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It always starts the same way. There are too many burnt-out plugs, electrical issues, and constant maintenance. These issues build up until it’s inevitable that you need to upgrade. The plan sounds simple: replace your old shore power pedestals with some newer, safer, and maybe more modern ones. As soon as your research begins, you see the simplicity fade away.
Suddenly, it’s not about just finding the most cost-effective brand to meet your needs. It’s about meeting government codes, finding the right plugs that won’t corrode in half a season. You realize you need all these extra sensors and software integrated into one ecosystem, which requires more maintenance, installation costs, subscriptions, and additional manpower to manage. What started as an upgrade suddenly became an entire mountain of decisions, each one more technical, time-consuming, and expensive than the last.
Upgrading your shore power shouldn’t feel like rocket science. Yet for most marina operators, it does.
As you continue your research, you realize you have a mountain of decisions to make. You need to meet NFPA and NEC codes, which means purchasing GFP-rated breakers, weather-proof and corrosion-resistant enclosures for each of your pedestals, as well as regularly inspecting and testing the contacts and wiring. GFP breakers can run you $200-400 per outlet per pedestal. You need reliable plugs with the correct socket types. You need to figure out how you will monitor all of this.
You ask yourself:
Do you need to buy a management system, or can you rely on staff to walk the docks daily and do manual checks, unlocking the risk of human error?
Who will handle repairs and inspections, and how often?
Do you need specific electricians to come from the companies themselves, or can you trust your personal electrician to know these systems well enough?
Will the new system still suffice if regulations or technology change again in a few years?
By the time you even know what you need to look for, “buying new pedestals” has become a multi-layer decision-making process, with each decision affecting the next. For smaller marinas without a fully equipped maintenance crew, managing maintenance is a complicated process that takes time and money away from actually running the docks. No wonder marinas often put off upgrades. The hardest part isn’t installing the new systems, it’s deciding which ones to get.
Why So Many Decisions In The First Place?
Why is it that the old systems make those decisions so frustrating and important? Traditional shore power pedestals are a patchwork of separate parts... breakers from one company, receptacles from another, and a CRM from a third. Nothing is truly integrated; this makes the risk higher for something to go wrong.
There are various safety issues.
Small marinas feel this the most, since they don’t have dedicated electrical staff or backup power pedestals waiting in storage. Even when everything works, there is constant stress on marina owners hoping nothing will fail. Operators are always waiting for the next trip, arc, or service call. This system is outdated and not designed for today’s reliability expectations or safety standards. It’s only going to get more challenging to keep up as boats become increasingly power-hungry. There must be a more straightforward way, one system that handles safety, reliability, and durability without turning dock management into a full-time electrician position.
What Do You Do?
After years of dealing with corroded plugs, surprise trips, and scattered gear, the idea of a single, integrated pedestal feels almost unnatural. Picture a system that you could purchase from one company, that includes each of the breakers, sensors, and management system, all working together.
Voltsafe replaces uncertainty with ONE clear choice.
At Voltsafe, the number one concern was safety. A need for a new plug was instantly evident. Since we needed to create a new standard, we created a pedestal with a new outlet that comes with adapters.
Arcing
We de-energized the outlet until all three contacts are connected. And when you unplug, it shuts itself off in the safest order, so you’re never yanking live power out of the socket.
Corrosion and Overheating
This also solved the problem of corrosion and pitting of the contacts. Since the contacts are exposed, any corrosion can be easily wiped right off. Additionally, there are temperature sensors in the contacts that will automatically cut power after reaching a certain threshold.
NEC Required GFP Breakers
As of 2023, NEC regulations require ground fault protection breakers to be standard on every pedestal. Voltsafe’s pedestals have this built in. Power will not be delivered to a boat with faulty wiring.
Pedestal damage
With a magnetic plug, there is no longer any concern for boats driving off with your pedestals. With 40lbs of force holding our plug in place, this is enough to keep it connected from light swaying due to waves, but not strong enough to pull an entire pedestal into the water if a boater forgets to disconnect.
Bypassing all these common issues creates longer pedestal lifespans, requiring less maintenance, less money put into management and upkeep.
Beyond safety, Voltsafe wanted to create a positive user experience. Through their dashboard, you can see and collect all of the data from their sensors. You also have a complete CRM system that allows you to manage day-to-day operations much more efficiently.
Pedestal Knowledge
With Voltsafe’s software, all sensor information is easily visible. This includes an interactive map of your marina. Individually, you can see live status updates, live leakage, live power output, and live temperature.
This allows you to constantly know everything that’s going on with your electrical systems, eliminating the need to spend time manually diagnosing issues.
CRM
Voltsafe’s dashboard also includes features such as setting up reservations, boater accounts, invoice creation and automatic billing.
Boater Identity/RFID
Our adapters also include a digital ID that will connect to a boater’s account upon check-in. Boaters can plug into any pedestal, and power will be automatically tracked to them, reducing customer disagreements.
Voltsafe is creating shore-power technology that prepares marinas for the future. Even if marinas run flat-rate billing, our software logs usage and performance data. That allows you to make operational changes much faster and at a much lower cost. Only software updates would be needed to add additional features. Marina owners can finally access a single, clean system handling all the core functions of the marina. From dock-to-dashboard, upgrading shore power can actually feel simple again: one product, one dashboard, one decision.
The shift towards smarter, safer docks is inevitable. This doesn’t need to mean complex, expensive, time-consuming decisions. Small marinas can now access the same level of safety and intelligence that used to require large budgets and multiple systems. Upgrading shore power no longer means juggling several marts, manuals, and electricians. Voltsafe’s system brings large-scale marina-level safety and data visibility to every dock, no matter the size.
Tomorrow’s marinas will run smarter, safer, and simpler, and it all starts with a choice you can make today.
To book an online demo of the world’s first complete dock-to-dashboard system, choose a day and time that works for you from our BOOKING CALENDAR. To get a quote for your marina, contact our team at sales@voltsafe.com.
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