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Electrical System Help Needed

Yahoo Message Number: 76191
I'm parked in Pittsburg, KS for the winter hooked to 50amp shore power. Up until a few days ago everything seemed to be working fine. Then I noticed some big voltage fluctuations....pegged my volt meter which reads up to 135 volts. I had a 750 watt heater plugged into an outlet and it seemed that the high voltage happened when the heater was runing. So I uplugged it. But the over voltage continued to happen at what appeared to be randon times and it appears that eventually it took out my GFI outlet. However the microwave and washing machine outlets continued to have power to them.
I couldn't immediately replace the GFI but I switched to 30 amp shore power and that seemed to solve the over voltage problem. But the 120 volt power started going off momentarily every once in a while. Then about 2 this afternoon it did it again and went off and stayed off. Finally I decided to start the generator. It started OK and is putting out 112v The microwave and washer outlets are getting power and the converter is working so I can keep the house batteries charged.
I'm not sure how difficult it will be to find someone locally that is capable of diagnosing and fixing my problem so any help would be appreciated as it is going to be getting pretty cold.

Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

Doug Connor

'94 CC Caprice #5072

Re: Electrical System Help Needed

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76193
First some questions.

Are you staying in an RV park or on private property? Do you have a GOOD SURGE SUPPRESSOR on your coach? Can you call the local utility company? They may fix the problem.
Sometimes the problem may be loose connections at the outlet. If you have access and confidence (not to touch the hot wires) check to see if everything is tight and not burnt. Look at your plug. Are the blades burnt or discolored?

Bob Wexler
SOB

Re: Electrical System Help Needed

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76198
Hi Bob...thanks for the quick response.
The park is private...there are several trailers and 5th wheels here but mine is the only moho.

No to the surge supressor.

The post will be checked out tomorrow by the owner. When this first started happening I contacted him and he had me change to another post where some folks had just left. That 50amp post behaved the same way as the one I was on. I have checked the 30amp side of the post with one of the light type devices and it said it was OK. (Two yellow lights on and no red. Also checked OK inside the coach.) I dont have a way to check the 50amp side of the post.
I have had a problem in the past when hooked to 30amp service with one of the blades on the dog bone adapter burning. This has been going on for a couple of years at various parks and I thought it was because I might have over loaded the circuit. I did notice yesterday a bit of pinkish discoloration on one of the 50 amp blades when I disconnected it prior to plugging into the 30amp.
Just before the final failure, I had pretty much every thing inside shut off and when power was flickering I thought I heard a clicking sound coming from somewhere....like maybe the basement. But not sure.
I've checked both posts and there is power at both of them. I'm using power from them to put light bulbs in the bays to keep pipes from freezing.
With the generator runing, everything seemed 'normal' although I didn't turn on the roof heat as I only had 112v coming out of the generator. And that dropped to 110 after it had run for about 30 minutes with little or no load.
Thanks very much again for your help. I look forward to hearing any suggestions or ideas anyone might have.

Doug Connor

'94 CC Caprice #5072

Re: Electrical System Help Needed

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76200
I would chck the circuit breakers on the inverter. I had a similar problem where GFI wouldn't reset and it was because it wasn't getting any power. After resetting circuit breakers on inverter, the outlet plugs worked fine.

Larry, 03 Allure, 30856

Re: Electrical System Help Needed

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76202
Doug,

When you are connected to a 50 amp source and your voltage goes high you have a bad neutral or return. One leg will go low and the other will go high. This can cause serious damage to your electrical equipment. You won't see this in a 30 amp connection but you will see the voltage drop or go out all together. The problem could be in your 50 amp plug or in the source feeding the pedestal. I wouldn't plug back into a 50 amp source until you find the problem. A good surge suppressor would see this and disconnect the service before you ever see the problem. You might want to invest in one.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/product/hard-wired-surge-guards/2480
If your problem is in the plug or cord to the coach an external surge suppressor would not see the problem. The suppressor needs to be on the load side or down stream of the problem. If you have space inside the coach, ahead of the transfer switch, you would have your best protection. Most problems like this are in the pedestal or the wiring feeding the pedestal which the external suppressor would see.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/product/portable-surge-guard/2279
Hope this helps,

