Electrical problem today

[stro1965]

Plugged into 50 amp service this morning. Apparently didn't fully seat the connection from the cord to the camper. Fried the bedroom TV (lots of heavy thick smoke, we thought we had a fire) and fried the microwave.

I only went back out to check the connections because, once we figured out that it wasn't a fire, I checked all outlets. They would barely spin the blades on the fan I plugged in. Once I gave the connection a 1/4 turn and fully seated it, the outlets functioned normally.

Already replaced the TV and will pick up a microwave tomorrow. I'm concerned though, why didn't I trip breakers or blow fuses? Is there possibly something else wrong? Obviously I'm no electrician, I can't even fully seat a plug!

[TXiceman]

I presume the OP has a Marinco plug on the trailer. I ALL WAYS connect the cord at the trailer first, check the power box, turn off the breakers, plug in the plug and turn on the breakers.

On the marinco plug, all ways make sure it id fully seated and the locking ring locked.

Ken

[stro1965]

Got off work and back out to the camper to find the battery fully charged. I disconnected it and still have my 12 volt ceiling lights, so I assume the converter is ok after all?

[stro1965]

I do and I will, thanks.

[time2roll]

stro1965 wrote:
The idiot lights indicate that my battery is now at 2/3 power. Great.

If you have a portable battery charger rated 10+ amps this would be a good time to put it on the battery while you figure out what converter to buy.

[time2roll]

is it friday yet? wrote:
Is there any reason that a whole house surge protector, like this one from Home Depot, won't work? Like this one for instance.

Voltage protection and surge protection are two different things.
You had more of a voltage or connection issue that a surge.

[Jozzieo]

is it friday yet? wrote:
Is there any reason that a whole house surge protector, like this one from Home Depot, won't work? Like this one for instance.

It will work fine, but if you do as RoyB says, it will save you $118
These units are sacrificial, if you encounter any of the spiking problems, it will need replaced.

[stro1965]

The idiot lights indicate that my battery is now at 2/3 power. Great.

[is_it_friday_ye]

Is there any reason that a whole house surge protector, like this one from Home Depot, won't work? Like this one for instance.

[stro1965]

Thanks guys. All of this is over my head but I will share the information with the technician.

[RoyB]

Most definitely check out the converter/charger unit. Both the converter and the battery feed your 12VDC Distribution panel and if the converter/charger also bit the dust then your battery will not be charging when you are on shore power. Letting your batteries get down below their 50% charge state will be very hard on them as well and may also be harmed later on.

A fully charged battery shows 12.6-7VDC across the battery terminals. When you plug into shore power the DC VOLTAGE across the battery terminals should jump to 13.6VDC indicating the converter/charger unit is functioning ok.

Most folks that report their Microwave getting zapped due to bad AC VOLTAGE usually find their converter/charger unit also bad. i.e. anything that is normally always ON on the 120VAC side will get zapped.

Since your trailer is 50AMPs then you have two 120VAC POWER ZONES so this may have protected some of your 120VAC items from failure as it appears one of your 120VAC legs went very high AC Voltage and perhaps the other 120VAC ZONE went very low voltage. Only the 120VAC items on the very high 120VAC side of your two 120VAC ZONES that was 'ON' at that may have got zapped.

lessons to be learned here... 50AMP Systems has lots of power capacity to be respected.

We always flip the Pedestal breakers to OFF before connecting up our shore power cables just for the reason... I use to test the pedestals for proper AC VOLTAGE LEVELS but have got alot laxed in doing this every time. These two pictorials show what is suppose to read at the pedestal 50A an 30A connection using a multimeter.




You can also use one of these AC LINE CIRCUIT TESTERs at the pedestal as well using a RV 50A or 30A adapters. If the two lights showing CORRECT do not come on as shown here DO NOT PLUG INTO IT with your shore power cable...


I have one of these circuit testers and a RV120VAC VOLTMETER plugged into an easily viewed 120VAC receptacle in my trailer all the time. This is especially useful to glance at the VOLTMETER before turning on the Air Conditioner. If the AC VOLTAGE does not fall between the GREEN SAFE ZONE I will not turn it on.

Roy Ken

[time2roll]

stro1965 wrote:
At the risk of sounding stupid, how can I test my converter?

If the house fuse panel and house battery are holding about 13.6 volts all is good.

[Old-Biscuit]

CA Traveler wrote:

stro1965 wrote:
Once I gave the connection a 1/4 turn and fully seated it, the outlets functioned normally.

Already replaced the TV and will pick up a microwave tomorrow. I'm concerned though, why didn't I trip breakers or blow fuses? Is there possibly something else wrong?

It sounds like to me that because the twist lock plug wasn't seated you wound up with an open neutral on the 50A. You should give serious thought to installing a PI HW50C which would have protected the equipment.

An open neutral can give you high/low voltage on either hot leg which sounds like your description.

An open neutral won't trip the CB's because they protect the 2 hot lines and not high/low voltage on the neutral.

THIS^^^^^^^

Up to 220V on one leg (which fried the TV and Microwave)
Way less than 110V on other leg as evidenced by the outlets that would barely work

[stro1965]

Just googled the PI HW50C, sounds like a no brainer in the future. Would have saved me a major headache today. Based on other posts I've read, it seems like TV's, microwaves and converters are the most common victims of low voltage. At the risk of sounding stupid, how can I test my converter?

[stro1965]

Everything seems normal at the moment...is it safe to continue camping this week until I can have it inspected?