Voltage Logger...experienced recommendation?

Friends behind us at seasonal CG run into power problems annually whenever temps soar in the heat of the day, the park is near capacity, and everyone is running their a/c units. Both he and I are former electrician. From my experience, what I can deduce is that they are the last unit in line at the end of that particular electrical loop. I’ve wired in a Progressive EMS on his rig to prevent damage and we’ve measured voltage at the pedestal as low as 98v when the EMS kicks things off. He notifies the park management, their Super-Super shows up hours later at dusk or beyond with his $2 analog Harbor Freight meter and declares everything to be ok (when the power demands are much lower, of course), and nothing is ever done or changes. We’ve avoided dealing with the problem by running an extension over to the site next to his which is very small, rarely used, and on a different loop. The park didn’t rent the site at all last year to allow this to happen and appease the problem. However, they are adamant about making the site available this year without offering any correction to the root problem. Now that you have the long-winded back story, here is my question. Does anyone have any real world experience and associated recommendation for a voltage logger? My thoughts are to hard-wire one in right in front of the EMS. I’d be looking for real-time infomation as well as USB or SD storage to download and document our findings for park management. We’re not above spending $300+/- for a decent unit. I’ve worked with Fluke accessory data loggers before in 3 phase mill projects, etc but I don’t own this equipment which was very pricey even back then. Any recommendations out there? And please, at the risk of sounding a bit prickly, I can Google with the best of them and can see plenty of what is available out there. A “How about this one?” recommendation without any experience really does me no good. I’m looking for the “been there, done that” guy or gal to hopefully engage in some additional discussion. Thanks for hearing me out on this.

CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Feb 24, 2018
If the park management had logging information would they take any corrective action? Would they need to see logs from the utility company to ensure that it was not a utility problem?

Years ago I had a power glitch every afternoon at 5:30. The utility company added a logger to the meter and then determined the power glitch was due to power switching at a substation.

Would they accept a series of time stamped pictures of say a Flake DVM?

Wonder if you could rent or borrow a logger from an electrical contractor?

If you could get someone to build a Raspberry PI unit to measure the voltage and use a computer to log it would that be acceptable? Maybe Google it and you'll find an available kit. My PI EMS displays the voltage for each 50A hot leg and it has a simple data cable to the remote. Perhaps that data could be read and logged.
sch911
Explorer
Feb 24, 2018
CA Traveler wrote:
IWould they accept a series of time stamped pictures of say a Flake DVM?

Any smartphone camera with a Harbor Freight voltmeter would do the trick.
Ductape
Explorer
Feb 24, 2018
Better to spend the money on an autoformer, the park won't invest in a big upgrade for one customer, given the response so far.
Lynnmor
Explorer
Feb 24, 2018
Ductape wrote:
Better to spend the money on an autoformer, the park won't invest in a big upgrade for one customer, given the response so far.

That would be my suggestion.
SparkDr
Explorer
Feb 24, 2018
“If the park management had logging information would they take any corrective action? Would they need to see logs from the utility company to ensure that it was not a utility problem?“

1. Logging information is being gathered for potential litigation due to lack of corrective action. 2. Utility power is fine. In our corner of the world, the utility owns only to the top of the pole. Drops, meters, pad transformers, and everything else down line is customer owned and customer responsibility. My service is fed from the same panel and my EMS has never dropped out.

“Would they accept a series of time stamped pictures of say a Flake DVM?” “Any smartphone camera with a Harbor Freight voltmeter would do the trick.”

Both are reasonable thoughts if we had the desire or ability to babysit the project. However, we are only there on weekends for the most part. Our goal is to build a comprehensive database and document a consistent pattern.

“Better to spend the money on an autoformer, the park won't invest in a big upgrade for one customer, given the response so far.”

Autoformer has been discussed and under consideration for upcoming season for our friends, but there are similar problems elsewhere in the campground as at least 6 parties are interested in joint litigation. It is the typical 60+ year old electrical service that has not been updated and never designed for today’s modern load demands. As an example, we have verified at least 3 of these 30amp sites in question as being fed with 12 gauge wire.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Feb 24, 2018
Now I've never used it for this but I have a Radio Shack volt meter with a computer interface. From what I understand if I connect it to my laptop using the supplied Dual A USB cable, and install the software it can log voltages or any other function (it measures Frequency, Capacitance, resistance, and it's a thermometer among other things)

Now Radio Shacks can be hard to find and though I got a "Deal" (Fire sale type) on mine this meter is a tad pricy.. But Radio Shack does not make Multi-Meters, they buy 'em from other companies (I have my suspects on some of 'em but will not post names) so you may be able to find a meter like this)

In the old days I'd suggest a Heathkit graphing recorder, but alas. No more

The power company may be able to provide one too, however I'm not sure under the conditions.
GordonThree
Explorer
Feb 24, 2018
If management doesn't believe statements about the EMS kicking out, why would they believe a so called log?

Example; Just type whatever numbers they want into Excel, add a time next to each one and presto.

Three solutions come to mind.

1. Deal with the EMS kicking out (already mentioned autoformer)
2. Move to another site since some seem to have clean power
3. Move to another park that better maintains their infrastructure
westernrvparkow
Explorer
Feb 24, 2018
Your friend should just move to another park. If you are gathering information to sue the park and you don't take corrective action to avoid further damage, you are going to lose. The law REQUIRES injured parties to attempt to mitigate any damages. You have to shut off the water to your house if a pipe breaks. You can't block the fire department from putting out grease fire because you want to get the entire house replaced. If your friend knowingly keeps using the faulty electrical system and suffers damages because of it, the courts will likely not give a favorable outcome.
Plus, once his intentions are known to park, they are going to make his life miserable until he leaves if the don't outright kick him out. That's the way the real world works.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Feb 24, 2018
This situation interests you? Gee, just camp somewhere else if they won’t fix it.
CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Feb 24, 2018
SparkDr wrote:
“Would they accept a series of time stamped pictures of say a Flake DVM?” “Any smartphone camera with a Harbor Freight voltmeter would do the trick.”

Both are reasonable thoughts if we had the desire or ability to babysit the project. However, we are only there on weekends for the most part. Our goal is to build a comprehensive database and document a consistent pattern.
Apparently the rig is there but just not the people?

In that case set up a video or picture recording (with timestamp) to record for a week at a time. Obviously it needs to record regardless of the AC voltage.