HELP Electrical problem
- Thread starter Mattyboh
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
John From Detroit
Well-known member
You have a 120 volt side of life issue. Likely a bad neutral connection somewhere.
On a guess. and I stress this is 100% guess since you did not state.
Your rig is 50 amps
The Microwave is on one leg
The Converter on the other.
Voltage in the converter's leg is low till you load down the other leg
(Sign of poor neutral)
Measure voltage on both legs. if you have two volt meters. at the same time Microwave both on and off and let us know.
On a guess. and I stress this is 100% guess since you did not state.
Your rig is 50 amps
The Microwave is on one leg
The Converter on the other.
Voltage in the converter's leg is low till you load down the other leg
(Sign of poor neutral)
Measure voltage on both legs. if you have two volt meters. at the same time Microwave both on and off and let us know.
catblaster
Well-known member
Often they will measure correctly until a load is placed on them. On my sticks and bricks home both legs measured out correctly but I loaded one circuit the other one went nuts.Chased it down for several hours then came to conclusion it had to be a bad neutral. Power company fixed it in ;ess than 45 minutes.Mattyboh said:
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
This sort of problem requires very exacting measurements with power loads on & off and on each "leg" of the 50A source. Also requires detailed info about what appliances are on each leg of the 50A. Also, be aware that it may behave differently if the external power source if standard 50A/240v vs 30A/120v with an adapter.
You don't need more than one Voltmeter, but you do have to be meticulous in measuring on each leg for each load condition and noting what else is running in each case. For example, you said it reads 114v on each leg with the microwave running, but what else was on and on which leg? Probably the converter, maybe the fridge, etc. Any other load potentially affects what you see on the voltmeter.
The most common cause for this sort of weird problem is a faulty neutral on a 50A power source, but verifying that and finding it can be challenging.
You don't need more than one Voltmeter, but you do have to be meticulous in measuring on each leg for each load condition and noting what else is running in each case. For example, you said it reads 114v on each leg with the microwave running, but what else was on and on which leg? Probably the converter, maybe the fridge, etc. Any other load potentially affects what you see on the voltmeter.
The most common cause for this sort of weird problem is a faulty neutral on a 50A power source, but verifying that and finding it can be challenging.
Great Horned Owl
Well-known member
Having only one meter, you can still get a very precise measurement by measuring the voltage between the two hot legs. That will indicate the magnitude of the imbalance, but not the direction. It won't tell you which one is higher, but that shouldn't be hard to deduce.
Joel
Joel
Great Horned Owl
Well-known member
I would think that the 50 Amp refers to the DC output, not to the AC input.Also, as I said before, the most precise way to measure the difference between the two legs, is to measure that difference directly. Put one lead of your meter onto each of the hot leads.
Joel
Joel
Hold on there.... Is the converter running via its own 120V connection (i.e., not getting its power from the RV's A/C connection)? Is that to isolate it with its own power source, or is the whole RV running from that 30A, presumably dog bone, adapter? If the latter than both legs will be running from the same 50A leg from the power pedestal.Mattyboh said:
Also, the way you worded that sounds like you think 30A (120V A/C) is not enough power for a 50A DC converter. In fact even a 15A 120V connection to the converter is more than enough to make 50A 12V D/C. Maybe I just read it wrong.
Mike
Okay, input is from a 30 amp 120v breaker. Output of the converter is 50 amps vdc. There are 3 breakers in the trailer. Top is the main line in from house, then the converter is powered from another breaker right below where the AC comes in from.
John From Detroit
Well-known member
If you are plugged into a 30 amp shore power via an adapter than open neutral is **NOT** the problem... I"m at a loss.
