The smart plug has easily 10x the contact area, and a very secure solid connection. It's far superior.

Sent from my moto g play (2021) using Trawler Forum mobile app

 

[rslifkin]

The L5-30 plugs used for 30A twist lock shore power were never meant for outdoor use, and even though they've been adapted by adding the lock rings and such, they're a pretty wimpy connector for the application. However, the NEMA SS1 and SS2 plugs used on the 50A twist locks are a much more durable, better designed connection and much less failure prone.

 

[hollywood8118]

Why call SmartPlug for advice? Does anybody really think that SmartPlug, if given all the facts, would truly advise to use their product after simply drying it off and squirting some WD40 on the contact surfaces?????

then you can see if their customer service is as good as their over priced plug!
Hollywood

 

[CharlieJ]

@hollywood8118: Let me get this straight; a shore power cord end goes into the water and should be replaced but we are going to call the manufacturer, who has nothing to do with this evolution since it is not a material defect, and

see if their customer service is as good as their over priced plug!

Riiiight. I get it.

 

[Comodave]

OK, I’ll bite. Why all the plaudits for smart plugs. They are apparently not without their problems. My take is if a Marinco is properly affixed and screwed on the boat with its large plastic fitting there are no issues. Naturally a lousy on boat receptacle will create issues for a Marinco.

How does a smart plug alleviate a pedestal issue whether 30 or 50 amp. In our marina standard dock electrical hookups outnumber smart plugs by more than 300:1. I’ve seen no flames in three decades.

All this said, where is ABYC guidance on this? Silent best I can tell. Am I anti smart plugs? No but I struggle with rationale vs hype.

What everyone has said above. Go to marinehowto.com for an excellent article on why SmartPlugs are better. They are far away better than a twist lock plug. But any plug that soaks in seawater for 4 days isn’t going to do well. But in normal usage the SmartPlugs are much better designed. Also they are simply great to plug in compared to a twist lock.

 

[sunchaser]

So sticking to 30 amp power, is possibly the shore side at risk too? Does smart plug make a 50 amp set up? In our case - a 50 amp boat, when using 30 amp shore power the adapter to 50 amp has never gotten cooked.

Possibly the SMART thing to do is insure one’s 30 amp inlet is up to snuff, which the install of a smart plug accomplishes.

 

[Comodave]

So sticking to 30 amp power, is possibly the shore side at risk too? Does smart plug make a 50 amp set up? In our case - a 50 amp boat, when using 30 amp shore power the adapter to 50 amp has never gotten cooked.

Possibly the SMART thing to do is insure one’s 30 amp inlet is up to snuff, which the install of a smart plug accomplishes.

Yes the shoreside is at risk, it uses the same connectors. But I would much rather have a fire on the dock than the boat. They make 50 amp plugs too. The problem with the shore side is that the vast majority of boaters will never adapt to SmartPlug because they don’t see the need. We had a previous boat that had some A/C current running in the bilge water. Long story short, the PO had replaced a melted connector on the boat end but kept the same melted shore power cord. So I started checking why we had A/C current in the bilge water. When he replaced the boat side connector he swapped hot and neutral and also used 14 gauge wire to hook it up. I was seeing black, green and brown wires. Could not figure out the brown wire until I realized that it had been white but turned brown as it overheated. Then I looked up inside the cabinet where the power came into the boat and the plywood was black and charcoal. The old plug had actually started a fire but for whatever reason it didn’t burn the boat up. I replaced the wire with 10 gauge and wired the new connector in properly. And a new shore power cord also. This was before SmartPlug was invented. Now every boat I buy gets a new SmartPlug on it.

Did you read the article on marinehowto.com?

 

[Delta Riverat]

I just replaced a 30A twist lock on a neighbor's boat. Insurance inspection revealed arcing burns. Also saw no outer boot lock.

Me thinks strain caused this. A proper twist lock marine plug-socket has the twist lock plug and also the screw on the boot that makes a more secure mechanical assembly.

 

[Comodave]

Besides the extra contact area, about 20 times as much, one of the really nice things about a SmartPlug is how easy it is to plug in and secure the cord to the boat inlet. No more having to align the cord plug and then having to screw on the ring to hold it in place. Just push it in and then drop the cover down and latch it in place. So easy in comparison to the twist lock plugs.

 

[sunchaser]

Besides the extra contact area, about 20 times as much, one of the really nice things about a SmartPlug is how easy it is to plug in and secure the cord to the boat inlet. No more having to align the cord plug and then having to screw on the ring to hold it in place. Just push it in and then drop the cover down and latch it in place. So easy in comparison to the twist lock plugs.

