Marinco SeaLink: Best 12 Volt Plug and Receptacle Available
The 12 Volt dash receptacle has historically been one of the most problematic items on a boat. They corroded and failed way too soon, causing major annoyances for the boater.
Not long ago, Marinco designed and developed a virtually foolproof, corrossion resistant 12 Volt system called SeaLink. It’s a simple receptacle and plug that mate together to form a “sealed” connection. It boasts a 5 year warranty, utilizes a 10 amp fuse (plug) and simply will not corrode.
Boating is about fun and enjoyment. The typical boater is concerned and attentive to marine electrical issues, but doesn’t wish to fixate on boat wiring. The advances made by Marinco’s SeaLink range have almost eliminated problems affiliated with 12 Volt dash connections.
Check out these part numbers at your favorite retailer:
Receptacle: 12 VRC
Plug: 12VPG
Combo Pack: 12VPK
Editor’s Note: John Tinghitella formerly VP Sales / Marketing for the Marinco Electrical Group spent many years in the trenches of the marine electrical products market. He’s moved on and now runs the hottest negotiation training group in the business.
Boaters Guide to AC Electrical
Many seasoned boaters have an aversion to using AC Electrical around boats in marinas.
Water. Electricity. That’s a natural concern.
Marinco has been designing, building and supplying the best marine AC electrical products since 1972. Safety is always the first concern. And the best way to ensure safe shore power product usage is through training and education.
Marinco makes it easy to know how to use these products. They publish a great booklet entitled: “Boaters Guide to AC Electrical”, known around the marketplace as the “Shore Power Manual”. It’s the definitive resource when it comes to shore power. This guide drills out the mystery and concern, with straight-forward, easy-to-understand tips on AC Electrical.
You can order this booklet by visiting their website: http://www.marinco.com/view/96/guides
Editor’s Note: John Tinghitella formerly VP Sales / Marketing for the Marinco Electrical Group spent many years in the trenches of the marine electrical products market. He’s moved on and now runs the hottest negotiation training group in the business.
ParkPower to the People!
In our last post entitled “Shore Power Basic”, we discussed the typical AC electrical system for boats. In recent years, Marinco has brought their range of top notch, harsh environment electrical wiring devices to the RV market as well. Boats and RV’s are more than just “near neighbors”. A disproportionate number of RV’ers are also boaters. The two activities are highly synergistic.
Historically RV’s used a “hard-wired” AC hookup arrangement. That means a 30 amp or 50 amp powercord is permanently hard-wired into the system, as opposed to a marine application in which powercords are “detached” from the inlet and stored out of sight.
Over the years Marinco successfully convinced a good number of RV OEM’s (Manufacturers) to embrace the detachable concept. Inlets were typically mounted in storage compartments or on the side of the coaches, and mated up with the RV style powercord (male end straight blade device, as opposed to marine “locking style”). To make it retro-fittable for existing hard wired users, Marinco developed a Conversion Kit that easily allows the consumer to shift to a detachable hookup system.
This all happened under the ParkPower brand which was devoted to RV applications only. The products are available at your favorite retailer or on the web at www.marinco.com
Editor’s Note: John Tinghitella formerly VP Sales / Marketing for the Marinco Electrical Group spent many years in the trenches of the marine electrical products market. He’s moved on and now runs the hottest negotiation training group in the business.
Shore Power Basic
The mere idea of running AC electrical from shore, to a boat immersed in water, gets people’s attention. Marinco has been doing it better than anyone since 1972.
It all starts with an “inlet”. As the word suggests, we “let electricity in” via this portal. It’s a permanently mounted male electrical wiring device that allows for easy detachablity when the boat is underway. Add a powercord (which makes the run from boat to dock receptacle), and you have the basic system.
In Marinco’s case they’ve earned predominant market presence through superior design, service and performance. Marinco Stainless Steel inlets are the envy of the entire marine world. Two of the major differentiating benefits:
1) Cap Up Feature — When you’re making inlet to cord attachment, the unit “caps up” to allow for hands-free connection;
2) Easy Lock — The cord easily connects to the inlet with a bayonet style lockdown. And the cap locks down onto the inlet itself the same way.
The Marinco range of inlets are available at your favorite retailer. Check ‘em out on the web at www.marinco.com
Editor’s Note: John Tinghitella formerly VP Sales / Marketing for the Marinco Electrical Group spent many years in the trenches of the marine electrical products market. He’s moved on and now runs the hottest negotiation training group in the business.
