SargeW
Site Team
While RVing 2 years ago in the New York area we stayed at Liberty Harbor in New Jersey. Convenient to NYC, but a horrible little jammed in park. A parking lot with hook ups really, and over priced to boot. We were there in the summer and the everyone's AC's were cranked up. We weren't there 15 minutes when I discovered that our PI Surge Guard was taking us off line due to low voltage on line 1. We wound up running a generator the first day just to be able to keep the AC on.
A volt meter showed that line 1 was running about 100 volts, but line 2 was about 118 volts. At that time I decided to build a short 18" adapter with 50 amp male and female ends on it. While wiring it, I switched the black wire and the red wire from one end to the other.
The idea was to change the park pedestal's hot lines from 1 to 2, and 2 to 1. I reasoned that if I could run off of line 2 that was much higher voltage from not having as many rigs all pulling from the same line, that maybe I could still be hooked to shore power. But I didn't get a chance to test it after I built it.
Until today. We pulled into a KOA in Desert Hot Springs, just outside of Joshua Tree National Park. There were lots of rigs here, and it was about 85 degrees when we pulled in. I plugged in while setting up, and when Diane turned on the AC, it made it about 5 seconds before shutting down. I checked the PI and it was showing line one at 102 volts, and when my neighbor's AC started, my line one voltage dropped to 90 volts. All the while line 2 was showing 119 -124 volts.
It also seems that some parks will wire their 30 amp pedestal's to draw off of line 1 as well. My pedestal only has a 50 amp breaker and plug.
I plugged the "switcher adapter" into the pedestal and verified that line 1 was now showing 120 volts, while line 2 hovered around 111 volts. When the PI put power through to the rig, we were able to turn on the front AC, which runs on line 1. Diane was also able to start the washer, which runs on our line 2. The washer didn't pull near the amps that the AC units do.
I bought the necessary plugs on Amazon for under $40 and picked up the wire cheap at a hardware store, only "18 long. So far, it looks like it was a good investment.
A volt meter showed that line 1 was running about 100 volts, but line 2 was about 118 volts. At that time I decided to build a short 18" adapter with 50 amp male and female ends on it. While wiring it, I switched the black wire and the red wire from one end to the other.
The idea was to change the park pedestal's hot lines from 1 to 2, and 2 to 1. I reasoned that if I could run off of line 2 that was much higher voltage from not having as many rigs all pulling from the same line, that maybe I could still be hooked to shore power. But I didn't get a chance to test it after I built it.
Until today. We pulled into a KOA in Desert Hot Springs, just outside of Joshua Tree National Park. There were lots of rigs here, and it was about 85 degrees when we pulled in. I plugged in while setting up, and when Diane turned on the AC, it made it about 5 seconds before shutting down. I checked the PI and it was showing line one at 102 volts, and when my neighbor's AC started, my line one voltage dropped to 90 volts. All the while line 2 was showing 119 -124 volts.
It also seems that some parks will wire their 30 amp pedestal's to draw off of line 1 as well. My pedestal only has a 50 amp breaker and plug.
I plugged the "switcher adapter" into the pedestal and verified that line 1 was now showing 120 volts, while line 2 hovered around 111 volts. When the PI put power through to the rig, we were able to turn on the front AC, which runs on line 1. Diane was also able to start the washer, which runs on our line 2. The washer didn't pull near the amps that the AC units do.
I bought the necessary plugs on Amazon for under $40 and picked up the wire cheap at a hardware store, only "18 long. So far, it looks like it was a good investment.
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