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StephJohn2010's avatar
StephJohn2010
Explorer
Oct 17, 2013

Not getting electric in RV, but power to pole/plug I think.

I'm hooked up to shore power with a 50 amp plug at a private campground. Earlier today I lost power a couple times (just running electric heat pump, one tv, and electric water heater). I asked maintenance and they check out the electric pole and said it was fine. It read 240 ac (I think) with his meter. I flipped pole breaker off and on and it would work for about 10 minutes. I did it a second time and it seemed to work for a few hours.

We just got back to RV from dinner and no power to coach. Did the breaker on the pole, but this time 'no power to coach still'. The light on my 50 amp plug is lite up. I have a Surge Guard model 40250-RVC with Automatic Transfer Switch.

When I hooked up to shore power (anywhere I was at previously) I could hear a 'click' after about 5 seconds from hooking up the 50 amp to shore power. Now, I don't hear the 'click'.

I'm currently running my generator and everything works fine using that.

Any ideas on to fix?

9 Replies

  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Oct 17, 2013
    The shore power sequence for your RV.
    Shore power to the surge guard, It monitors voltage and some other things and if they are out of spec that's as far as it goes.. It has a display that tells you if it's allowing power to pass or not.. check it.

    Then to the automatic transfer switch: These have been known to fail. Two types of ATS.. Mine naturally sits in "SHORE POWER" mode. if the generator starts up and sends power it transfers.

    Others I've seen naturally sit in "Disconnected" and will connect to SHORE if Shore power is present and generator off.. Sometimes they flub the transfer however (mine can not) and this damages things.

    Then to the main breaker box and from there off to everywhere else. This part IS working else the generator could not power either.

    Suspects. the Surge guard, doing it's job as designed, And the ATS not doing it's job.

    NOTE: if you have an auto-former. that goes before the surge guard.
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    Oct 17, 2013
    These are neat pictorials showing what voltages are present at the camp ground pedestals. As you can see 240VAC is present at the pedestal but your trailer connection plug has to be wired differently to use the 240VAC.

    Typical PEDESTAL CONNECTIONs at camp grounds.





    50AMP CONNECTION VOLTAGE READINGS


    30/20AMP CONNECTION VOLTAGE READINGS


    hope these pictorials help...
    Roy Ken
  • Executive45's avatar
    Executive45
    Explorer III
    Oct 17, 2013
    And just HOW did the campground guy determine it was 240VAC..:h...my reaction in reading your post indicates he may not know what he is doing. Each leg should be reading 120VAC and should be tested separately. Obviously, testing ACROSS both legs would read 240VAC but that's not what you indicate he did.

    Since everything seems to be fine with the genset on, I suspect your problem is with the campground pedestal. Your surgeguard is doing it's job...get a meter and check the voltage yourself....Dennis
  • Kirk's avatar
    Kirk
    Explorer
    Oct 17, 2013
    This is a picture of the outlet that you are connected to.

    The rounded pin at the top is the ground and the straight pin at the center bottom is the neutral. The two straight slots on each side are L1 & L2 or the two hot leads. Measure from either one of those to the neutral or to the ground and you should read 120V, +/- 10V and if you measure between the two on each side you should read 240V, +/- 20V.

    As to what is more accurate, it is probably the Surge Guard, but that is a bit of a guess since neither is likely to be 100% accurate. Most all meters have a tolerance range that is acceptable in terms of design parameters. I am not familiar with the meter you have but most lower price ones are in the range of +/- 5%. But what is key is the Surge Guard since that is what cuts off power. It probably uses pretty much the same voltages as it indicates.
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Oct 17, 2013
    Round/'U' shaped hole is GROUND
    Flat slot opposite ground is Neutral
    Flat slot either side are HOT (120V AC each)

    This RV Electrical Article will help you a lot.......LINK

    Sounds like your Surge Guard is cutting power off do to the high voltage it is sensing......which meter is correct? The one that has been calibrated. But your Surge Guard is going on it's own internal sensing regardless.
  • StephJohn2010's avatar
    StephJohn2010
    Explorer
    Oct 17, 2013
    After running the generator for about 30 minutes, I hooked back up to shore power and it is now working again.

    I'm suspecting high voltage now too and the Surge Guard shutting down like you say Kirk. I have an onboard digital readout on the front of my coach that was reading 127Volts at certain points today. Now it is 124Volts. I also found my digital readout specifically for my Surge Guard, but that says 130Volts right now (my surge guard high point is 132Volts per my paperwork). So that one differs by 6Volts from my front power monitor that again reads 124Volts right now.

    Which one to you think is more accurate? I did recently buy a digital multi-meter (GE2524) and just tested the outlet inside the coach and it read 125Volts. How do I test the Shore Power plug with the multimeter? Which holes are which?
  • HappyKayakers's avatar
    HappyKayakers
    Explorer III
    Oct 17, 2013
    There could be a lot of people running electric heaters and causing an undervoltage situation for you. It happened to me several times this summer, only with air conditioners. Fortunately, my PI EMS retained the last error code and showed me what happened.
  • Kirk's avatar
    Kirk
    Explorer
    Oct 17, 2013
    It sounds like your Surge Guard is probably doing the right thing and has removed power due to some type of fault. Should voltage drop below or go above safe levels it will remove power until the voltage returns to normal. There has to be some sort of power problem or the circuit breaker would not have been tripping. Have you checked for proper voltages with a good digital meeter?

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