On-Board Charging
It started out promising to be a great day.
Gear is loaded. You’re at the boat launch or marina. Wife and kids are ready to go. And then…
…You turn the key…nothing happens. Dead battery. Now it’s now a lousy day.
We all have war stories of preparing for a great day of boating or fishing, only to get snagged by boat batteries that somehow died since the last boat use. No rocket science here. Know this: batteries lose 1% of their charge each day they are not used. Boats often times sit for long periods between uses. You can do the math.
There is a better way. If you have not embraced the concept of on-board charging, you need to. It’s simple … buy, install and use a marine-grade battery charger. The technology has come a long way. While the boat is either trailered and stored in your garage, driveway or wherever, you leave it plugged in. So instead of discharge between boat uses, your batteries are well maintained and healthy.
Today’s 3 stage chargers recognize when the battery is fully re-charged, and then go into “maintenance” or ”float” mode. That keeps it topped off…so when you’re ready to boat, the batteries are ready to crank.
The Guest range of on-board battery chargers are simply the most reliable, best performing and longest lasting products in marine electronics. Check ‘em out!
Editor’s Note: John Tinghitella formerly VP Sales / Marketing for the Marinco Electrical Group spent many years in the trenches of the marine electrical products market. He’s moved on and now runs the hottest negotiation training group in the business.
Contour Zone: The Next Great Leap in Boat Electrical Technology
BEP Marine and the Marinco Electrical Group have invested heavily in a new digital switching platform that’s sure to revolutionize marine electrical functionality.
BEP Contour Zone is a state-of-the-art, networked power control and monitoring system designed to intelligently integrate and simplify onboard electrical and mechanical systems for greater functionality and an improved boating experience. The intuitive Display Interface enables control of DC loads, tank levels, and a host of other functional features
Compared to traditional marine electrical layouts, CZone decentralizes the DC power distribution system and locates circuit control and protection modules closer to loads to shorten cable runs and reduce the size of conductors, thereby decreasing the cost and weight of the boat wiring harness. CZone replaces complex inter-helm boat wiring with a single data wire.
Highly customizable, CZone is the only system that is cost-effectively scalable on boats ranging from 15 to 90 feet. Modules can easily be added to best suit the OEM’s and end user’s needs. The Plug and Play system is designed for simple, fast installation requiring no factory set-up. If a module is damaged, the system will automatically program the replacement module when it is plugged in, removing the need for an on-site professional technician
Editor’s Note: John Tinghitella formerly VP Sales / Marketing for the Marinco Electrical Group spent many years in the trenches of the marine electrical products market. He’s moved on and now runs the hottest negotiation training group in the business.
Best of both worlds — Guest Chargers + BEP VSR
The Guest range of Charge Pro Plus chargers combine reliable Guest charging with state of the art BEP voltage sensing. The benefit for the boater is simple…you can charge your batteries while on the water (DC to DC) as well as the normal AC route. The BEP VSR module is integrated into the marine electrical system and simply sends alternator current to where it’s needed most while you’re underway. Sort of like a charging traffic cop deciding where to send the juice. And it’s seemless to the user. You get to do what you should do…fish, boat and have fun.
Editor’s Note: John Tinghitella formerly VP Sales / Marketing for the Marinco Electrical Group spent many years in the trenches of the marine electrical products market. He’s moved on and now runs the hottest negotiation training group in the business.
Possible to salvage old switch panel?
Hi Kevin,
I recently purchased an older runabout on which none of the switches seem to be working.
While there seem to be a few switch panels available for sale on the web, none appear to be anything that would fit on my dash. I checked with my local dealer about fixing the existing part, but he is quoting more for the job than I paid for the entire boat!
Can you give me any advice as to how I might be able to do this job myself? I have had a little experience with electrical work, but the “rat’s nest” that I’m finding behind this panel is fairly intimidating.
Thank you in advance for any help that you may be able to provide.
Switchless in Seattle
Dear Switchless,
Unfortunately, what you are describing is an all-too common situation with older boat wiring.
The problem often started with an old-line boat manufacturer who used inexpensive, highly corrosive wire while paying no attention to standard boat wiring practices – like using consistent boat wire colors for specific functions. The good news 
is that these sort of builders are usually (thankfully) no longer in business – the bad news is that someone, i.e. you, are now left to clean up their mess!
