Dock gfi gremlins

[Fossil Fuel]

Just want to post a issue I discovered a couple years ago. As more and more marinas are installing GFI circuits on marine pedestals, this issue is going to be ongoing. In the early years of ground fault detection on boats the systems used a momentary pulse to sense a incorrect wiring or ground fault issue. On older systems it worked well. On modern GFI systems, not well. Promariner sold thousands of systems that were installed at the factory's. Most of these older systems are not compatible with new marina GFI's. If you have a gremlin you are chasing please just unhook or unplug your bonding / isolation system monitor for a short period. These systems usually are not connected behind a circuit breaker so you will have to physically find the box and unhook it. If you boat no longer trips the GFI then that's the issue. I believe their are current production upgrade systems that are compatible with new GFI dock requirements.

 

[TurboJoe]

The galvanic isolator's made by pro-mariner in the pre-GFCI age would fail open if they failed. This in essence would lift the ground completely, an extremely dangerous situation where any person that makes the ground contact would get electrocuted. This is why they had the test circuit built in. On formulas it was in the wood cabinet area by the main panel, and it said NORMAL/FAIL for each one. The test uses the pulses that Fossil Fuel mentioned. These pulses of course instantly trip GFCI's on the pedastle.

If you turn off the galvanic isolator 12V DC breaker that is usually in the back of the cockpit area by the other 12V circuit breakers/fuses, this temporarily solves the problem. However, should the galvanic isolator fail and put the boat into an extremely dangerous state, you'd have no way of knowing. This is why the isolator MUST be changed out to the pro-safe models. When/if the prosafe isolators fail, they fail shorted, meaning the ground path is still in -tact. Of course you lose galvanic protection, but that is a problem for material, not people. They do give you a check that you can perform periodically to ensure they are in working order.

So, if someone at your marina says "I just popped the breaker, I'm good" they may not realize the dangerous situation that could be created.

 

[GSENT]

Great information guys. I would like to add the solution that I have found.
Prosafe FS is the new replacement galvanic isolator that is designed to work with the new GFCI systems. They no longer rely on the neutral to measure the pulse, which is what tripped the GFCI on the older models. The remote monitor is no longer needed but I have left it there to fill in the hole.