A/C breaker keeps kicking off on 1st night of camping

I agree with replacing the breaker. Our A/C 20 amp breaker started tripping several years ago. Reset and it would trip again several minutes later. After trailer cooled down it was fine until we traveled to a new location, trailer had heated up, and would start tripping again. Replaced breaker and has never tripped again. They can get weak. Easy and inexpensive to replace. Pull the old one and take it to a home improvement, hardware, or electrical supply store to get the correct form breaker.

DownTheAvenue wrote:

Greg and Kathi wrote:
Every site we have been to we cannot get the a/c to stay on the first few hours or evening.After we get past the the first few hours in most cases it is fine the rest of the time.

Turn off everything except the A/C. That means the converter (which is probably charging the battery and drawing 6 to 8 amps), turn off the water heater (drawing 10 amps), and put the refrigerator on gas (saving about 5 amps). I bet this solves your problem.

The branch circuit breaker tripping for the A/C shouldn't be influenced by the draw of those other devices. They are on a separate circuit. It may be that they are causing a lower voltage but it's improbable that is a big influence since all the breakers are wired in parallel.

Get a plug-in voltmeter and check the voltage and any AC plug. Low voltage will cause ACs to overload the circuits.

Westend,

Indirectly other loads do affect breaker tripping on the roof air. Because they induce extra voltage drop. Then the amperage starts to climb on the air conditioner circuit.

It is a 15000 btu unit so it wants to be fed with great voltage.

The key may be "the first few hours". The compressor may be running flat out for all those hours (just as mine is right now). I find the wattage gradually climbs as one hour turns into five of constant running.

My own starts out at as little as 900 watts, but I've seen 1900, too (on a 13500 btu unit).

I 2nd the suggest of monitoring voltage.

If it is low then the OP may wish to investigate adding a plug in autoformer.

our AC's were cutting off during high heat and humidity. The technician said to make sure the fan is on "high" at all times which prevents icing which will shut down the AC. Since we have been doing that, no problems.

The first thing you need is a voltmeter to see what the CG voltage is like.

Low voltage is common in CGs and you won't always know in advance what it will be like. It's usually worse in the summer with other RVs all running AC units at the same time, and then can worsen further at dinner time. Older CGs are typically worse than newer ones (built after 2005). Casinos with RV sites, more "upscale" RV parks and some gov't CGs can have rock solid 120 volts as they went above min. code requirements. It's always a very good idea to have a voltmeter permanently mounted inside.

When the voltage goes down, an AC unit draws more current. An AC unit will momentarily draw around 5-6 times the full load current (at it's full nominal nameplate volt rating). The 20 amp breakers are sized based on the full load current at the nominal voltage rating, which is approx. 15 amps. So an AC unit will draw approx. 90 amps at startup, and if the voltage is low at startup, the inrush current will be even higher which will trip a 20 amp breaker.

Depending on how low the CG voltage is (at the pedestal) and what other loads you have running when the AC is turned on, sometimes the 30 amp breaker in a pedestal will trip. It could be the 30 amp breaker in the converter/panel that trips, but is usually the one in the pedestal.

If the voltage gets too low, as in below 105 volts, damage to the AC unit will occur and is cumulative over time and if you keep running the AC unit with low volts, it will eventually fail prematurely. You really need to ensure the voltage is healthy at CGs and having a permanently installed voltmeter will help a lot. Having an EMS unit (Progressive Industries for ex.) will automatically shut down on low volts.

You could try shutting off ALL other loads by turning off breakers in the converter/panel and leaving on only the AC unit as this will minimize voltage drop inside your TT. If it starts okay, then it would be a voltage drop issue.

Sometimes voltage can be low enough that you won't be able to run an AC unit and there's nothing you can do except for using an autoformer to boost the voltage.

If you take the TT to the dealer, they probably have decent voltage at their shop and they won't be able to replicate what is happening at a CG that has low voltage. If you do use a voltmeter at a CG and know for sure that the voltage is good and the breaker still trips, then it would be worth taking it back to the dealer.

Since it is the first few hours it could be the battery is super low and the converter is drawing max adding heat to the stack of breakers and increasing sensitivity.

Charge the battery before you roll and make sure the vehicle is maintaining that charge.

Since it works fine at the dealer both time you took it there sounds like low voltage from the campgrounds. Have you tried it at your house?

Buy a Kill-A-Watt meter. It's easy to measure the supply voltage, just plug it in, plus it's fun to play with.

With the current state of quality control on RV construction, I would guess it is wired incorrectly. I would verify that the only thing on that circuit is the A/C unit. Don't forget about the converter when checking what goes off together with the A/C.