From one extreme to the other - electrically speaking

Am writing this adventure story (with a possible hint of rant) as we have no 120 volts at our CG and can't watch TV (missing Dr Phil season premiere & AGT finals too, argh). First time EVER dry camping. Our PC will run on battery for a while so I have something to keep me suitably occupied.

We're out on our longest camping trip so far, 2000 or so miles from BC to Reno and back. I know one common and troublesome issue facing RVers is CG (or "RV park") voltage so I've installed a PI EMS and also an LED display in plain sight in our kitchen to be able to keep tabs on what's going on everywhere we go and have had no problems to date anywhere. DW thinks I'm an idiot but whatever... :R

Got to the casino CG in Reno and were pleased to find good voltage there - rock solid 123 - 124 volts. Highest and most stable I've seen anywhere yet. A little on the high side but better than being too low. Great water pressure too at 100 psi, great weather at a sunny 100+ F and even good luck at the slots. Interesting CG, especially with a Burning Man event on at the casino, lol. Great visit.

Headed out to the Cali. coast only to find cold and rainy weather. I don't believe in omens, but not a good sign. Pre-booked into a Thousand Trails up in Florence, Or. It's a heavily treed CG with narrow roads, grouchy staff and no direction signage. Get lost several times driving around. Not getting a good feeling. TT has a reputation for bad voltage, but never thought it could be as bad as we've just encountered. Arrived and plugged in to find that the voltage was hovering around 106V!!! Bad, bad, bad considering nuthin' on but some LED lights and converter charging the battery a little.

Head off to get some groceries and when we get back, the EMS is turning off and resetting over and over. What? Quickly figure out that while 120 volts is off, 12V battery gets used and when the EMS turns back on, the converter is drawing more AC current as it charges the battery which then causes the CG AC voltage to drop which again causes the EMS to trip once more. Bad, bad, bad wiring system at this TT CG. :M

Error code initially says open ground. Very bad, bad, bad. Call CG maintenance dude who checks it out and declares the ground is fine but that we are at the end of the line and have the worst voltage here so nothing can be done. Nice to know after we've fully set up and it's just turned dark. Dude leaves but I cannot get rid of open ground situation, even after trying our spare 30A cord. Then plug into the other 30A recept. on pedestal and get rid of open ground. EMS resets, but then goes back into the repeating on-off cycle.

No choice but to shut off the AC at the pedestal and find out what all the dry camping hype is about... The maintenance due had said that there is a row of 50 amp sites behind us all with good voltage so we will break camp and relocate in the morning (which is expected to be rainy). Or maybe we should go back to Reno.

Will probably end up getting an autoformer after this adventure. Too bad if everyone else's voltage goes down in the CG. Oh well, haha. :B

18 Replies

Lynnmor
Explorer II
Sep 17, 2015
imgoin4it wrote:
The lady at one park ask if I had "one of those things" between my cord and the pedistal and if I did I should remove it because they cause problems.

The only problem with "one of those things" (autoformer), is that campers can use their air conditioners and microwaves further loading the poor system. You cant use more than the 30 amps that you paid for. You cant use the full 30 amps on the trailer side of the autoformer as that amperage will be reduced as the voltage is increased. A typical maximum amps is about 25 to 27.
myredracer
Explorer II
Sep 17, 2015
smkettner wrote:
Also consider carrying a sacrificial 10 to 20 amp portable battery charger to charge direct from the pedestal. Less money than a voltage booster as long as you can run on battery.

That is a great idea!
time2roll
Nomad
Sep 16, 2015
Also consider carrying a sacrificial 10 to 20 amp portable battery charger to charge direct from the pedestal. Less money than a voltage booster as long as you can run on battery.
NinerBikes
Explorer
Sep 16, 2015
Part of taking in the dry camping experience is to become completely self sufficient of electrical needs, fully off the grid. I had a Honda Generator long before I had a TT, like you, a power outage and losing $5-600 worth of groceries and meat in the fridge, made the value of a Honda Generator a major asset. We live in fire and earthquake and flood damage country, a back up power supply is a no brainer for us. Better to have it, and not need it, than need it, and not have it. Boy Scout's Rules
myredracer
Explorer II
Sep 16, 2015
So we moved to another site this morning. And then we moved to another... Sure not easy without a morning coffee yet. :(

Second site had what *seemed* like decent open circuit voltage, but with a little load the voltage dropped outa sight and gthe EMS tripped. Third site is a 50 amper and is just fine. This section apparently got totally rewired. Now it's all fine (have a happy wife again - 'nuf said).