Compounding the problem, this already bad situation can often have been made worse by a series of boat owners either trying to fix the builder’s original mistakes or making sloppy boat wiring modifications of their own. Either way, the end result is often a boat wiring system where, at best, wires colors do not match and that does not work correctly – and, at worse, something catches on fire.
Up until recently, your only option was to rewire each circuit individually until all of your desired components worked. To do this properly, you would use the appropriate wire color for each individual component.
A more convenient solution might be a slick new system from EzAcDc that I saw for the first time just last week. What these guys have put together is a top-quality harness that can be used to completely rewire your existing switch panel.
The EzAcDc system appears to have all of the wires and circuit protection that you would need for your project. Once you are finished, you can connect the rewired panel to your current boat accessory harness or, if that is in as bad a shape as your panel, EzAcDc even offers complete boat wiring accessory harnesses that are terminated to be plug compatible to the repaired panel.
I hope that this is helpful.
Kevin
Connecting two batteries with different capacities
Hi Kevin,
Many thanks for making this service available – reading the previous posts has been a real eye-opener.
I have what I think is a silly question, however I’d like to check:
I have two batteries, both lead-acid sealed 12 volt. One is a 70 amp/hour, which wasn’t up to the job of providing enough current
to turn the engine over in the mornings after sleeping over on the yacht. So, I went out and bought a 110 amp/hour which is.
I’d like to use both of these batteries – with the large capacity to run the boat systems and the smaller as a reserve / starter battery. The wiring to a main switch that allows Battery1/Battery2/neither /both is in place.
I think that I can simply connect the two batteries despite their different capacities, so that when ‘both’ is selected they will discharge together and/or charge together.
I believe that if one has a higher voltage than the other at the point of selecting ‘both’ then the higher will discharge to the lower until they are equal. I don’t believe that the fact they both have different maximum capacities will affect their use.
Am I right? Is there any drawback to connecting two batteries of different capacities?
Thanks!
Evan
Evan,
You are correct. You can certainly connect two batteries with different reserve capacities in parallel with your battery switch. 
You may want to consider modifying your boat wiring system by adding an emergency paralleling VSR like the one from BEP Marine instead of the battery switch.
This switch will automatically parallel the batteries when the engine alternator is charging the system. When the system is not charging and the voltage is below 12.6 volts, the circuit will open up. This device also offers an emergency paralleling feature that can be manually operated or remotely from a button.
Thank you for writing.
Kevin
Reconnecting a complex marine electrical system
Kevin,
I just purchased a boat with a fairly complex electrical system, which was disconnected.
I am trying to piece it back together again with an incomplete
wiring diagram. Some components have been added, removed or changed since the original diagram. In addition not of the components provides documentation for this full scale system.
The system is comprised of
- One engine battery (actually 2 6v serial),
- One house battery (also 2 6v serial),
- Solar Panel with Solar Regulator, Alternator,
- Battery Isolator,
- Heart Inverter/Charger
- Dockside AC.
I would love to see a sample wiring diagram for this type of system if one exists anywhere. If not, my biggest question is where to ground the AC? I have read conflicting information regarding whether the AC & DC should be grounded to the same common ground.
Can you shed any light on the subject and/or direct me to resources that might be helpful?
Dazed & confused,
Andi
August 19, 2008
Andi,
I have never found a great resource for boat wiring diagrams. It usually comes be piecing together schematics from several sites.
One of my goals for Easy Ac/Dc is that perhaps someday this site will become a no charge repository/library for this type of boat wiring information, which would be a real aid to all of us who work with marine electrical.
So, if any of the readers know of a source for diagrams and schematics – or, if you would be willing to contribute a few of your own – please send me an email. If everyone contributes just a little, the amount of material available to all of us should be impressive.
On a more helpful note, please check out the Guest battery isolator manual. This should help you to correctly connect your battery isolator.
AC Ground
- All AC ground green wires are connected at your AC distribution panel.
- The AC ground and AC neutral are not connected.
- The AC ground should be connected to the DC ground.
The main reason for this arrangement is to trip an AC breaker if there is a fault between the AC and DC systems on your boat. Without this connection, when a fault occurs, all metal components connected to the DC system will become energized at 120v ac. There is too much resistance in the water and no direct path back to AC ground to cause the breaker to trip.
I hope that this is helpful.
Kevin
