Newbie Learns About Shorepower

[draboo]

I recently traded our geezerly 93 Fleetwood Flair for a 2002 Holiday Rambler Neptune 34ft diesel with 32K miles.

We have been having a bit of trouble with the shorepower. Here are the sequence of events that lead to the exciting conclusion!:

After parked at home, started playing with the control board(BEFORE READING THE MANUAL!)Promptly clicked on a button labeled "convert". Next morning brand spankin' new coach batteries are dead. Real dead. So, charge 'em up overnight. Meanwhile,whilst plugged into shore power, only one outlet will function.(using a flimzy homeowners orange extension cord, 50footer) It SEEMED (to me, at least) that either the transfer switch or the converter/inverter was acting up. Tried disconnecting the 12V leads from the inverter and rehooking em up. This helped once, but after it reverted back to it's previous state of "one outlet working in whole coach". I read every stinkin' post on transfer switches and inverters till my head was about to explode. Then,an original thought not produced by reading something came to mind: "WHAT IF THE CORD THAT IS PLUGGED INTO THE SHORE POWER CORD IS TOO SMALL AND WILL NOT ALLOW ENOUGH CURRENT THRU, SO SOME COMPUTER BOARD SOMEWHERE CUTS OUT ALL OF THE POWER TO EVERYTHING BUT THE ONE STUPID OUTLET?" Wow, did my feeble geezerly brain just think that? Huh!

Anyway, to make a long story even longer, I found that I still had a long 30 amp extension cord from our old rv and plugged this into the outlet (adapter needed) and into our new unit. VOILA'! Like magic,one half of the RV's electrical stuff started working! I realize(Now, after reading that stupid manual) that a 30 amp plug provides only one 120V rail to the RV. I need a 50 amp to run everything.

So..after tearing out the batteries and recharging them out of the coach, and having to figure oot which cables went where afterwards, I did get it all back together and all is working fine.

Conclusion: Do not hit the "convert" button and use your shore power cord to plug directly into an outlet if you want to use some of the 110V powered stuff in the coach.

finis :S

[gatorcq]

Sounds more like the energy management system was killing everything because it sense there was not enough current from the shore power.

[wa8yxm]

If you have a 50 amp RV and a 30 amp extenstion type shore cord, then the adapter that connects the two should have a TT30 plug and a RV-50 outelt, and it should "Split" the one 120 volt "Leg" into both sides of the 50 amp outlet so the entire RV gets power...

That said. there may be a device in the RV (Energery Management System or EMS, one of two much different devices by that name) that limits how much you can turn on at one time.. IF so there will be a volts and amps display somewhere.

[draboo]

DSDP Don wrote:
"draboo"....Not to rain on your parade, but you could have just started the generator and everything would have fired up and even charged the batteries. But....if forced you to read those manuals!;)

Didn't cross my mind..wish it would have..now I've wasted all that time reading the Stupid Manuals! 🙂

[DSDP_Don]

double post

[DSDP_Don]

"draboo"....Not to rain on your parade, but you could have just started the generator and everything would have fired up and even charged the batteries. But....if forced you to read those manuals!;)

[Executive45]

Glad everything is finally working for you. My advice...get yourself a 10ga. 50' extension cord. That will eliminate most of your issues and is easier to lug around than that 30amp from your old RV. Home Depot has em for about $100...Dennis

[bshpilot]

just to clarify my statement - when i "adapt" my 50a cord to a 15a (or 20a) outlet - EVERYTHING in my coach is powered....i use TWO power grip adapters 1) 50a to 30a adapter & 1) 30a to 15a adapter.

my progressive industries EMS-LCHW50 verifies polarity and proper voltage before it passes power to the coach.

Its up to me, thru the use of my panel meters to stay with in the amperage range of the shore power supply/outlet.

[draboo]

bshpilot wrote:
interesting because when i use 30a adapters on my 50a connection ALL my items are powered (not just 1/2 the the circuit/bus).

of course i cant run everything (at once) on 30a (like i can on 50a) but everything can be powered.

I m using a 30 amp cord adapted to plug into a regular 20 amp house outlet. The computer senses the lower 20 amp power and will not allow use of certain items. I m sure if it was plugged into a true 30 amp service, I could be able to use all the electrical components.

[mericksonjr]

Sometimes when you use a regular household extension cord the awg of the wire in the cord is to small to handle the amps that a MH requires. Also if you leave the cord coiled you can create a coil an actually melt the cords. Here is a great sight that explains convertors and inverters and in fact the whole MH electrical system hope it helps. http://www.desmoinesrv.com/index.php/electricalsystems

[draboo]

naturist wrote:
Moral of the story: read the *&$%^$&* BOOK before you go idly pushing buttons.

That said, I sure am glad to hear you survived the experience and nothing actually exploded in flames. Although it does sound like you got close.

I have since read,reread, and re-reread the manualS (there is a 20lb BOX OF THEM!) Not as exciting reading as,say, Robert Ludlum, but informative! And, in the end, money saving as well!

[bshpilot]

interesting because when i use 30a adapters on my 50a connection ALL my items are powered (not just 1/2 the the circuit/bus).

of course i cant run everything (at once) on 30a (like i can on 50a) but everything can be powered.

[buchanan]

That is not true at all.A 15/30/50 will power all outlets on a MH BUT its not enough power to effectivly run anything but the converter especially through 50 feet of cord. A 30 amp to 50 amp will also run all and any of your 120V requirements except trying to run 2 AC at the same time or any other combos that load to that degree

If when u pluged in your 15 amp cord and only had one powered outlet you have blown breakers on the inverter/converter system
Also when u clicked on converter you most likely turned it off that's why the batteries went dead

[naturist]

Moral of the story: read the *&$%^$&* BOOK before you go idly pushing buttons.

That said, I sure am glad to hear you survived the experience and nothing actually exploded in flames. Although it does sound like you got close.