20 Amp won't work when plugged to shore power

Is the 20 amp circuit a GFCI protected outlet? Some inverter/chargers "don't like" GFCI circuits. Try shutting off all breakers in the coach then turn on the ones that you need while someone watches for the error message.

Buster747 wrote:
ShapeShifter - what I called "ESP" is the "EMS".

That's what I was guessing, but I didn't want to make assumptions. After all, maybe an ESP is something that supernaturally figures out there's an electrical problem! :B

They key is that if the 30 amp adapter works, but things fail when you add the 20 (actually 15) amp adapter, then that means the problem pretty much has to be in the adapter or socket that it's plugged into. My guess is one of them will have an open ground or swapped hot/neutral polarity (I've seen both.)

The first step is to check the power socket. A quick test is to use one of these testers: (although they don't catch every possible problem)



Do you have one? If the socket is good, the next step is to try a different 20 amp adapter.

ShapeShifter - what I called "ESP" is the "EMS" . Sometimes I can't even spell initials. :S As soon as I get back to the coach, I will be checking several of these suggestions. Thanks :@

Is it possible that the neutral and hot wires are reversed at the receptical you are plugging into? It wouldnt make any difference when a light is plugged into it but if your EMS is trying to split a neutral instead of a hot leg it probably wouldn't like it too much.

Have you set your inverter to only accept something like 10 amps?

Barb

Are you sure there are no other electrical demands such as the water heater? One that kept kicking me was the electrical heating element in the coffee pot I forgot to shut off.

Buster747 wrote:
My problem is when I drop to 20 amp I get a fault on the ESP panel and it doesn't see the service.

Is there any indication of what the actual fault is?

What exactly is the "ESP"? Got a manufacturer/model name for it? Sounds like it doesn't like the 20 amp power for some reason. Is it like an EMS system that checks for wiring faults like open ground or reversed polarity (both of which could easily be caused by a bad adapter)? If it's a new adapter that you've never successfully used before, it's always possible there is a wiring problem with the adapter.

You say the 30 amp adapter works. First step is I would borrow a 20 to 30 amp adapter from someone and give that a try.

The adapter is wired to the other "phase" of the 50 amp shore power.
Do a continuity test on the adapters. Some do not tie the phases to gether.

Yes, and I had the current checked at each adapter drop-down. Every time it checked out good. And BTW, the adapters are new (don't mean they can't be bad but I checked those).

sounds like your adapter has an open in it.

Are you using a 50 to 30 to 15 amps?