www.iFourWinns.com

YIKES! Sparks are coming out of my AC control unit!

Yesterday my wife and I are sitting here at our home marina, on shore power and preparing to watch a movie. Chris comes back in from topside and says "what's burning?!" A quick sniff test, along with turning off breakers reveals nothing. I smelled just like when the refrigerator cooked it's power supply. But the fridge was still working, both on AC and DC power. A hunt for everything else proved elusive. No breakers tripped either (again!) I shut off everything non-essential.

After the BoatUS folks left today (interviewed for sat weather article) I was working below. I had the AC running. I suddenly heard a crackle. Almost exactly like the sound of a drinking water bottle being crushed. We keep those bottles under the couch... so I checked and I hadn't crushed any. I didn't smell anything. Nor were any breakers tripped.

As I was putting the couch back down I heard the crackle noise again! Sounded like it was coming from inside the cabinet next to the steps. This is where all the main wiring is housed, along with the radio amp and other gear. I popped the screws off the central vacuum and looked inside the cabinet. Lo and behold the crackle sounded again, this time I could SEE SPARKS COMING FROM THE AC CONTROL BOX! Yeowch!

I shut off shore power and opened the control box. Turns out the wiring inside the box was pulled too tightly. One AC wire apparently overheated and shorted out against another. NOT GOOD. But it would appear I've caught it in time. Nothing seems to have gotten ruined. I mean, besides about 2" of insulation on the AC wire.

This, to me, raises a serious red flag for anyone else's AC wiring. The way the wire is laid out inside this box if it's too tight it'll let this happen. I don't want to raise any unnecessary alarm but this wire overheated and was CAUSING AC SPARKS and DID NOT TRIP THE BREAKER! I'd be a lot less concerned had the wire shorted and tripped the breaker. But this one kept right on working. Heck, it didn't even trip the GFCI out in the cockpit!

So it may be worth checking to make sure your AC control box wiring isn't ready to burn out like this one. It's a bit of work but only need a philips screwdriver. Open the box and look at how the AC wiring connects to the large capacitor at the bottom. If the white/red and pink lines are pulled too tightly against each other you've got the same problem as mine. The harness is pulled too tight. There's a strain relief inside the box, on the wire loom cover. That wasn't pulled tight. The wire itself already too tight before even getting to the zip-tie strain relief. The fix for this, if the wire hasn't already started showing signs of shorting out, is easy, just reroute the wires so they're not pulled so tightly.

Suffice to say, do not go working on your wiring without being properly qualified and DISCONNECT ALL AC POWER (shore, genset, inverters, etc).

So now I have yet another thing on my boat To Do list...

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Wow, unbelievable how many problems you have experienced, and you seem to be able to take it all in stride and keep a good perspective! Also, I think this is the 2nd electrical type problem I remember you mentioning where you were on board to notice the problem! That is pretty lucky that in both cases you seem to have caught it in time before it became a catastrophe! Let's hope nothing but Good Luck from here on! Is there 1 responsible person at 4Winns that has a record of all of the problems you experienced! It seems to me that they owe you big time for all your troubles!

_________________
'04 FW 268Vista "Andiamo"

Yeah, well, like anything else mechanical, the more you use it the more likely you are to discover "issues". There are all sorts of ways life can be difficult, I try not to let the small stuff grind on me too much. Make no mistake, it pisses me off big-time, but not enough to get all torqued about it.

I've given the customer support folks at FW a break these past two weeks. I'm sure they've had their hands full fending off my concerns.

Right now I'm off to the boat to get the waste tank flange and tank monitors installed. That and fix the AC line. We'll be out of town next week so I'll probably just kill power to it just to be on the safe side. In an ideal situation I'd take it to the dealer and let them handle the repairs while we're out of town. But given Riverside's track record that ain't gonna happen. So instead I'll do the job myself, the RIGHT WAY and be able to sleep at night without worrying about it.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

The folks at Annapolis Cruisair do a fantastic job. I called in-between the two boat shows (sail and power) to make an appointment for them to fix the fried AC wiring. The came the Tuesday following the power show and fixed it. They apparently replaced the wiring and the run capacitor; both of which had gotten fried.

Of course this comes just as the season for needing AC is passing! Ah well, at least we'll get some use out of the heater side of it for a few weeks yet. We'll be in the water this winter so I'm sure we'll push it a bit with a few nights on the boat. The factory comforter is quite toasty for two! I may get an engine room heater unit, but I'll winterize it completely regardless.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista