Surge protector question

[Meffrig]

I went to my favorite park and plugged in as always to the 50 amp pedestal and my built in surge protector would not allow the coach to have power. The nice folks at the park came out to help and checked the power which showed fine.. They had changed out the breaker to 60 amp. I even tried reducing the power down to 30"amp with no luck. I moved to a different site with a 50 amp breaker and my power came thru. By changing the breaker in the pedestal, did this keep me from getting power on my original site? Also, my surge protector makes a popping noise when the power in the coach kicks on. Is this normal? Any advice is much appreciated.

[crasster]

I agree with the others. THANK the surge protector. 🙂

[Meffrig]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
If his Surge Guard is like mine then there are no codes as there is no display of any kind. Just some blinking lights. I see he mentions Surge Guard, model 34560 and that does not have a display.

You are correct-- my surge protector does not have a display

[Jagtech]

Just changing the breaker shouldn't cause a new problem. I'm wondering if there was a problem with that pedestal even before they changed the breaker?

[Bill_Satellite]

If his Surge Guard is like mine then there are no codes as there is no display of any kind. Just some blinking lights. I see he mentions Surge Guard, model 34560 and that does not have a display.

[wa8yxm]

There are two kinds of surge protectors.. And multiple brands.. To keep this short,, YOU ... have the good kind.. So no need to go any farther here.

The Good kind checks Neutral and Ground, it also measures voltages and sometimes other things as well. (Frequency and waveform). If the power is not nice, the power is simply NOT.

I agree with the "Something was wrong with the first site" folks.


The POPPING (i call it a CLUNK) is normal, that is the contactors (Big a** Relays) closing so as to send power down the line.

Finally.. There are two kinds of electricians or park technicians.. Those tho THINK they know how to test a pedestal outlet.. and those who actually DO.

I belong to the latter group.. but I'm not a park technician.. No License.

Finally the 60 amp breakers.. That's not the problem. A bad connection or a wrong connection is the problem..
NOTE: your Surge Guard SHOULD have given you a code.. Sometimes.. They make sense.

[Meffrig]

Well I drove my motor home back to the park and tried 2 different sites with 50 amp service. After 2 minutes, my surge protector allowed the power to come into the coach.

I explained to the camp staff that my surge protector is fine and they may have some issues at those pedestals in which they changed to 60 amps. I am unsure if they believed me so I guess we will wait and see if other RV'ers run into the same problems I had. I really don't know what else I can do.

Thanks to all who responded to my post. You were a big help!

[Tom_Barb]

Meffrig wrote:
Yes, that seems to be what they are doing. He admits that he is not an electrician. They bought the 60 amp breaker for the same cost for the 50 amp breakers. They seem to think the larger type Class A busses benefit from the 60 amp breakers which doesn't make sense to me since the motorcoaches are 50 amps like mine.

Have the guy remove the cover for the post box,
Check. (as per the post above)
Black to hot #1
RED to Hot #2
White to Neutral
Bare copper to Ground.

Black and Red can be reversed, ( it is alternating current) the white, and bare copper can not be any other place.

A situation just like this cost me a new inverter/charger, transfer switch, and the main AC breaker box, plus a lot of frustrations.
I'll say it again, your surge protector just paid for its self.

[Meffrig]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Do you have a voltmeter?

Take it with you and test that 50A receptacle in question

L1 to Ground------120VAC
L1 to Neutral-----120VAC

L2 to Ground------120VAC
L2 to Neutral-----120VAC

L1 to L2 ---------240VAC

Neutral to Ground----0VAC (ZERO)






The 'Caution Light' Flashing is an indication of mis-wiring.
Reverse Polarity
Ground Voltage
Open Neutral

Yes--- I will take a voltmeter with me when I go back to the campground tomorrow and see if we can get this figured out.

[Meffrig]

Yes, that seems to be what they are doing. He admits that he is not an electrician. They bought the 60 amp breaker for the same cost for the 50 amp breakers. They seem to think the larger type Class A busses benefit from the 60 amp breakers which doesn't make sense to me since the motorcoaches are 50 amps like mine.

[Old-Biscuit]

Do you have a voltmeter?

Take it with you and test that 50A receptacle in question

L1 to Ground------120VAC
L1 to Neutral-----120VAC

L2 to Ground------120VAC
L2 to Neutral-----120VAC

L1 to L2 ---------240VAC

Neutral to Ground----0VAC (ZERO)






The 'Caution Light' Flashing is an indication of mis-wiring.
Reverse Polarity
Ground Voltage
Open Neutral

[DrewE]

Meffrig wrote:

I went back to the campground today. They are replacing some of the 50 amp breakers with 60 amps as needed.The campground handy man told me some of the new larger Class A busses are now all electric. He assures me that the pedestal is hooked up properly because all he did was change the 50 amp to a 60.

So they're using 60A breakers with 50A receptacles? That in and of itself is not hooked up properly and is a violation of the NEC which, I assume, is the locally used electric code.

If all that was done was replacing the breaker, it would stand to reason that a problem in the neutral or ground wiring of the socket would still remain. Changing the breaker hardly seems to me to prove that the pedestal is or was wired properly.

At any rate, I wouldn't put much faith in the opinion of the handy man in this case. He's showing that he has at best a limited understanding of electrical work, and possibly knows only enough to be dangerous. (I certainly don't mean to suggest that he's attempting to mislead you, or that he doesn't mean well, or that he's doing anything other than the best he can. It only appears that he's none too well qualified on electrical matters.)

[Meffrig]

My surge protector is Surge Guard, model 34560. Line 1 and Line 2 light up in green and the Caution When Flashing Light blinks in red while checking the power from the pedestal. I should have 3 green lights,( no red) when all is OK. I have my unit hooked up to a 15 amp outlet at home just to keep my batteries charged with no problem .

I went back to the campground today. They are replacing some of the 50 amp breakers with 60 amps as needed.The campground handy man told me some of the new larger Class A busses are now all electric. He assures me that the pedestal is hooked up properly because all he did was change the 50 amp to a 60.

This has really got me puzzled. I will continue to try to find the solution because I really like the campground and the people there.

[Dale_Traveling]

The surge protector will not pass power for multiple problem. Low or high volts, open neutral, open ground or a swap of one of the hot lines with either the neutral/ground are the bigs. As mentioned the protector just paid for itself and the CG needs to find a better electrician.

[Old-Biscuit]

Plug int a power pedestal that has been worked on by cg 'electrician; and surge protector does NOT allow power to your RV

Then you plug into another power pedestal and your surge protector allows power to your RV

Answer is obvious .....1st pedestal is not wired correctly


Popping noise when SP allows power thru???
A 'click' noise is common/normal...but a popping noise. That doesn't sound right

Which Brand...TLC Surge Guard (1 yr limited warranty) OR Progressive Industries (Life Time Warranty)