Electrical emergency

[Samthetramp]

Ok folks I'm at a loss here and need advice badly. Picked up our camper and everything worked fine. Plugged it into campground shore power and now I have problems. Some outlets have less than 90 volts. Some have 240 volts. TV worked earlier went turn on now but an led light on it blinks. Blew a breaker turning on the water heater. Have 120,120,240 volts at shore power plug like I should.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[PJ Stough]

My first guess would be a loose connection, and I would disconnect from shore power immediately!

 

[HueyPilotVN]

First, Unplug it from the campsite and get the canpground owner to come check it again.

 

[Isaac-1]

Sounds like a loose neutral wire either in your wiring or in the campground wiring.

p.s. if it is making partial connection the voltage swing will only show up under load, so will look ok with a test meter at the outlet if nothing is plugged in.

 

[Jim Godward]

Isaac has it nailed as those are classic neutral problems.  You will need to test under load but NOT with the RV hooked up to the outlet as you can and may already have damaged you electronics in the RV.  The campground needs to have the outlet tested and if it is good then the problem is likely to be in your cable or where it hooks into the distribution box in the RV.  There are ways to check but it gets complicated especially if you are not knowledgeable in electrical wiring.

 

[Samthetramp]

Ok so its gonna be a miracle if nothing's burnt up. Didn't realize what was happening for a minute. Unplugged last night and stayed in a motel. Awesome first day in the new camper.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Sam, please tell us what year/make/model your camper is and whether it is 30A or 50A powered (and what did you plug to). Best to add the RV model info to your signature line in forum profile, so it is always included with your messages. Without it we are doing a lot of guessing.

What you describe has the ear marks of either a 240v 30A outlet or a 50A with a malfunctioning neutral.  The malfunction could be the outlet or your shore cord. Either of those could cause serious damage.

 

[Samthetramp]

Gary it's a Montana 3791RD 2019 50 amp service. It was plugged into a 50 amp service. I checked the shore power outlet with 3 different volt meters and the cord tested positive as well for 120/120/240 volts. I didn't check the cord for resistance. Hoping that I didn't burn anything up. Maintenance man said no ones ever complained of electrical issues in that spot. Called the salesman and explained to him what was going on. Taking the camper back to the dealership now. Feeling pretty defeated right now.

Is there any way to test a shore plug prior to plugging the camper up? A volt meter isn't going to show a bad neutral.

 

[Rene T]

Gary it's a Montana 3791RD 2019 50 amp service. It was plugged into a 50 amp service. I checked the shore power outlet with 3 different volt meters and the cord tested positive as well for 120/120/240 volts. I didn't check the cord for resistance. Hoping that I didn't burn anything up. Maintenance man said no ones ever complained of electrical issues in that spot. Called the salesman and explained to him what was going on. Taking the camper back to the dealership now. Feeling pretty defeated right now.

Is there any way to test a shore plug prior to plugging the camper up? A volt meter isn't going to show a bad neutral.

You can purchase a Progressive Industries power surge protector. It will monitor the incoming voltage and tell you if there's an issue. Also, if the voltage drops below a preset amount, it shuts of the power to the RV until the power comes back up. It also shuts it off if the voltage gets too high like from a power surge. They're not cheap but well worth every penny if you have issues.

 

[scottydl]

Your experience (in terms of "what did I just do" with a new-to-you RV) sounds oddly familiar! We bought our first motorhome in upstate NY from a private seller after driving there from IL, and the rig died in rush-hour traffic as we were leaving the area the next evening. I refused to stay in a hotel after just buying a house on wheels, so we slept in that thing "dark" after being towed around the corner onto a side road... there wasn't a big enough tow truck anywhere in the area to tow us that day! : Long story short, the issue(s) got figured out eventually and moved along on our happy RV way.

I say all that as encouragement, that these things DO happen and they are usually resolved easily enough, in hindsight. Hang in there, take it one step at a time with this electrical issue, and let us know what you find out!

 

[John From Detroit]

Some folks have made up a shore outlet tester I can tell you how

You need a QUAD box (Double duplex) two standard 15/20 Duplex. a short 50 amp pigtail a volt meter or two and a space heater. 

Hot wire to one Duplex other hot to other duplex. Common to silver screw on both duplex (one will be upside down)

Plug volt meters into both, plug in should show 120/120. Now plug in space heater should still show 120 on one side. other may drop a volt but should not should still br 120/120.

Test ground by plugging in a 3Light Tester (into the other empty duplex socket if you like.

Testing plug and shore cord is more expansive. to pre-test you need a Marinco INlet. and some wire. Hook it up to another quad box More or less the same hookup.

 

[John From Detroit]

OH some folks have taken a 50 amp male and female pigtail and joined them together (Kind of a short extension cord) but at the junction.. the aforementioned Quad Box. you will need a douible depth box. If doing this I'd add fuses or breakers to the duplex receptacle for safety.

RThis way you can test the park side WHILE THE RV is connected..

 

[grashley]

Sorry for the problems!

I echo Rene's comments!  Progressive EMS!

I have the HW50C - hard wired in the camper.  Power comes into the camper, to the EMS, THEN to the power panel. 
This unit costs about $300, but is really cheap insurance!

When I camp, I spot the camper on the site, plug in power and check the EMS.  If it says power is good, I set up the camper.  This way, I also have converter support for the power needed by the landing jacks and slides.  Turn on A/C, and it is cool by the time it is set up.

 

[Samthetramp]

Ok so the dealer couldn't find anything that would cause the issue. Fireplace and central vacuum burned up. They replaced it under warranty. I bought a Surge Guard brand 50amp plug in unit. I'm set up and running. Now I wish I'd have asked more questions during the walk thru.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Rene T]

Ok so the dealer couldn't find anything that would cause the issue. Fireplace and central vacuum burned up. They replaced it under warranty. I bought a Surge Guard brand 50amp plug in unit. I'm set up and running. Now I wish I'd have asked more questions during the walk thru.

Thanks for the help guys.

Did the dealer talk you into getting a Surge Guard?  Just curious.

 

[Isaac-1]

The Surge Guard is not bad, but the Progressive Industries HW50C is better due to a better warranty, though overall they do about the same thing.  I have a Surge Guard which was installed by the previous owner of my coach 5 years ago, which is starting to get flaky and is out of warranty.  When it dies I will be replacing it with a Progressive Industries EMS.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I don't know what the dealer could have found, since the cause was almost surely related to the external power source, e.g. a floating neutral in the 50A receptacle. Even if it was the RV shore cord, it's probably an intermittent fault.  Great that the warranty covered it, though!

 

[Isaac-1]

Gary, it could have been a loose connection screw at the RV end of the power cord, or even the connection at the internal panel.

 

[John From Detroit]

I found today I need to replace my Marnico inlet. It's making good contact. but one of the "Pins" is loose giving me issues.. I already replaced one of the Outelts that connects to it (How I figured out I need a new inlet) and one more outlet to replace. 80+ bucks a pop NOT happy but I'll get 'er done.

 

[Samthetramp]

Dealer didn't recommend the surge brand. I wanted something before plugged it back in anywhere so I bought what was available from another place. I'll get the progressive hardwired model soon.

Gary after seeing to many bad auto parts right out of the box I wanted to know the camper was good and replace what got burned up.