mouse

Marine electronics / electricals on boats. What do you do on a boat when the mains (240VAC) is isolated from the mains power by a transformer, the vessel has a genset and an inverter, what do you do with the two wires that come out of the transformer, the genset and the inverter? Conventional wisdom is dictated by countries which have a two wire mains system and those with a three wire system, both of which disagree. In countries with a three wire system the dictum is to ground the neutral (at this stage nobody knows which is active or neutral). This inevitably leads to immediate shut down of the marina where the vessel has taken a berth as the rcd devices on the marina outlets sense a leakage path because of the ammount of seawater inherent in this enviroment. It seems logical to rely on the earthing shield which is between the primary and secindary windings of the isolation transformer as the basic protection from electrocution, both for people on board and swimmers close the the vessel. However, most boating electrical suppliers. particularly in the USA advocate then"grounding" of one of the outpair of gensets and inverters. It seems odd to create a circumstance, that in the grounding of one of the 240V conductors to the vessels negative DC "earth", which must make very good contact with the seawater for the protection of the vessel from lighting strikes HF communication electrolysis and other marine nasties that will create a danger for persons on board perhaps of a faulty appliance. And believe me, there is ample opportunity for boatowners to use all sorts of domestic appliance on board. The thought is to leave both of the conductors onboard electricty floating. That way there can be no risk of standing up to the ankles in brine and making the toast. Your thoughts? mouse. Me, I prefer "floating"