Noob wiring question-gctid823779

[Wickedplastikman]

Hello everyone. I am a new owner of an old 1986 contessa 2850. First time boat owner. I don't know a lot about boats but am very handy and have worked on many cars/rv's. Much of the boat internals are exactly like the Rv internals.

My question is, are the outlets supposed to have power when running off the batteries only?

It seems that my cabin outlets only work when plugged in to shore power.

[Alaskanmutt]

In you have them hooked to an Inverter then yes, Otherwise no.

[Centerline2]

the outlets are for 120v AC power and your batteries supply 12v DC power, so as Alaskanmutt said, unless you have an inverter in the circuit, AND turned on, you wont have any power at the outlets when not on shore power....

be very aware that if you connect an inverter into the boats AC power system and you dont have a away of disconnecting it AND REMEMBERING TO DO SO, you could quickly end up with a smoked boat when you plug into shore power, as the two power sources arent compatible with each other...

the best way is to have a transfer switch in the system (either automatic or manual) so that the two sources will never meet and you wont have to worry about the fire....