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Old 07-26-2017, 04:29 PM   #21
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Am home now. The Edison plug was connected directly to the output plug at the generator. When I got home I inspected my connections on both the male and female plugs for the short "Edison extension cord" I made; black to black, white to white and ground to ground with the jumper from white to ground. Everything is wired correctly. I plugged it into a normal outlet and it does not work. I plugged it into a GFCI and it "blew" the breaker. What is it that I am not understanding? Is it the fact that I made a "cord" with only the jumper at the male end? Thanks.
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2019 Chevy express 2500 Van Coversion. 2017 Jayco 23MRB: 26' total and Glacier Package. 2 Renogy solar panels. Married 49 years. Haley the mutt, 4 years old. "Excited to learn new things everyday and humbled by those who offer to help." And very grateful to our Moderators!
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Old 07-27-2017, 06:53 AM   #22
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Since I don't know your level of electrical knowledge I will keep this basic. You may be a Master Electrician or someone who struggles at changing a light bulb. More likely somewhere in between. Keeping it simple may help someone else even if the level of detail is too basic. That said...

So the idea of the adapter isn't to make a short cord with a jumper just a plug. So you take an Edison 110v male plug like this.

Edison Plug

Open it up like you are going to open it up and run a jumper wire from the ground to the neutral. Most of the time (well every one I have ever used) the screws for connecting the wires are going to be color coded as follows.

Brass = Hot = Black Wire (nothing goes to this connection)
Silver = Neutral = White Wire (one end of the jumper)
Green = Ground = Ground Wire (other end of jumper)

Once you have a wire between the silver and green screws you can close up the plug.

I don't recall if you said what kind of generator you borrowed from a friend but it doesn't matter much as the process will be about the same. In my case I have a Yamaha 3000is so I will post a photo of that. In the case of this generator I have two 110V 15A plugs which will match the Edison adapter I made above. There is also a 30A 110V Twist Lock which is where I use an adapter on the camper's power cable to plug into this port. So as in the photo below, the yellow cord would be the camper power and in one of the two outlets next to the yellow cord, I would plug in the adapter. The adapter doesn't need to be inline with the power cord which is what it sounds like you did.



In the case you borrowed a 2000w generator like one of the Hondas and other brands where you can link them you may not see the twist lock.

The normal Honda 2000 has a panel like this. With this generator you would put the adapter in one 110V Edison plug and the camper power cord would use an adapter to the 110V Edison in the other outlet.



If you had the Honda 2000 Companion which is the mate to the regular 2000 and can use a link cable which syncs up the generators and will provide 4000W of power (enough to run AC) or can be run stand alone with 2000W. Then you would have a panel like this one where you plug the adapter into the 110V 15A Edison and the camper converted to Twist lock using the 30A outlet.



There are other generators out there that are 2000w and have a link kit like the Hondas but the the link kit has a small power panel where the twist lock is located. For instance the square Champions are like that. I don't have any personal experience with the Champions but I remember seeing that their link kit is a bit different and I don't think they have a dedicated single and companion generator like the Hondas. You just grab two of them and link them together. Where the Hondas you have to be sure that one is a normal one and the other a companion. The nice thing about the Champion kit is it provides the normal 30A camper socket and a twist lock so you don't have to mess with the adapter on the end of your camper power cord if you don't want to. Though I am not sure how it works with the adapter for the open ground. Maybe make one with a twist lock plug rather than the 110V Edison. Like I said, I have never used this generator set. Just the Yamaha and a set of Honda 2000 generators that I have borrowed from my In-Laws.

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Old 07-27-2017, 08:54 AM   #23
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First, I can't thank you enough for the time you spent answering the question. I created the "Edison Plug" just as described. Because I needed to connect it to the adapter to the "trailer" type plug, I ran a 6" wire to connect it to the female plug. Didn't work. Tried wiring the "lug" on the generator to the frame of the trailer, that didn't work either. Did both of those at different times, just to be clear. Yesterday I tried plugging the "cord" into a GFCI and this predictably tripped the GFCI. Then I put it in a regular plug in the house, plugged in a "2 prong" plug for a house hold fan, and that didn't work. I am beginning to wonder if there is a short in the wire I used. My electrical knowledge is "above average" for a DIY'er but I don't know everything. I have wired homes, additions, etc. I am also wondering if the type of generator I borrowed might have something to do with this, but I followed the instruction manual to hook up the ground wire and that didn't work. Today I am going to take a voltmeter and test the "cord" itself, though a "short" does seem unlikely. Again, thanks so much for the time you've taken to help me with this. I will let people know how it gets solved; the value of the time devoted to this forum.
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2019 Chevy express 2500 Van Coversion. 2017 Jayco 23MRB: 26' total and Glacier Package. 2 Renogy solar panels. Married 49 years. Haley the mutt, 4 years old. "Excited to learn new things everyday and humbled by those who offer to help." And very grateful to our Moderators!
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Old 07-29-2017, 10:47 PM   #24
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End of the Saga?

Took an experienced electrical engineer with me today out to the TT. The first generator 600 Watts (this is the one causing me the pain) appeared not to deliver enough Watts to "run" the trailer. Hooked it up directly (without Emerson plug) and grounded it to TT frame. This is the first time it actually delivered any power to the TT. We measured voltage in the TT and it was only 55 volts.

We then hooked up a 2000 Watt generator and everything worked fine. No this was not an inverter generator, no Emerson Plug, just direct ground to the TT.

The Engineer said that is appears that the TT draws some significant (he called it phantom watts) watts just to be in the "on" position. He suggested that I look into the watts drawn by the Inverter, stove, refrigerator, water pump, hot water heater while they are in the rest position. Or, to make it simple, just call Jayco on Monday and ask them what is the lowest powered generator that can be used on the 23MRB.

At this point I have decided two things. 1). Purchase a 100 watt solar panel to keep things charged while dry camping. 2). Purchase a 2000 watt generator for those times that the solar panel won't work and we want the heat on at night.

Thanks for all your help on this one. At least it wasn't something that "I should have known."
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