Alternating Current "Hot/Ground reversed"

[Seas The Moment]

All of my 120 AC outlets are dead. In the middle of the night the power had a brief split second outage, then a few minutes later a 5 second outage, then a few minutes later a total outage.
Next morning I started my trouble shooting. Here is my environment and my findings:


I have been plugged into same marina pedestal for over a month.
I have a 250/50 to 120/30 Marinco Y that splits circuits to Air conditioning and to house.
The Air conditioner is running.

My Charger is on house circuit, and the charger is working.
All outlets have GFCI and none of them have been tripped (tried all resets anyhow).
Usually a tripped GFCI does not take out all of my outlets, this status is unusual.
Both the Charger breaker and the outlet breaker need to be ON for outlets to be energized.
I measured 120 volts on the load side of the breakers for both charger and outlet.
Disconnecting to shore and turning on inverter does not energize outlets.
The generator has not been used for a long time, and currently can't be used.

I borrowed a "Snapit Connect" tester and all of the outlets read "HOT/GRD. REVERSE".
Reverse polarity light on the panel is not lit.



It has been 36 hours and no other cruiser in this marina has had power issues.


Any suggestions to resolve would be helpful.


Thanks

[team karst]

Since i am not there it is only a guess. I suspect the neutral wire for the outlets is open.

[smac999]

If the charger breaker needs to be on fjr the outlets to work. It sounds like you have an inverter charger.

If the charger is working. But not passing through ac. And not inverting. It’s possible the inverter charger transfer switch has failed. Or something else inside.

You will have to open its cover to measure ac in and out.

A gfi will not reset without power. So if you triped them. You can’t reset them untill power is restored. Meaning they are all Likly currentky still tripped.

[skipperpete]

Do your 240v AC outlets have an active neutral? I previously had a US built boat that was wired this way, maybe the Y connector has gone rogue. Start your troubleshooting with a multimeter and disconnect the 240 volt loads before testing the 120 outlets.

[Seas The Moment]

Thought I'd reveal the results of the solution. When my Life4pro was installed, the old charger/inverter was removed. Instead of rewiring the entire boat, the installer spliced in to the wiring at that previous location. Proper connectors were applied and wrapped together with a colorful electrical tape. When I traced to that point, I saw that the tape had blackened. When exposed, the plastic around the connectors for hot and common were melted together. Obviously the connectors were not crimped properly and after a year the heat finally shorted them out.


Thanks for everyone that chimed in on my issue

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by Seas The Moment

Thought I'd reveal the results of the solution. When my Life4pro was installed, the old charger/inverter was removed. Instead of rewiring the entire boat, the installer spliced in to the wiring at that previous location. Proper connectors were applied and wrapped together with a colorful electrical tape. When I traced to that point, I saw that the tape had blackened. When exposed, the plastic around the connectors for hot and common were melted together. Obviously the connectors were not crimped properly and after a year the heat finally shorted them out.


Thanks for everyone that chimed in on my issue

I'd certainly be very worried & suspicious of any other work done by that installer. I am not sure what kind of "proper connector" requires being wrapped in "colorful" electrical tape.

Any installer doing his job right gives a good hard tug on every crimp. If it comes apart in my hand, it is a short term PITA to redo, but if it saves a boat fire down the road, that's worth it.

You dodged a big bullet with this, it could have ended a lot worse.