The polarity reversed light started coming on and the AC does not work when it comes on. This started when rafted up at another marina so I figured they had issues and disconnected.
Got to my home marina, plugged in and all was well and all my AC worked. Came back later and when I kicked the AC back on I lost all my AC and the polarity light came back on.
My shore power cables are beaters so I do intend to replace them tomorrow.
Any other thoughts?
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2000 C36 MKII 1825
The polarity indicator is wired so that it's between the shore breaker and the boat main breaker. Therefore, the fault is external to the boat's wiring. Could be one of the ends of your shore power cable is so worn it's allowing you to rotate it into a position that it's not intended to be rotate to. It's a safety hazard to have a boat connected like this as it could cause metal objects to be energized with 120v and your GFI protection may not work.
BTW, the proper way to connect your boat to shore power is to turn off the main breaker on the boat and the breaker at the shore power pedestal. Then make the connections with the shore power cord. Once the connections have been made turn on the power at the pedestal/dock and then check the polarity indicator. If it indicates that everything is OK then, and only then, turn on the main breaker on the boat.
Nick Caballero
Retired C36/375IA Mk II Technical Editor
Jim, you need to get rid of that power cord ASAP. That's for sure. It may - or may not - solve your problem, as external faults may have burnt something out on your boat, but at least a new power cord is Step 1. Then check what works and doesn't work and let us know here on the Forum.
Just to add some granularity to Newguy's comment on how to connect a shore power cord: He's right about switching off the AC at BOTH the boat electrical panel AND at the dock connection. That's the FIRST step. Then the SECOND step is to plug in the vessel end of the power cord. The THIRD step is to plug in the dock end of the power cord. Once that's done you can switch on the power at the dock end, then switch on the power at the boat panel end, and you should be good to go.
The reason for plugging in the power cord in this careful sequence is to prevent live voltage from entering the water should the boat end of the power cord accidentally be dropped in the water.
Larry Brandt
S/V High Flight #2109
Pacific Northwest, PDX-based
2002 C-36 mkII SR/FK M35B
Well it was definitely the power cable. I replaced with a new cable and all is well again.
After disassembling the cable, the female plugs were pretty messed up.
Thanks for the connecting sequence. That makes great and I will be using it. I wasn't sure where the polarity circuit was sensing a problem so that was quite valuable. Thanks!
2000 C36 MKII 1825
Also I faced an issue with the Polarity Reversed light coming on the A/C panel, however we didn't lost our AC.
I is a great help to check whether the issue was experienced on other boats and what solutions could be.
Just to share the solution I found to solve the problem on our C36MKII - after carefull checking the shore power cable and the shore connection plugs by Megger-testing and concluding that the cable and its connections were in good condition, I finally ended up to the replacement of the green LED-indicator for AC-on.
After replacement the Polarity Reversed light was not lit anymore and only lit when you push the lamp test button.
Durk Nijdam
S/V "SILER"
Catalina 36MKII - 2001 / hullnr. 2013
Stavoren - Holland