Many rigs are set up with generators on the boat, mine as well. Someone said to me the other day that it seems a little sketchy that water could get on the outlets and electrocute everyone in the boat to death or if we tipped the boat we could get electrocuted. I never really thought of it till now? I know with as many rigs set up with generators there has to be some explanation i can tell this guy next time i see him! what are your thoughts?
stickinarrows
Should I be worried?
As long as your wiring is safely connected you don't have anything to worry about.
If water does get into your outlets and somehow causes a problem it will trip your breaker on the generator. I can't speak from experience on the boat sinking with the generator running, but I would say the breaker would trip first due to a short from the water, then the engine would quickly shutdown because it's submerged in water.
If water does get into your outlets and somehow causes a problem it will trip your breaker on the generator. I can't speak from experience on the boat sinking with the generator running, but I would say the breaker would trip first due to a short from the water, then the engine would quickly shutdown because it's submerged in water.
I run my lights and gennie into a short GFI box/Extension cord that plugs into the gennie and then the lights plug into that. I have had the GFI trip with water in plugs and recepticles. The boat the F&G uses to shock fish is an aluminum boat. Electric is some funny stuff though, you can touch electric all day long as long as you aren't in the path to ground (a bird on an electric wire) but have never really heard of any incidents and actually heard of lights running under water before with gennie running out of the water on gennie rack . Have fished in rainy drizzle with no issues other than tripping our GFI and had to dry them out and cover them up.
We have fished tournaments in bad rain. Like couldn't see into the water because of the rain...HPS halogen and MH never had problems with any breakers popping or getting shocked. ..one time I tore of a light bracket and it fell into the water. ...225W halogen kept working the light completely filled with water and it kept working. ..I picked it up and threw it in the bottom of the boat, it never quit. ..lol..
I have also fished through some nasty storms genny running without any problems. When a extension cord end hits water it pops the breaker it will do the same on your genny.
I had the same question reading this might help even tho I don't think the came up with a answer.
http://bow.fishingcountry.com/forums/showthread.php?2009-grounding
http://bow.fishingcountry.com/forums/showthread.php?2009-grounding
Simply explain to the guy how electricity works; there must be a potential difference between two points in order for current to flow. Electricity is not magic. It's not evilly looking to go around zapping people. It's physics. As long as you keep yourself from being the path of least resistance, you will not get shocked. Also, pure water is a very poor conductor. Its conductivity depends on what minerals in your area are dissolved in it.
On the "grounding" argument, I vote not to ground. I'm guessing the Coast Guard's regulations were made up based on large ships with electrical systems more like mains power. People don't understand that the reason mains AC is so dangerous is because of how the electric company chooses to transmit it. Instead of using two wires to transmit power from the generator to the house, they use one wire and then use the ground (literally) as the other wire in order to save money on wire. When you stand on the ground, you are literally standing on one electrical wire. If you touch the other wire, you will be shocked. If the hull/frame of a metal ship is used as one of the wires, I would say the same rules apply as mains power. The green "ground" wire and the white "common" wire actually go to the same place. The raison d'être for the green wire is to make it more likely for the black wire (if it's somehow compromised) to come in contact with ground than with you. Even if you are touching the green wire (or a housing connected to the green wire) when the black wire touches it, you will not get shocked because the green wire is the path of less resistance to ground. However, if you hold the green wire in one hand and touch the black wire with the other, you will get shocked because you are the path of least resistance to ground. That's why GFCI's were invented. With them, any time current flows to the green wire, it disconnects power automatically. These would not be a bad idea on a boat, though I'm not sure they are really necessary. This is why I do not ground a generator: With a small generator, the potential difference is only between the white and black wire. The green wire (the third prong) can help make it safer, but is not as important as it is with mains power. If you ground the generator to the boat and you touch the boat, you become a (green) ground wire. If you then come in contact with the black wire (like if the wire's insulation gets cut or abraded) the electricity will flow through you to get to "ground," thus making grounding the generator MORE dangerous. In this case a GFCI would save you. Also, I would not run any generator on a boat in excess of 170 volts. This is the point at which electricity over-powers your nervous system's ability to command your muscles. Above 170, you can't let go. Follow some basic safety rules. Use one hand at a time. Test a bare wire before touching it. As in anything, learn as much as possible and use common sense and you should be fine.
