shore power breaker

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shipicker

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Oct 28, 2013
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8
Hi all,
  I have a 96 American Eagle that keeps tripping the 30 amp outside breaker, but only when it gets below freezing. We have replaced the breaker, replaced the female input plug, and it still does it, but only when it's below 32.
  I have 3 year old batteries, factory reset the xantrax hf 1800 inverter per the main tech at the nat'l distributor, and tried to troubleshoot the best we can.
  This just started this winter season. As I'm a full timer, it's really getting a drag to get out of bed at 5 am, and go straight outside into 5 degree weather to reset the breaker. I'm definitely not using any where near 30 amp of pwr, as the only thing that runs is the lp gas furnace fan motor, which is 3 years old, and the 2nd one which was just put in this spring, and the fridge on low. Either one might be running when it trips. They never run together. I have a 50 amp main plug on the rv, into a Camco short 1' long reducer to 30 amp, and 30' Camco ext cable into the 30 shore power outlet. Frustration city here.
Once it gets warmer outside, (above freezing), all works fine.
Any ideas?
Thx, Pat
 
Sounds like you might have some 120v tank heaters, or an engine block heater, on a thermostat switch. Its gotta be some kind of heater(s) on a thermostat that is doing it.

Charles
2007 Winnebago View 523H on a 2006 Dodge (Daimler-Chrysler aka Mercedes) Sprinter 3500 chassis (T1N). Bought Sept 2015 with 18K miles on it, Prog Ind HW30C, Prog Dymanics PD4645, Coleman Chill Grille, PML/Yourcovers.com deep alum trans pan, AutoMeter 8558 trans temp gauge, Roadmaster sway bar, Koni Red shocks (front & rear), Fantastic Ultra Breeze hood, added OEM parabolic mirrors and RH aspherical mirror, MB grill conversion.
 
Does the breaker stay on without any further tripping once reset at 5 am?  I'm guessing it's still below freezing at that time?  If you can get to the block heater leads check for a short with a meter, turn power of first to save your meter.
 
I think you need to investigate this further with a Kill-A-Watt meter. Just guessing doesn't cut it.

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Make sure there is no corrosion on the breaker stabs and everything is tight.  Loose connections can heat up under load and cause a breaker to trip.  One other thought, is there some reason you can't put a 50 amp breaker in place of the 30?  One more thought, the loads you are describing are all 120 volt loads, it could by chance be that all 3 are on the same leg, could check that with an amprobe.  If there are all on the same leg, change your refrigerator to the other leg if possible.
 
May be a bad breaker
Click to expand...
People seem always want to blame the safety device rather than admit there could be a real problem. Why is it so hard to believe that there really is an amp overload? Or a ground fault is a GFCI is tripped?  I'm not saying that those devices never fail, but that should be well down the list of suspects.  An actual amp overload is the most likely, followed by the loose or corroded wire wire situation that zinLuvRV described.
 
ZinLuvR said:
One more thought, the loads you are describing are all 120 volt loads, it could by chance be that all 3 are on the same leg, could check that with an amprobe.  If there are all on the same leg, change your refrigerator to the other leg if possible.
Click to expand...

Since both legs are tied together at the 50/30 adapter, how could this be an issue?
 
Gary I must disagree about GFCI's particularly GFCI outlets, I have seen so many fail that I feel it is a coin toss between tripping due to actual ground fault, vs failed GFCI
 
Gary I must disagree about GFCI's particularly GFCI outlets, I have seen so many fail that I feel it is a coin toss between tripping due to actual ground fault, vs failed GFCI
Click to expand...

Not my experience at all, at least not in the last 15 or so years.  Early model GFCI's had some problems, but the small digital circuit boards needed are now pretty much every day tech and highly reliable.  And GFCI's that do fail are likely to be a solid failure, not random false trips.

But this isn't helping Shipicker with his breaker problem, so let's forget GFCI's for now.
 
Thanks for all of the replies. I'm on the same electric circuit that I've been on for a few years. We replaced the breaker, the input plug, and i added a surge protector on the line between the 50 and the 30 reducer. It's just so strange that it only happens when it gets below freezing. So far today, it's been on since 5 am, but I expect it'll go out sometime early morning after it's below freezing. Haven't been any issues with the GFCI outlets. All appliances in the coach are as they've always been. All theories will be listened to.
Thx, Pat
 
I'm suggesting something as we used it in troubleshooting problems in electronic equipment. 

My guess is you have a weak connection somewhere that opens up when it gets cold.  Thus it is something that is exposed to the cold and works when it is warm.  Eventually it will have a hard failure and be easy to troubleshoot.  The problem now is can you induce the failure during a convenient time by getting it cold somehow.  We used Freon spray on the circuits such as is in the canned air dusters.  Chill a small portion of the circuit and see if the failure occurs, if it does you are  able to fix the problem, if not freeze more circuit a little at a time.
I recognize that you are dealing with large devices so chilling them will be a problem but do the best you can.
 
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