Barkoff wrote:
Yes the fan ran for about ten before the compressor turned on. I'm starting to lean towards my not understanding electricity, thinking a system designed to run on 110 volts would run on any 110 volts.
I think the new cord I bought is a 15amp, probablly making my old 100ft cord a 12amp.
I didn't see any at Ace with the same 110 plug that ran 20amps. So the heavy duty cord that comes attached to the Lance electrical is also a 110, but a true 30amp cord?
110V (120V most places these days), is just that but the wire gauge of the extension cord will affect the resulting voltage at the load. If the wire is too small it will act like a resistor and consume excessive power in the form of heat. A lot of typical orange extension cords are 16 gauge and will drop too much voltage when a load is pulling 15+ amps through them. You can buy 12 gauge 120V cords with the standard ends on them that are better suited. Often they say 12/3 on the package. Maybe that's what you just bought? Granted, any size wire will still have some resistance but the idea is to minimize it.
What your camper has is a 10 gauge, 30A cord. If you can pull the cord out and reach the receptacle directly (even with a small adapter to a 20A), you will have more voltage at the A/C than if you also use an extension cord (no matter what gauge).
So when others were suggesting measuring voltage with the compressor running, the difference is the high amperage demand will decrease the measured voltage
at the A/C unit. If that voltage drops too much, the compressor may shut off to save itself.
So to clarify again, the compressor was 10 mins to start and then didn't ever shut off until you turned it off? If it was running for several minutes or more and you weren't getting nice cold air the unit itself may be the issue, unless when it was running it was running way too slow due to low voltage.
