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Autoformers

Yahoo Message Number: 5613
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:44:03 -0700 From: "jurhee@... Mail Account"
Subject: Electrical question

I have been having a new situation the past few days. I am connected to 30 amp shore power. It is cool here and I have been using the heat pump in the early morning and at night. Several times, it has shut off like the breaker has tripped and power has switched to the inverter. The first couple of times II went outside to trip the breaker, but it had not tripped. After a few minutes, it switches back to AC and the heat pump comes back on. At first I thought this was because of overload--once I was using the dryer, another time, the hair dryer. But, this morning it has gone off and back on several times with no other electrical usage except the TV and coffee pot.
Any suggestions on what is happening? Is it hurting anything? I go back to JC in a week--is this a problem that they need to do anything about?

Thanks
Ree

Full-timin' in a 2003 Allure #30852

Currently at LaConner, Washington Thousand Trails ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You could be experiencing an automatic shut down due to low voltage being supplied to your coach. I've recently run into a very similar situation.
We and now doing a lot of camping in Canada -- Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Many of the campgrounds are not set up for big newer coaches. Most are 30AMP at best. Even when they are 30AMP, once you start to use anything above 15 AMPS of power the voltage drops down to the very, very low 100s. We have an Affinity that shows us on digital gauges the incoming power -- Volts, Hertz and our power consumption -- usage -- in AMPS. Sometimes I think that the coach has cutoff the external power to prevent a brownout, not sure.
A friend who is traveling with us has an autoformer which takes a few AMPs of power to boost the volts back up to a safe level and thereby preventing a brownout. He is very happy with his unit --- when I've had power problems in 30 AMP parks, he just keeps on running everything -- using up to 20++ AMPs with no voltage drop problems. He bought a 50AMP version at a rally for $425.00. Camping world sells that model for $540.00. Shipping and HST (Canadian Taxes) run the price up another $175.00. They also have a less expensive autoformer for a 30AMP circuit. But I think that I will try to permanently wire-in a 50AMP unit so I don't have to take the box out of the storage bay every time I connect to a power pole.
Does anyone know where you can get them less expensively, in Canada or the USA?

Denny Zarnt

2001 Affinity # 5972

Re: Autoformers

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 5614
With the exchange rate, I would think they might be a bargain in Canada, even with their high tax rate.
Max

98 Affinity

Autoformers

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 54746
Anyone had any experience with the autoformers, Hughes, Franks or Powermaster. Would appreciate your comments

Ray williams, 2008 Allure CP, 31664

Re: Autoformers

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 54747

Ray,

I have an Autoformer...50 amp. At present we are in a park with 30 amp service and it is working well. It shows to be boosting the voltage to the maximum. About 12 volts I think. It really works great. We have only had one occasion where we had low voltage on 50 amp hook up and it worked well then also. It is not used often, but when needed it can save your equipment.

Ray

Allure 31694

Re: Autoformers

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 54750
I have a new Hughes RV450 50 amp autoformer installed permanently in my coach and I love it. It fits perfectly in the panel box behind all the breakers and right next to the Country Coach built-in surge protector. It is the new 3 stage boost design. It will boost the voltage either 5%, 10% or 15% based on the input voltage.
The old single stage boost autoformers didn't work well because sometimes the 15% boost would go over the surge protector limit and the power would be cut to the coach. It didn't happen very often, but the single stage boost can be a real pain sometimes. For example, if the voltage dropped to 114, the autoformer would kick in and boost the power by 15% resulting in a voltage of 131. Since the 131 is above the Country Coach built-in surge protector limit of 130, the surge protector would then drop power to the entire coach. With the new 3 stage boost Hughes autoformer, the power is boosted in three stages, either 5%, 10% or 15% based on the input voltage. The boosted voltage then flows from the autoformer to the surge protector. I've been in campgrounds where the input voltage is as low as 98 volts (low enough to fry electronics) and the Hughes RV450 boosts the power to 113 volts and everything works just great. The autoformer is totally automatic and requires no effort on my part for it to work correctly. I just plug my coach in as usual and the system is totally automatic.
Hope this detailed explanation helps to understand why a 3 stage autoformer is so much better.

Regards

Bob Kumza

2003 Intrigue 11581
 

Re: Autoformers

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 54751
WHO DID THE INSTALL AND THE COST OF THE HUGHES AND LABOR

DON 11346