Shore Power

[chuckd]

I have sold my 1979 Prevost to a really neat couple in Alabama.  They arrived home yesterday and when they plug into their home 30 amp circuit there is no shore power in the coach.  When I sold the coach, I brought it to a camp grounds so I could show them how everything worked.  The hook up was a 50 amp circuit and everything worked as normal.  I have also hooked up to a 30 amp circuit in a campground without any problems.  Is there a reason why the shore power may not work when hooked up to a normal 30 amp home circuit, i.e. one leg and a common ground.  So never having any experience except in campgrounds on with the gen set, I am afraid to give him any advice, can you folks help me understand what might be happening.  Thanks
Chuckd
Stillwater Mn ex 1979 Prevost

[buswarrior]

GFI?

Many a coach trips a GFI protected circuit.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[richard5933]

Is their 50/30-amp adapter wired correctly? Is the 30-amp outlet at their house wired correctly?

[chuckd]

My coach would trip a gfi circuit every time, so I understand that.  I asked the new owner if he had a gfi circuit on that outlet and he said no.

[chuckd]

Richard what would be the correct way to wire his circuit.  I gave him all of my 50/30 amp connectors and they all worked, so that is not an issue.

thanks

Chuckd

[richard5933]

The main thing is to make sure that he used a 120v circuit and not a 240v one. Many electricians think 240v whenever someone mentions 30 amp circuits.

Hoping that he is using a 120v circuit, here is a link to a pdf I found online that shows how it should be connected.

www.myrv.us/Imgs/PDF/30-amp%20Service.pdf

Hope it helps.

[Scott & Heather]

I think the consensus is that it's not a Bus problem but their outlet or adapters. So that's good and technically not on you, but it's classy of you to help them out.


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[Branderson]

I'm about as ignorant as it comes when electricity is involved but I don't understand how it can work on 50 and 30 amps.  Am I crazy to think that if it's a 50 amp hook up, that it shouldn't get hooked into a 30 amp?

[richard5933]

I'm about as ignorant as it comes when electricity is involved but I don't understand how it can work on 50 and 30 amps.  Am I crazy to think that if it's a 50 amp hook up, that it shouldn't get hooked into a 30 amp?

If the bus is set up for 50-amp service, then there should be four conductors at the receptacle on the side of the bus: L1, L2, neutral, & ground.

30-amp service has only three: L1, neutral, & ground.

A bus set up for 50-amp service can be run on 30-amp power feed by using an adapter to split the incoming L1 so that it feeds both L1 & L2 on the bus. It works, but there will be only 30 amps available in the bus instead of 100.

[Branderson]

ahh okay, so when he said he connected into 30 amp, he was using adapters.  That makes sense and thanks for the clarification. 

[Oonrahnjay]

ahh okay, so when he said he connected into 30 amp, he was using adapters.  That makes sense and thanks for the clarification. 

     Yes, but it has to be properly-designed and wired adapters.  There may be also the issue that if the bus is wired for 240V and has 240V appliances, they won't work with a split 30/Amp service because there is not the correct phase on the two legs.  Both legs will show 120V but the phase will be wrong.  All of this is something that every bus owner should know (if you have 240V you'll need to know it because you may only have 30A (or less) to plug into, and if you have only 120 on your bus, you may need to plug into 240V).   
     For great info, see No-Shock-Zone noshockzone.org/ for very good, practical, safety-based information.

[TomC]

I plug into a friends house, and have to use a non GFI outlet-since I believe her house is wired improperly. Everything on my bus (including GFI) works just fine at other outlets. Good Luck, TomC

[Oonrahnjay]

I plug into a friends house, and have to use a non GFI outlet-since I believe her house is wired improperly. Everything on my bus (including GFI) works just fine at other outlets. Good Luck, TomC

      There's a kicker on this, Tom.  Sean Welch had a discussion on this (or another) forum about how the properly-wired ground bond on some inverter or generator setups will kick off a GFI on some circuits, but also a mis-wired house/shop/shorepower circuit will kick off a GFI when attached to a bus that doesn't trip properly-wired GFIs.  The whole thing makes it difficult to figure out exactly where faults are -- or, indeed, even if any fault exists.

[TomC]

Tripping GFI's only happen with my friends house-which makes me believe her house is wired improperly. Good Luck, TomC