Need help to night
My brother is pluged in to his generator 110/120? Outlet. Both mine and his cheap meters says he getting 130+ But he keeps blowing the breaker on the get set. Any ideas why hes getting 130 to start wi...
Forum Discussion
The "110 plug" I assume means a normal 15A plug such as is used for most household devices. The socket for that on the generator would have either a 15 or (more likely) a 20A circuit breaker. The air conditioner alone comes close to that during startup, and the converter and other AC loads in the trailer add to that, so it's not too surprising that the breaker tripped. Your brother was simply trying to use more current than the socket can safely supply.
Note that a standard circuit breaker only responds to current, not to voltage. It's not even connected to both legs of the circuit, so has no way to "see" the voltage being delivered.
130V is a little high, but not really unexpectedly so for a generator with no load. The nominal domestic power supply standards (at the electric meter) are 120/240V +/- 5 percent, which works out to 114 to 126V. In some areas, at least occasional excursions outside this range are not uncommon, and most decently engineered devices are designed to work with at least a +/- 10 percent variation from nominal.
Some generators have some comparatively low-energy noise on their output that might "fool" meters when they're completely unloaded, but basically disappears with even a pretty small load. The meters aren't lying; they just respond to a high impedance noise source since their input impedance is very high. That may or many not be the case for this particular generator.
I'm guessing the generator may have a 120/240V 30A output, probably a twist-lock style. Wiring up an adapter for that which splits it into two 30A RV receptacles (or a single 50A receptacle used with the appropriate adapter) would go a long way towards solving your difficulties.
Note that a standard circuit breaker only responds to current, not to voltage. It's not even connected to both legs of the circuit, so has no way to "see" the voltage being delivered.
130V is a little high, but not really unexpectedly so for a generator with no load. The nominal domestic power supply standards (at the electric meter) are 120/240V +/- 5 percent, which works out to 114 to 126V. In some areas, at least occasional excursions outside this range are not uncommon, and most decently engineered devices are designed to work with at least a +/- 10 percent variation from nominal.
Some generators have some comparatively low-energy noise on their output that might "fool" meters when they're completely unloaded, but basically disappears with even a pretty small load. The meters aren't lying; they just respond to a high impedance noise source since their input impedance is very high. That may or many not be the case for this particular generator.
I'm guessing the generator may have a 120/240V 30A output, probably a twist-lock style. Wiring up an adapter for that which splits it into two 30A RV receptacles (or a single 50A receptacle used with the appropriate adapter) would go a long way towards solving your difficulties.
