The beauty of twist lock connectors...

[CharlieJ]

50A/250V TwistLok plugged into a wye. Appears that fault became arcing fault that blew out the side of the connector.

[exMaggieDrum]

I'm sure 99% of you already do this (or at least 95%?). It's best to turn off your main AC breaker on the boat, and, make sure the AC breaker at the pedestal is off before a) unplugging both ends of the shorepower, and, b) plugging in the shorepower. If you have a heavy load on the boat (like a big inverter/charger in charge mode) you can get a momentary arc at the connectors. This will start a hot spot high resistance fault at the plug end.


And at the very first sign of overheating of a plug - you must replace it, i.e. any discoloration at the base of any one of the connectors. ( It should never be at the ground connection or you have a big other problem.) It will get worse quick. Cords are expensive so a lot of owners would put off replacing the cords or the plugs until the "had" to. Then you end of with one of the examples above.

[Cheechako]

Had to replace my 30A Twistlok and cord every year. Living aboard through the winter with a small space heater on. The heater probably drew 10 amps and cycled a lot off and on.

[Slovak]

+1 for SmartPlug. Easy to change out, much safer to use.