electrical problem

wolfe10 wrote:
OK, the "what happens if you loose or have a "bad" neutral on a standard 50 amp RV connection:

Because there is now no "reference" voltage can drop very low or go very high. Have seen 167 VAC with a bad neutral at a CG in Vermont.

Very true. We had an intermittent loss of neutral on our S&B one time, and turned our tube TV into a "O" scope during the loss. The lights would get bright and flicker. This would happen during periods of wind and I thought there was tree limbs contacting the main lines. After repairing the TV for the second time, and still having the same voltage swings, I started at our main panel and tighten all connections from the feed breakers through the meter. Got on the roof near the mast and could here a intermittent crackling sound. Pulling on the mast would cause the sound, so out came the welding gloves, 2 adjustable wrenches and some WD40. After removing the tape from the clamping nuts, I found the Neutral line very loose and the 2 hots almost 2 complete turns loose. After tightening the voltage surges went away. 2 days later, the PUD showed up to correct the problem, I was getting up to 200 volts on a single leg power feed, and said that the wrong nuts were used on the lead in feed. They were for copper and my lead wires were aluminum. So yes a bad Neutral can cause 120 to surge to much more the most PLL protected appliances can survive.