Shore Power Woes!

Sounds like a connection issue. First suspect would be your shore power cord. Next time this happens, take loose the coach end and check for proper voltage.

Could also be a connection in the ATS (Automatic Transfer Switch) or main 120 VAC breaker box.

Check them all for good, clean, tight connections-- make sure shore power, generator and if you have one the inverter are all OFF.

I would be looking for a loose wire connection.
Could be in transfer switch, in 120 volt AC panel or junction box at end of shore power cord.

you could have a surge protector that you don't know where it is at. Did you just by your rig?

I would start with checking your own connections inside your converter / power distribution panel.

Look at the main connection first to make sure that it is not loose. A loose connection can cause intermittent failure, but worse yet, heat buildup and a fire.

Check the shore power cable itself to make sure there are no abrasions or other damage.

Check the plug end of the shore power cable to make sure it is not corroded or blackened from heat. Any bad connection will cause heat.

Check the seating of the main breaker. Pull the cover off with shore power unplugged and pull the breakers out and look to see if they appear to have corrosion or a bad contact. Also check the screws in the breakers themselves that hold the wire into the breaker. They can come loose.

I just bought the Rig 2 months ago! TKS!

If power is going on/off. As another poster said. Check for a surge protector. You may be haveing a low voltage problem. The surge protector is turning off voltage because of it.

Surge protector does sort of fit you description...

Please check the end of your shore power connection. Note the burn marks on this photo. This is NOT what you are suppose to see... Should be clean as shown in the second photo





Roy Ken

Information in your first post is confusing to analyse. Two statements;
-coffee pot went off when on shore power indicates incoming ac problem
-outages have occurred with nothing operating on shore power indicates a 12 volt dc problem

Probably I don't fully understand, but how did the outage display itself when nothing was operating on shore power? That might give a clue. Do you have 30 A or 50 A connection. A bad hot incoming would leave some stuff working on 50 A. A bad neutral (white) connection could shut down everything.

If you know how to use a meter, check voltages from the incoming toward the trailer. If a bad neutral, you would see nothing from black to white, but would see about 220 volt from black to black (maybe red).

In my trailer, there was an intermittent caused by a screw not being tightened during manufacture, resulting in a loose connection on the plug on the side of the trailer where the power cord attaches.

We just came home from Texas. We stayed at Stone Creek RV park just a few mile from Ceblo Texas. We had three transformers go out within a two week period. I have a on-board surge protector so the motorhome was protected. We had our shore power cable welded to the inlet plug. I didn't know this until it was time to head north. Lucky I used a 90 deg adapter plug into the inlet then plugin the cord. This way I was able to remove the power cable. I had it repaired when I got home and was told this was caused by the transformer surge. I don't know if one of those surge protectors that you plug into the power box would have protected the inlet plug.


Happy Camping, bye Dennis

The microwave time went out and the television power indicator also went out