Wrong voltage - damage

[jth]

Stupid me. Plugged into 30A outlet w 220v power. Got inside unit to find smoke everywhere. Ran back outside and cut off power. Aired out the MH. Checked out everything I knew how to check. Only found breaker to power inverter tripped. Reset the tripped breader. Found the correct plug for 120v power. Prior to energizing the MH I ran the generator, checked all lights, outlets, switches, refrig, micro, tv's etc. cut off generator and powered everything off. Then plugged up. Repeated the process. What might I have damaged? The inverter? If so what do I check to find out?

I sure won't make that mistake again. If I'm not sure about what voltage serves an outlet, I'll use a volt meter to check.

 

[BobNSam]

Where did the smoke come from?
If everything you describe is truly working you are very lucky.
Converter breaker tripped? Is it still actually working or are you running off your batteries? Do refrigerator and microwave actually work or just have lights and indicators?
If inverter provides power loads when no 120VAC power is hooked up, it is working.
Again, where did the smoke come from?

 

[NY_Dutch]

The most common failure points are microwaves, TV's, and converters. They don't need to be in use at the time, just plugged in.

 

[Kevin Means]

Happens more often than you might think. Hope you get out of it without too much damage.

Kev

 

[Arch Hoagland]

I'd contact my insurance company, they cover things like that.

 

[jth]

Smoke came from inverter the best I could determine. Everything inside is working; tried all equipment. Furnace is running at the moment. As I stated earlier the only breaker that tripped was a 15a, listed as inverter in my elect panel. I hope that saved something or everything.

I have not unplugged the unit since setting up so have not used just 12v side. All 12v lights are working at this time but we are on 120 power.

Thanks for responses and well wishes. I sure hope I was lucky. I could use some. Don't want to have to use insurance.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Your furnace runs on 12 volts... Do you have an INverter/charger that supplies 120 volts to the coach when not plugged in and charges the batteries when plugged in? Or is it a CONverter that supplies 12 volts to the coach and charges the batteries when plugged in. Either way it's condition is now suspect after some of the "magic smoke" as escaped.

 

[wackymac]

jth----I'm curious as to how you got plugged into 220 volts.  Was it a 30 amp RV receptacle that someone wired 220 into?

 

[camperAL]

Hi,

I'm curious too. If it was marked 30 amp and was actually 220 (50 amp), seems the campground would own this damage. If you accidentally plugged in to the wrong spot then I'd eat the repair myself.

Since there are a lot of newbees and new RV's, how does one go about making sure you don't get into trouble with outlets that might not be properly marked. I certainly have wondered about this, although a simple meter reading might tell ahead of time before plugging in. Shouldn't the plug in be four prong for 50 amp and 30 amp 3 prong?

 

[NY_Dutch]

The most common problem is plugging in at a residence or business that has an existing 3-pin 240 volt dryer or welder type outlet. It doesn't take much effort to force a 120 volt 30 amp RV plug into one. 50 amp RV's on the other hand, plug right into a standard 4-pin residential range outlet and work perfectly. The RV and range outlets are the same.

 

[wackymac]

The most common problem is plugging in at a residence or business that has an existing 3-pin 240 volt dryer or welder type outlet. It doesn't take much effort to force a 120 volt 30 amp RV plug into one.

  A 16 or 20 oz. hammer should do it.  The RV plug has a round ground and the dryer has an "L"  shaped ground. A more common  mistake is to wire the RV outlet for 220.

 

[jth]

jth----I'm curious as to how you got plugged into 220 volts.  Was it a 30 amp RV receptacle that someone wired 220 into?

That is exactly what happened. It was a 30A plug exactly the type as MH. I should have been smart enough to used my volt meter and checked the voltage prior to plugging into it. I was parked at my sons new house in the mountains. The location had two outlets one for 50A and one for 30A. They were marked in his panel as trailer outlets. Surprise! 220V not 110V.

So far I have only found one thing in my MH that is not working; the dash radio. I have not gotten under the dash in the fuse box to see if I have a blown fuse. I can find no other issues. I'm still worried about damage to something in the charging system that I know nothing about.

 

[jth]

jth----I'm curious as to how you got plugged into 220 volts.  Was it a 30 amp RV receptacle that someone wired 220 into?

30 A RV receptacle that was wired 220V.The outlet was labeled as 125V RV outlet. See more I wrote to wackymac.

 

[jth]

  A 16 or 20 oz. hammer should do it.  The RV plug has a round ground and the dryer has an "L"  shaped ground. A more common  mistake is to wire the RV outlet for 220.

No forced plug in. See want I wrote back to you below.

 

[whiteva]

I have seen the results of the "ELECTRICIAN" who knows everything or "my son is an electrician" or "brother-in-law wired his whole house" BUT did not realize the rv is wired differently. I take time to instruct new owners to test the socket BEFORE plugging in the camper. 

AH WELL the service department and parts department can always use the work!

 

[John From Detroit]

  A 16 or 20 oz. hammer should do it.  The RV plug has a round ground and the dryer has an "L"  shaped ground. A more common  mistake is to wire the RV outlet for 220.

One Common Dryer plug does indeed have an "L" shaped ground..

Another common one has not ground at all, this was used like 50 years ago and you still find many many many installations using this outlet. It is no longer code far as I know to install an outlet like that (no ground) but I could be wrong there since I'm not a professional in that field.

But the outlet, which was the type my parent's dryer plugged into, is visually identical to a TT-30. I do believe there are some differences (Wider slots perhaps) but a TT-30 plug fits like a charm.  And as I said, this is the type of outlet in my Parent's house

Three wires, L-- and L-2 on the flats, and neutral on the round,  Safety ground was a wire to the cold water pipe.  Or supposed to be in any case.

 

[Mosagra]

I did the same thing to my RV a couple years ago.  There was little or no damage which was very surprising to me at the time.

I did end up replacing the inverter within about six months of this incident, not sure if the two events were connected or not.  The inverter was over 15 years old.