Barney

07 Inspire 52059

From:Larry F Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2011 4:38 PM To:Country-Coach-Owners@yahoogroups.com Subject: [Country-Coach-Owners] Re: Electrical System Help Needed

I would chck the circuit breakers on the inverter. I had a similar problem where GFI wouldn't reset and it was because it wasn't getting any power. After resetting circuit breakers on inverter, the outlet plugs worked fine.

Larry, 03 Allure, 30856

Quote from: "doug66756"
I'm parked in
Pittsburg, KS for the winter hooked to 50amp shore power. Up until a few days ago everything seemed to be working fine. Then I noticed some big voltage fluctuations....pegged my volt meter which reads up to 135 volts. I had a 750 watt heater plugged into an outlet and it seemed that the high voltage happened when the heater was runing. So I uplugged it. But the over voltage continued to happen at what appeared to be randon times and it appears that eventually it took out my GFI outlet. However the microwave and washing machine outlets continued to have power to them.

Quote
>

I couldn't immediately
replace the GFI but I switched to 30 amp shore power and that seemed to solve the over voltage problem. But the 120 volt power started going off momentarily every once in a while. Then about 2 this afternoon it did it again and went off and stayed off. Finally I decided to start the generator. It started OK and is putting out 112v The microwave and washer outlets are getting power and the converter is working so I can keep the house batteries charged.



I'm not sure how difficult it will be to find someone locally that is capable of diagnosing and fixing my problem so any help would be appreciated as it is going to be getting pretty cold.

Quote
>

Any suggestions will be much
appreciated.

Quote
Doug Connor

'94 CC Caprice

#5072

Re: Electrical System Help Needed

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76206
You might want to check the connections at the coach end of your power plug and inside the transfer switch.

The surge suppressor I would recomend can be found here
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&q=progressive+industries+surge+suppressor&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=15701775599407843929&sa=X&ei=qGLlTqLdJaemiQKwxdi3Bg&ved=0CFoQ8wIwBQ
It is about the same price as Camping World but has several more advanced features.

Bob Wexler
SOB

Re: Electrical System Help Needed

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76207
Quote from: Larry F"

> I would chck the circuit breakers on the inverter. I had a similar problem where GFI wouldn't reset and it was because it wasn't getting any power. After resetting circuit breakers on inverter, the outlet plugs worked fine.

Larry, 03 Allure, 30856
Thanks, Larry. I did check, and when the microwave and washer were getting power the GFI was also getting power...but it still wouldn't reset.
Keeping warm tonight by using the generator and propane heaters on 12 volts. :) Thanks very much for the suggestion, Larry.
DougC

'94 CC Magna Caprice #5072

Re: Electrical System Help Needed

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76208
Get your multimeter and check the shore power voltage. If it is 135 volts, your surge protector should stop the electricity from entering your coach electric system since it can damage things. This is overvoltage. This happened to me recently for the very first time at an RV park in Oregon on 30 amp which is all they had. Tell the RV park to call the utility company and fix it if this is the case. I simply left.

Rich 2002 Magna

Re: Electrical System Help Needed

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 76241
I had the same thing happen once. I don't know if it is the same.
I had a fluke meter so I checked the legs at the plug and discovered that one leg was high and the other leg was the same amount low. The low volts hurt your system worse than the high volts as long as there isn't spikes. I continued looking at the parks system with their manager after I checked the site next to me and discovered the same thing. I eventually found that the ground cable (the open metal one) coming from the transformer into the building was down to just a couple of strands because of the wind moving the lines and rubbing them against the stand. The power company came out and replaced the ground cable and everything was fine.

Mark

07 Intrigue 12162
C13 Cat Allison
06 Rubicon LJ