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

Buy a low cost voltage meter ($20 at CampingWorld) and watch the voltage drop below safe levels during heavy demand times.
As the voltage drops, the current draw will increase(especially on the A/C unit as it uses the most) causing the circuit breaker to trip.

westend wrote:

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.

You are correct, but if something else is wired in that circuit (I know it is not supposed to be) then my suggestion will confirm the problem.

I've had the CB trip twice, at a casino CG. I had my thermostat set to 72 and it tripped twice. I then set my thermostat to 77 and it didn't trip. And this happened when my TT was 2 months old. Maybe just coincidence.

At a CG in Branson this summer, my EMS-PT30C tripped because of a significant voltage drop on the 30amp side. I plugged into the 50amp side and had no more problems.

beemerphile1 wrote:
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.

That very well could be the case. We also have a KZ TT and I know wiring isn't their strong point. Along with numerous other bad wiring issues, I found one wire at a breaker completely loose - fortunately it hadn't caused any problems.

Wiring in an RV is covered in detail in article 551 of the NEC but I have no idea what a person is to do if you find defective wiring that does not comply with code esp. when an RV is built in Indiana and the buyer is several states away. In a building it's easy, just call youre local AHJ. I've found enough things that warrant calling in an electrical inspector but the RV factories get away with defective work all the time.

My son had this exact problem with a new trailer. When I measured the voltage at his pedestal, it was 105. In my experience anything below 110 is asking for trouble. He reset the breaker multiple times before giving up. Eventually we replaced the breaker to eliminate the possibility of it being weak. The last 5 trailers in our family have all used a tandem 30/20 amp Homeline breaker--I think that they are pretty common in 30 amp WFCO systems, and also pretty hard to find in home stores. I had to order one for my son, and now carry a spare for myself. I suggest buying the digital plug-in volt meter that camping stores commonly sell that will alarm on ground faults and frequency faults (and maybe low voltage although it has not happened to me). I also suggest getting the Camco 50 to 30 amp dog bone adapter. Very often the 50 amp outlets are in much better shape than the 30 amp ones, and that will eliminate voltage drop caused by a bad fixture.