Carver Owners Forum

Hey gang, please bear with me as I'm a new owner (1996 455 Aft Cabin) and still trying to figure out some basics. Among the many issues I'm trying to solve right now is my 110 power setup. When I run the generator, both voltmeters show ~120, as they should, and everything runs properly (Air conditioning, outlets, etc.). However, when I plug into my shore power pedestal, only the Second bank shows 120, the first sits at 0. I've got a single 50a plug on the pedestal, I bought a brand new shore power cord in case that was the problem, but same result. Am I supposed to be plugging into two outlets on the pedestal side? Do I have a problem with my pedestal wiring? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

How many shore power inlets do you have on your boat? If you have dual 50 amp inlets you will need 2 cords or a splitter at the boat. Need to know what you have for inlet/s on the boat.

Judging by the panel mains, you have two power inlets; "SHORE 1" and "SHORE 2". You need a cord going to each inlet or a Y cord that splits off to two inlets from one shore cord otherwise only one side of the panel will power up. I don't see a parallel switch, so you can't run both groups with only one inlet plugged into shore power.

And therein lies my problem. I just walked the entire topside to make sure I wasn't going blind, there's only one shore power inlet.

I believe you have the wrong shore power cord! There are 2 styles of 50A. One is 125V 50a and the other is 125/250v. Difference being the 250v versions carries 2 hot 50a 125v lines and the 125v version carries only 1 hot 50a 125v line. The plugs are different though and therefor you should not be able to mix the 2 but I have read that if you persuade the connection it can be done.

Here you can see the plug prong types of both. Not much difference except for an additional bent tab on the 250v version. Scroll down a little on this link. https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/DIY-Shore-Power

Take a close up pic of your shorepower inlet on your boat and a pic of your cord end and post them . that will clear it up for sure. Oh also the dock pedestal plug.

I thought about that 125 - 50 amp as well, but I’m 90% sure the 125 - 50 has a different connector from the 125/250 - 50 amp. They cannot be interchanged.
I used to have a 1988, 3807 that came wired like that. Since few, if any marinas offer that power option, the PO had special power cords made up for the boat. 30 amp cord, with 30 amp male end and 50 amp female.
I’m pretty sure, by the mid 90’s, Carver no longer offered that 120 - 50 amp power configuration.

So here's what I've got, should be 125/250 across the board

Yep, sure is 125/250 all around.

If you are handy with a volt meter I would start off by testing the dock shore power to see if in fact both bent inlets are putting out 110v. Could be 1 phase is out. Quite easy to test with black on the unbent inlet (neutral) and red on the bent inlets (hot). Exterior metal contact is ground. Careful, lots of juice available there and if not familiar with testing, ask the dock master to check it out for you.

The picture in the initial post I assume is when you are running off the Generator? I ask because it does show power available on both shore power 1 & 2.

Dock master is me, it's in my backyard, lol. And yes, the pic is when running on genset, shows both banks work.