These devices are designed to trip at a maximum of 6 mA of ground fault leakage current and rated as 5 mA devices. The plug assembly with the trip and reset button installed on the face is called a GFCI and is commonplace today. You've seen this device in your bathroom or kitchen. The fundamental requirement that does the most to cure this problem has been in place since about 1957, developed in South Africa for the gold mining industry: the ground fault leakage interrupter. Different Parts Of The World, Different Solutions All that's needed is what's known as a handheld AC leakage clamp. Don't trust anyone using a box falling under that description for this testing. Some of the tales I've heard about the test equipment used to perform these tests is concerning, however, such as large yellow boxes with multiple display screens and test probes dangling from them. Plus, more and more operators are performing these leakage tests for their customers, and before any transient boat is allowed to plug into the marina's shore power system. Simply put, a modern boat with an all-electric galley and sophisticated AC and refrigeration systems is going to have multiple power supplies that can and will contribute to the overall on-board leakage current when the equipment is running.Īll of this has prompted marina operators to comply with "No swimming from boats or off the dock" signage at their marinas. The use of electronic "filters" on equipment power supplies that use capacitors are the essential cause. More recently I've read that maximum leakage values for permanently connected IT equipment can be 3.5 mA or more in some cases. In my 2007 book "Advanced Marine Electrics and Electronic Troubleshooting," I noted that the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) limits acceptable ground-fault leakage to 0.01 mA (milli amps) to 0.75 mA dependent upon the appliance category. But reporting of in-water electric-shock deaths in freshwater environments all over North America during the past 15 years have increased concern, driving standards-writing bodies to develop requirements intended to mitigate any possibility of this occurring. In fact, due to the design and nature of modern appliances using electronic control circuitry as a foundation for their operation, current leakage may be more common today than in the past. Some leakage of electrical current is normal. This is a widespread problem with a simple technical solution. Have you or your friends suddenly lost electrical power to a boat at the dock? Perhaps this occurred during the week when you weren't on board and it caused your batteries to go dead, the refrigerator to shut down, and the cold cuts and frozen bait to go bad in your absence.
Have you been cruising and been refused a transient slip because your boat was tested by the marina and determined to have "electrical leakage"?
0 kommentar(er)