To be clear! I'm not anti smart plugs. But the multitude of dichotomies on this issue cannot be ignored.

You noted in a previous post you had to redo wiring for safety sake. That bad wiring was a hazard whether smart plug or not. You mention ease of attachment to the boat - our 50 amp Marincos attach easily.

Then there remains the issue of non smart plug pedestals, hundreds of thousands of them in the marine environment. One would think the new dock GFIC codes would have dealt with this potential issue, not a peep from our federal government nor Canada's either.

Rod Collins is correct, smart plug is a better connection. But as Charlie J points out ABYC is silent. IMHO, This silence is largely due to there being bigger electrical fish to fry regarding on board electrics. As mentioned, two of the bigger fish are getting the wiring after the shore connection correct and throwing away problematic shore cords - the essence of this thread.

 

[Jeff F]

So sticking to 30 amp power, is possibly the shore side at risk too? Does smart plug make a 50 amp set up? In our case - a 50 amp boat, when using 30 amp shore power the adapter to 50 amp has never gotten cooked.



Possibly the SMART thing to do is insure one’s 30 amp inlet is up to snuff, which the install of a smart plug accomplishes.

I don't think there is a problem with the male plug on 30a that plugs into the pedestal. The common issue is with the female plug on the boat end. There is no way in my experience to bring that connection up to snuff if you're utilizing full capacity.

SmartPlug does make a 50a service, but I think the case for switching a 50a cord is much less compelling.

 

[Comodave]

To be clear! I'm not anti smart plugs. But the multitude of dichotomies on this issue cannot be ignored.

you could have fooled me. I am not going to argue it any more.

 

[RickyD]

I think I'd be comfortable cutting a foot or three off and installing a replacement plug. When I went to Smart plug I lopped off the scorched NEMA(?) plug and used the old cord.

But yeah, I wouldn't continue to rely on it as is.

The Smart Plug people pissed me off. I had to add an extension to my 50amp power cord because the marina put it in wrong place for my power connection point. Expensive stuff. So with all the rain we had this year that connection got a little scorched so I replace the female piece in the middle. It didn't want to lock in place so I thought I'd buy both ends of a Smart Plug. But, they don't sell that. I can get the attachment point to the boat "Male connection". I can get the female connection. But not a Male connector in the middle. So I just had to replace the female part in the old system. Works fine but I wanted the waterproofing feature of the Smart Plug. Yes, I called them and they say they don't make it.

 

[Bmarler]

The Smart Plug people pissed me off. I had to add an extension to my 50amp power cord because the marina put it in wrong place for my power connection point. Expensive stuff. So with all the rain we had this year that connection got a little scorched so I replace the female piece in the middle. It didn't want to lock in place so I thought I'd buy both ends of a Smart Plug. But, they don't sell that. I can get the attachment point to the boat "Male connection". I can get the female connection. But not a Male connector in the middle. So I just had to replace the female part in the old system. Works fine but I wanted the waterproofing feature of the Smart Plug. Yes, I called them and they say they don't make it.

I ran into the same problem. Hopefully some day they’ll add that to the product line. For now though, we have to keep the twist lock extension cord if we can’t make it to the pedestal.

 

[Riverguy]

"Smart Plug" not so smart?

I've replaced dozens of L5-30R connectors at the boat-end of shorepower cables for myself and for friends/clients. Before doing so I always remove and inspect the L5-30P inlet on the boat. In EVERY case, without exception, I have found the root cause is poor wiring termination inside the boat. The common defect is stranded wire stuffed into the inlet and the screw-clamp is directly in contact with the strands -- this is a 'code' violation -- ABYC requires a ferrule crimped on the end of any wire/cable that is terminated inside a screw-down type connector. When ferrules are not used, the strands 'squish', the connections invariably build up resistance over time, resistance creates heat in the blade(s), heat is conducted via the blade into the end of the shore-power cable and melts the plastic and/or causes a fire inside the boat. When an L5-30P inlet (or ANY boat-side AC inlet) s correctly wired using ABYC required ferrules, and recommended torque on the screws, the standard L5-30P is perfectly reliable and will provide safe service for the life of the boat. I am not a fan of 'Smart Plug' -- they are unnecessary, expensive and potentially mask other problems. After a recent heat-wave here in Minnesota I heard from four live-aboard marina mates that their cables were burned at the boat-end. All of them were burned because of miswiring inside the boat, the worst of them looked like this...a tragedy narrowly averted.