On the "grounding" argument, I vote not to ground. I'm guessing the Coast Guard's regulations were made up based on large ships with electrical systems more like mains power. People don't understand that the reason mains AC is so dangerous is because of how the electric company chooses to transmit it. Instead of using two wires to transmit power from the generator to the house, they use one wire and then use the ground (literally) as the other wire in order to save money on wire. When you stand on the ground, you are literally standing on one electrical wire. If you touch the other wire, you will be shocked. If the hull/frame of a metal ship is used as one of the wires, I would say the same rules apply as mains power. The green "ground" wire and the white "common" wire actually go to the same place. The raison d'être for the green wire is to make it more likely for the black wire (if it's somehow compromised) to come in contact with ground than with you. Even if you are touching the green wire (or a housing connected to the green wire) when the black wire touches it, you will not get shocked because the green wire is the path of less resistance to ground. However, if you hold the green wire in one hand and touch the black wire with the other, you will get shocked because you are the path of least resistance to ground. That's why GFCI's were invented. With them, any time current flows to the green wire, it disconnects power automatically. These would not be a bad idea on a boat, though I'm not sure they are really necessary. This is why I do not ground a generator: With a small generator, the potential difference is only between the white and black wire. The green wire (the third prong) can help make it safer, but is not as important as it is with mains power. If you ground the generator to the boat and you touch the boat, you become a (green) ground wire. If you then come in contact with the black wire (like if the wire's insulation gets cut or abraded) the electricity will flow through you to get to "ground," thus making grounding the generator MORE dangerous. In this case a GFCI would save you. Also, I would not run any generator on a boat in excess of 170 volts. This is the point at which electricity over-powers your nervous system's ability to command your muscles. Above 170, you can't let go. Follow some basic safety rules. Use one hand at a time. Test a bare wire before touching it. As in anything, learn as much as possible and use common sense and you should be fine.
I don't see a problem as long as the cord is big enough and the equipment is in safe, working condition. That much load might be hard on the generator.
JPHolla explained it very well.
GFIC plugs will cause you a ton of headaches if you even get moisture in them, let alone water. I've been on construction sites where they had to have a guy standing around just to reset the GFIC when it would trip when there was just a drizzle of rain coming down.
ALL generators have circuit breakers on them, many only the "push to reset" type. That's what mine has. They do get weak and go bad though. I had to swap mine out after 10 years and now the genny operates like new again. So why bother with a GFIC plug? Probably the more important thing to be concerned with is running a heavy enough wire from the genny to the lights so you don't fry the wire and have it short out and pop the circuit breakers or worse yet, shock someone.
I have ran a 3500 watt Wen generator for about 10 years and an old noisy 5500 watt Coleman before that for at least another 10 years. We've shot in the rain NUMEROUS times and only tripped the genny circuit breakers ONCE in all those years and that was during a monsoon type rain that appeared suddenly out of nowhere and I was glad we got back to the boat launch without swamping the boat. I run 300 and 500 watt Halogens and have never had a problem with anything shorting out. I ran 2 - #12 Romex wires from the genny to up under my shooting platform. Then connected the two romex wires to two different square boxes with 4 plug receptacles (2 in each box) for a total of 8 places to plug lights into (2 plug receptacles in each box = 8 plug ins) and have never had a problem. The two Romex wires have male plugs on them to plug into the genny. I also have a drop cord with a fluorescent light running off the genny with a 13 watt bulb, that I hang on the fish barrel. The 3500 watt genny is about maxed out but always performs well.
GFIC plugs will cause you a ton of headaches if you even get moisture in them, let alone water. I've been on construction sites where they had to have a guy standing around just to reset the GFIC when it would trip when there was just a drizzle of rain coming down.
ALL generators have circuit breakers on them, many only the "push to reset" type. That's what mine has. They do get weak and go bad though. I had to swap mine out after 10 years and now the genny operates like new again. So why bother with a GFIC plug? Probably the more important thing to be concerned with is running a heavy enough wire from the genny to the lights so you don't fry the wire and have it short out and pop the circuit breakers or worse yet, shock someone.
I have ran a 3500 watt Wen generator for about 10 years and an old noisy 5500 watt Coleman before that for at least another 10 years. We've shot in the rain NUMEROUS times and only tripped the genny circuit breakers ONCE in all those years and that was during a monsoon type rain that appeared suddenly out of nowhere and I was glad we got back to the boat launch without swamping the boat. I run 300 and 500 watt Halogens and have never had a problem with anything shorting out. I ran 2 - #12 Romex wires from the genny to up under my shooting platform. Then connected the two romex wires to two different square boxes with 4 plug receptacles (2 in each box) for a total of 8 places to plug lights into (2 plug receptacles in each box = 8 plug ins) and have never had a problem. The two Romex wires have male plugs on them to plug into the genny. I also have a drop cord with a fluorescent light running off the genny with a 13 watt bulb, that I hang on the fish barrel. The 3500 watt genny is about maxed out but always performs well.
Our club has had three boats sink within the last three years. All three had generators running when they went down. No one was electrocuted.
would think a raw wire some where in the syatem might be dangerous but should kick the breakerbut that's why I like 12 volt alternators.
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