Trailer Brake or Truck Problem?

kaydeejay wrote:

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Just a question for the electricians here. If a lose connection creates heat and it does would it not also increase the amps needed to power the circuit? Almost every campsite electrical box is worn out and some are so bad that it will even melt the cord. The ones like this all would trip the breaker. Heat is a sign of heavy draw right?

Don

Heat is the result of a high resistance connection, not an increase in current flow. In fact the reverse is true, current may be limited by that high resistance connection. A voltage drop across the connection will ALWAYS create heat, the amount will be a function of the current flow.

Many campsite receptacles are worn to the point that they make poor contact with the plug, aka high resistance, hence heat, resulting in melting the plug.
For example, if there was a 10 volt drop across the connection, drawing a 30amp current, then 300 watts of heat is going into that plug. I think you can imagine the result!!