50 Amp To 30 Amp Adapter

[Land Drifter]

We used the camper over the 4th of July weekend with no issues, we had a few torrential down pours but didn't have any issues until the last night. On the last night, the CO/Smoke detector alarmed and then we lost power. The breaker in the camper tripped, so we reset it and everything was back to normal.

The attached photo is my adapter which I had to pry off the shoreline from our camper. The burned side is the hot (white) side. From anyone's experience what could have caused this.

Power Surge?
Internal Short?
Manufactures defect?

Thanks in advance,
Mark

[norty1]

When it tripped, it was likely welding the melted contacts. Loose connection or max current flow can melt the plastic body and cause all kinds of problems like you had. High current flow can heat the contacts causing them to melt the surrounding support and destroy the plug.

Anytime a breaker trips it's a good idea to think what caused it before re-setting it..

[jd99336]

One of the main causes of melted plugs in my experience (I have seen one or two with mine and other folks over the years) is poor contact either in the plug wiring or the worn out plug itself. It can allow arc'ing to occur thus creating the heat and damage. I frequently find campsites where the 30 amp plug is just worn out from frequent use with chipped insulation and loose sockets where the metal on the plug is not making firm solid contact. This creates poor connection (resistance), and high heat.

My co-traveler is running a 50 amp class A but his normal use is only the 30 amp plug as that is what he has surge protection for. With hot and humid conditions he noticed his on-board AC (he doesn't have roof air) was tripping so he went to 50 amp. We noticed the adapter was extremely hot. I am not familiar with the archecture of the motorhome so can't say why it was drawing so much power, but bottom line is....where possible don't use the adapters.

That said, I have adapters for 50 to 30 (Greyhawk, so only 30 amp) and 30 to 20 amp. I am just careful not to overload them, so on the 15-20 adapter, no AC and turn off microwave if using other high amp items.

[DonaandDon]

I always use the 50 to 30 adapters. Too many 30amp sockets on the power poles are excessively worn and overused...

[CampNow]

Originally Posted by jd99336

One of the main causes of melted plugs in my experience (I have seen one or two with mine and other folks over the years) is poor contact either in the plug wiring or the worn out plug itself. It can allow arc'ing to occur thus creating the heat and damage . . .

Ditto. This is exactly what happened. When you have poor contact, the connectors inside the plug turn into an arc welder. When there's poor or intermittent contact, the current has no choice but to "jump" across the contacts, creating an electrical arc (and heat).

This arcing can easily occur even with very small loads---way under 30 amps.
That's why the breaker in your RV or RV park pedestal is ineffective in preventing this type of damage.

[MPD56]

All good points

May I also point out, you should always shut off the breaker before pulling the plug out of the receptacle. With no power, you won't produce a spark which is what starts the degrading of the contacts in the receptacle and the prongs on your plug.

Also, i always use a cheap adapter even if my tralier cord reaches, I'd rather replace a cheap adapter then an expensive 50 amp cord.

I also use adapters on the plumbing fittings, example, fresh water tank fitting.

[AnacortesArmyGuy]

Originally Posted by Land Drifter

We used the camper over the 4th of July weekend with no issues, we had a few torrential down pours but didn't have any issues until the last night. On the last night, the CO/Smoke detector alarmed and then we lost power. The breaker in the camper tripped, so we reset it and everything was back to normal.

The attached photo is my adapter which I had to pry off the shoreline from our camper. The burned side is the hot (white) side. From anyone's experience what could have caused this.

Power Surge?
Internal Short?
Manufactures defect?

Thanks in advance,
Mark

Were you using any type of surge protector or EMS device?