Fridge is definitely on propane. We only have one battery which doesn't help. The EMS was showing a 10 amp draw when the power was back on. Didn't take long to go down and assume it was from the battery charging up. But the load didn't drop quickly enough to prevent the EMS from tripping again on low volts. They must have some pretty skinny wiring to the pedestal. I'm guessing they have panelboards spread around the property with a "star" configuration to pedestals rather than loop fed pedestals with heavy gauge wire (200+ amps} that are common today.

A generator may be a good solution and good if ever overnighting at a Walmart or rest area or if there is a power outage. Have been thinking about a gen. for our house for some time as we get a 1 or 2 day outage once or twice a year. Just had one and nearly lost everything in our fridge and freezer.

Spoke to a lady at the office today who admitted they have a big problem with the electrical system here. She said head office won't approve any money to repair or upgrade and suggested I send a letter to head office. I might write to the state chief electrical inspector and cc head office. The maintenance guy came by again this morning and didn't grasp the problem of low voltage and why it happens. He repeated several times he's already replaced the pedestal and thought that should have fixed it. Also did not appear to understand open grounds or the seriousness of it. When they did some upgrade work in one area (the 50 amp section I think), she said they direct buried all the wiring and that is why they have problems.

Low voltage is bad enough, but an open ground which they seem to want to address or understand is not good. Being an EE, maybe the authority having jurisdiction will take notice and look into it. The biggest problem is that when this CG was built, the NEC did not take into account all the heavy loads RVs have nowadays or all the 50 amp RVs that are around. The latest NEC has significantly upgraded the wiring requirements compared to 50 years ago and owners can't be forced to upgrade to new code requirments but safety issues are another matter.

If there's one thing I've just learned when camping at a TT CG is to pick a site close to the main incoming electrical service and/or a site with 50 amps (very short supply tho.) Have been to 4 other Thousand Trails all with low voltage, but nothing like this place.
myredracer
Explorer II
Sep 16, 2015
fitznj wrote:
"100# water pressure..........GOOD REGULATOR !!! "

My thoughts exactly........ a high water pressure reading does not make it "good".. With those numbers. I would disconnect the water each time I leave. This kind of pressure will blow apart the water fittings - I would not trust the regulator (in this instance), I've had one which partially failed and took out a water fitting.

Gerry

High water pressure isn't a problem for us and we can handle up to 200 psi (limited by the hose). I installed a Watts regulator inside and modified all the plastic pipe and fittings to brass upstream of the reg. Also have a high pressure Valterra hose. I installed a tell-tale gauge in the incoming side and somewhere this season the pressure got up to 120 psi. I've heard of some places getting up to or near 200 psi.
time2roll
Nomad
Sep 16, 2015
Unless you need the air conditioner or microwave... the converter should be fine at 100 volts just to run the lights. Use the bypass switch.

Are you sure the water and fridge are set to propane only?
NinerBikes
Explorer
Sep 16, 2015
Go back to Reno, your luck was good there... maybe wifey wins enough to buy you a new mail order Honda EU2000i generator... about $1000 now at Wise Sales. Or buy one sales tax free while in Oregon at a Camping World, for $999.99.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Sep 16, 2015
It's all part of "RVing". I would have to say things in the hookup department are generally better than the were 10 years ago and incrementally 10 years before that and so on. The vehicles themselves have changed. Today's RV IMHO is ten times more lilely to suffer glitches and gremlins than a late 80's rig.
imgoin4it
Explorer
Sep 16, 2015
I left two RV parks this past month because of low voltage. When I first connected i read 102-104 volts at pedistal with no load. Got refund and went on down the road. The lady at one park ask if I had "one of those things" between my cord and the pedistal and if I did I should remove it because they cause problems. Found a mobile RV tech next to where I was going to park and ask him if there was a better location in the park for power. His answer was there if no place in this park with good power.