Is your boat compliant as per National Standard for Commercial Vessels (NSCV) and the Australian/New Zealand Standard AS3004:2014 Electrical Installations – Marinas and boats – Boat installations?

Shore connections of single-phase and 3-phase installations for berthed Pleasure Craft and Domestic Commercial Vessels (NSCV) at wharves, jetties and marinas are expected to comply with safety requirements detailed within AS/NZ 3004.2:2014 – Electrical Installations-Marinas and Boats; Part 2: Boats

Read more about electrical standards for recreational boats in the MSQ Maritime Matters Bulletin – September 2022 

SET Maritime & Electrical has been involved with Domestic Commercial Vessels (DCV) over the past 6 years, specialising in electrical compliance for plan approvals and surveys of vessels.

During this time a range of different shore connection installations have been inspected and checked against the required Standards.

In most cases full compliance has NOT been met.

The most critical safety factor for a vessel is Reverse Polarity which presents a very serious risk of electrocution.

The shore connection products currently available on the market are all based upon a Polarity Monitoring Device to detect reverse polarity with a simple circuit as the fundamental design of them all.

The vessel’s wiring is correct for Polarity when this is verified by a Certificate of Electrical Compliance and is issued by an Electrical Contractor. However, each time a connection is made, the Polarity of shore connections are unknown to the vessel owner, due to unknown factors of installation, maintenance or interference

If the polarity of the power supply is reversed, this will render the vessel’s electrical safety devices ineffective.

With the large variety of interpretations on how the mandatory functional requirements for shore connections are met, the process involved in monitoring for correct Polarity, is to create a Functional Earthing (FE) between the Active/Neutral and Earth. The industry standard is to create a permanently connected circuit, allowing current to run normally in the Protective Earth. The testing of polarity should only be momentary.

This is undertaken to ensure the correct operation of Polarity testing, rather than for the safety conditions associated with protective earthing continually carrying current.

The combination of both protective and functional earths is permissible as per AS/NZ 3000:2018 – Wiring Rules, and it should be noted that FE does not offer protection from electrocution from a hazardous voltage.

To solve this problem Mark Smith, owner of SET Maritime & Electrical, has designed a revolutionary new installation called ESHORE, that meets the safety functionality as per the requirements of the Australian Standard for single-phase and three-phase electrical installations.

For the Polarity Monitoring device, the Functional Earthing (FE) circuit makes only a momentary connection to check polarity and allows for the interlocking contactor to allow for supply to the vessel.

Upon completing the test the circuit will disconnect, thereby reducing the risk of electrocution from a hazardous voltage being carried in the Protective Earth.