We have been having some electrical problems on this trip and thought I would share.
The problem started 3 days ago. Pulled into a campsite, plugged in the shore power cord, fired up the A/C units, checked everything out and made sure all systems were working.
After being plugged in for an hour or so, we decided to take the dog for a walk. As we got back to the coach, I hear the generator running and I say to my wife, the power must be out but we at least now know the genset auto start system works.
I went into the coach and sure enough, no power from the pedastal. I look into the power pedestal and a quick glance shows all the breakers in the same position, OFF. The last person to use the pedestal had left all the breakers in the "on" position so when I plugged in, I just flipped the 50 amp breaker assuming I was turning it on when in fact, I turned it off. Lesson learned, never trust the previous user to turn off the breaker. Lesson two, wear your reading glasses so you can see!
I turned the breaker on and all was right with the electrical gods, or so I thought.
The next day, we tripped the breaker in the pedestal. Not the first time this has happened since we have owned the coach so we didn't think too much about it.
Yesterday, the day of our departure, odd things started to happen. The genset started up, ran for 5 minutes and then shut off. We had the main breaker trip then the inverter showed a fault when I reset the breaker. I reset the inverter and that seemed to solve the problem.
Arrived at our next campground, plugged into the pedestal and no power. Found the breaker for our site in the main distribution panel was tripped. Reset that breaker and then the main breaker in the bus tripped.
At this point, I knew the problem was us. I started my diagnosis with the the shore power plug. Somewhere down the line, the PO replaced the plug. In wiring up the plug, he ran the ground wire over top of the neutral which was correct for the design of the plug. The detail he missed was the clamping lug for the neutral has two very sharp tangs that protrude and when he tightend down the cover, there was a small amount of pressure on the insulation of the ground wire.
I guess yesterday the wear and tear of using the plug finally caused the neutral tang to fully penetrate the insulation of the ground wire.
The solution was to bend the metal tangs back so the ground wire had clearance and the insulation would not get damaged.
Everything has been fine since my repair so I am hopeful the problem is solved. Time will tell.
Paul
Is it considered common practice to turn off the breaker at the pole when leaving a campsite? I've stayed a whole two nights in campgrounds since I bought my first RV eleven years ago so I have no idea what the norm is.
I have a 30 amp RV connection at home and I never touch the breaker considering it is in the basement of my house. I do make sure nothing is turned on when plugging in shore power. (I don't believe code requires a breaker at the pedestal since I'm not a campground and I have access to the breaker in the panel.)
It's not so much a common courtesy to turn the breakers off when leaving a site.. but rather it's generally not a good idea to pull your plug (or plug it in) when there's potentially a high current going through it. Tripping the breaker turns that current off, and adds a level of safety.
We generally find however that when we arrive to a campsite it's about 50/50 if the breaker is on or off.
- Cherie
When plugging in or unplugging, if the breaker is on, you may/will get an arc across one or more of the contacts which can sooner or later burn one of them to the point that you will have to replace your plug. I always turn the breaker off before plugging in and disconnecting. I also use a simple outlet tester to see if it is wired right before plugging in.
What Ed said.
It's good practice to use a meter to check that the pedestal is wired properly before plugging in. The pedestal breaker should be off when you
plug in or disconnect your shore line. That's more for safety than anything, but it does also help prevent excessive arcing and burning of contacts
and plug prongs.
I also turn off the main disconnect inside my bus bay before connecting or disconnecting. It's next to the inverter and I like to see the good power
light come on when I offer up the shore power. Just another warm fuzzy that everything is working properly.