Badly grounded power pedestals

That is why everyone should use a power protector

There are a few ways to limit power usage. One is to install meters at each site. Better yet is to have a small 20 amp type fused disconnect at each site with a 15 amp breaker. You can only get 15 amps!!
Moisheh

When owners of fully paid-for little shops decided to hike rents to their shop tenants from $200 month to $800 month (that's US Dollars) I bailed out on Quintana Roo entirely.

Increase my profits a thousand percent -- they will still come

The shop owners have little choice but to raise prices. When forty foot RV's pull in and start using five hundred dollars a month in power to save LPG, they are going to pay for the power in rent, and reduced park service maintenance.

This life-style is too rich for me.

If I ever opened another park down here, it would be an electrical boondocking park with a 350 watt solar panel at each site. And have Mexican prices.

Mexicowanderer - we are on beach at Xpu Ha Near Tulum. You hit limestone two feet down. It is a short walk to seashore to fill a bucket with seawater and the pour around stake.

No other US travelers at Xpu Ha. Currently Swiss (drove across Russia in 13 Days), Germans on way from Brazil, two couples from Quebec, one from BC, two Mexican RVers, two permanent Germans, in three weeks there have been: two French couples headed to SA, and a few more Canadians in Mexico for winter. We have seen no other Gringos since San Miguel Del allende

When Comision Federal de Electricidad applies themselves their work is on a level to match a typical US grid. The main problem down here is those centralized transformers feeding entire neighborhoods. That's why when looking at the powerlines in a city you see 4 wires stacked vertically. 254 volts phase to phase and 127 volts phase to neutral. A bunch of air conditioners (home or RV) starting and stopping affects the entire neighborhood's quality of power. North of the border, each service drop has it's own exclusive transformer. And it acts like a giant filter in reverse as well as forward.

USA parks on a single transformer face the same thing when heavily occupied and everyone's running A/C. Phase balancing is an art form with transient load duty and in Mexico I have seen some sections of some parks with high voltage while the more popular areas are having low voltage.

Years ago I remember the facility next to the gasolinera north of Zacatecas. It was a cold winter night. The only space available was cramped at the end of a service hookup island. I plugged in a 15 amp plug. It fell out. So I went inside and grabbed one of those 3 wire to 2 wire plastic block adapters.

The tangs had been pre-spread out. It slipped tightly into the receptacle. I started the catalytic heater and two small circulation fans and an electric blanket. Water was freezing up outside. Voltage was slightly under 100 even with my almost non existent load.

The next morning I couldn't help but overhear crabby comments by neighbors as they were winding up shore power cords. "Dammned heater quit in the middle of the night! Cold! Let's get moving!" I wasn't the only one with receptacle and low voltage problems.

No doubt, it's the RV park and it's wiring.

We have worked with several, and seen as many of you have, a person barehanded pulling out a wire wrapped fuse, shaking their hand and head, and putting in another.

In the same respect, some are wired correctly.

Most? It's a **** shoot.

However, we have had very bad wiring and service in the US also.

Those jolts are as good as getting a cardio work out being zapped with a taser gun.

No need to go to the gim, hook the RV to the pedestal and get a good jolt, check before you plug!


navegator

Just to reiterate, it is not the power grid, it is the rv park being cheap with wiring and transformers. Fact.

A foot deep into the ground is hardly pounding. Aint the depth it´s the conductivity.

Pour water all around the stake.

I proved a point to some friends last year.

You know those receptacle adapters...that allow a three prong plug appliance to plug into a 2 prong outlet.

I alligator clipped a 12 gauge wire to the little metal tab on the adapter.

The opposite end had an alligator clip too

Which I clamped a 5 peso coin to

Dangled it onto a TILE floor

Covered by a sopping wet wash cloth.

Then SHORTED line to ground

DIRECT

Nyaaat ZOOT

It tripped a 30 amp breaker again and again.

Yes this harebrained ground needs maintenance. Wetting the washcloth.

Infinitely preferable to stress testing my pacemaker.

Moisheh - we burned out a microwave in Baja and another in Yucatan due to crappy power. The voltage was going from 60 to 150 V. Son Cary and family were coming down (six years ago)and he brought battery chargers. He is a licensed master electrician and has been a licensed alternative energy contractor since 1991. We have only plugged in via battery chargers since then . The usable voltages are as discussed in one of the postings. Good chargers are expensive but well worth the
Expense.