Answers before you call
Boat Electrical Guides
Long Beach Marine Electric publishes these boat electrical guides so you can understand a problem, and what it should cost, before anyone comes to the dock. Every guide starts with a short answer, shows its sources, and links to the service that fixes it.
Boat Electrical Repair
Dead circuits, flickering panels, intermittent faults. A dockside electrician traces the fault with a meter and a voltage-drop test, then fixes it at your slip.
Shore Power Repair
Pedestal keeps tripping, burnt inlet, no AC at the panel. Covers 30A and 50A inlets, cords, ELCI breakers and leakage faults.
- What To Do Now Burnt Shore Power Plug: Is It Dangerous and What Should You Do? Brown plastic, melted pins or a warm plug are all warnings. Here's what's happening and what to do.
- Learn Marina ELCI Requirements: What NEC 555.35 and ABYC E-11 Mean for Your Boat Why marinas changed the rules, what your boat is expected to have, and what to do if it doesn't pass.
- Cost Guide Shore Power Installation Cost: Inlets, Cords, ELCI and Isolators (2026) What it costs to replace an inlet, upgrade a cord, add an ELCI or install a galvanic isolator, with parts prices and labor shown.
- What To Do Now Why Does My Boat Keep Tripping the Shore Power Breaker? A tripping pedestal is a warning, not a nuisance. Here's what causes it and how to find the fault.
Marine Battery Installation
Batteries keep dying, or the charger won't charge on shore power? Covers battery banks, chargers, switches and parasitic-draw testing.
- What To Do Now Boat Batteries Not Charging on Shore Power: What to Check Plugged in but still going flat? Work from the pedestal to the battery and the fault shows itself.
- What To Do Now Why Does My Boat Battery Keep Dying? Six causes, the tests that tell them apart, and what to do before the bilge pump loses power.
Bilge Pump Repair
Pump runs on manual but not on auto, or won't shut off. Covers float switches, wiring, fuses and high-water alarms.
Galvanic Corrosion Testing
Zincs gone in weeks? Covers reference-electrode testing, galvanic isolators and isolation transformers for crowded marinas.
- Decision Guide Galvanic Isolator vs Isolation Transformer: Which Does Your Boat Need? Both protect your underwater metal from the marina. They do it differently, at different cost and weight.
- What To Do Now Zincs Wearing Out Fast? Galvanic vs Stray Current Corrosion Anodes that vanish in weeks are a symptom. The cause is either a galvanic load through shore power, or stray current.
Lithium Battery Conversion
LiFePO4 house banks installed to ABYC E-13, with matched chargers, alternator regulation, DC-DC charging and BMS integration.
- Cost Guide Boat Lithium Conversion Cost: What a LiFePO4 Upgrade Really Costs (2026) Batteries are only part of it. Here's what a lithium conversion costs once chargers, alternator protection and labor are included.
- Learn Lithium Batteries and Boat Insurance: What Insurers Want to See Talk to your insurer before you buy batteries, and get the installation documented to ABYC E-13.
- Decision Guide Lithium vs AGM Marine Batteries: Which Is Worth It for Your Boat? Price per battery points one way, price per usable amp-hour and per cycle the other. Here's how to decide.
Marine Inverter Installation
Pure-sine inverter/chargers sized to your loads and wired with proper transfer switching, so they don't trip the pedestal.
- Decision Guide Inverter vs Generator on a Boat: Which Do You Need? Silent power from the batteries, or engine-driven power that runs anything. Most boats are better served by one, and some need both.
- Cost Guide Marine Inverter Installation Cost (2026): Inverter/Charger Prices and Labor The inverter is about a third of the bill. Cables, fusing, transfer switching and labor make up the rest.
Boat Rewiring
Aging automotive wire replaced with tinned marine cable, new AC/DC panels and labeled circuits, built to ABYC E-11.
- Learn ABYC Electrical Standards: What They Require and Why Your Boat Is Measured Against Them The standards surveyors, insurers and good electricians all work to, in plain English.
- Cost Guide Boat Rewiring Cost: How Much to Rewire a Boat in 2026? Rewiring is priced by scope and hours. Here's how the stages break down, and why most owners rewire in stages.
- Decision Guide DIY Boat Wiring vs Hiring a Marine Electrician: Where to Draw the Line Plenty of boat electrical work is fair game for owners. Some of it starts fires, trips marinas or fails surveys. Here's the line.
Marine Solar Installation
Bimini, arch and deck-mounted panels with MPPT controllers, sized to keep moored and liveaboard boats topped up.
Marine Electrical Inspection
Pre-purchase electrical checks and repairs for the electrical items your surveyor or insurer flagged, measured against ABYC.
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