Power surge guard 30 amp

[Boubou]

Last night, our neighbour (motorhome) asked us if we had trips on our power surge guard. He was on 50 amps and kept tripping. We had no trouble.
Tonight, we tripped twice. The power surge guard went off and cycled both times.
We have been using an electric heater, could it be the cause?
should we change site? We've been here for 5 nights with no problem (even with the heater) until now.

[David472]

Check the integrity of your plug into the pedestal. You may find the prongs on your plug have become blackend from a poor connection to the socket. If they have, use sand paper or similar to remove the black oxidation and make them clean copper again.

[Boubou]

The same happened again a few times during the night.
I checked the plug from the power surge connector and the plug from the RV. They both look normal. The Power surge protector has one prong which looks a bit more brassy but no black on either.
We are both not knowledgeable about anything electric so pardon my ignorance...
When I looked at the pedestal (30 amp only receptacle) to unplug, I noticed 2 breakers were on. One 30 amp and one 20 amps. At first I thought, oh no! if both are on, then are we pulling in 50 amps??? after a few minutes, I realized the 20 amps went to a regular outlet right besides the 30 amp.
Anyways, I could always just plug right in without the surge protector but it's probably not a wise choice.
I'll call the campground office when they open, we really don't want to move if we don't have to. Are they usually able to fix this sort of thing?

Thanks for the help
Brigitte

[Threebutchers]

If the electric heater was drawing excessive amps, it should trip your TT outlet breaker (if it's a plug-in type heater). If your overall amp draw from the shore power was excessive - the shore power breaker (or TT Main Breaker) should trip. If your surge protector is cycling, it's most likely other issues such as voltage drops, voltage spikes, or a "leg" of your power source dropping out (ground, hot or neutral).

[Threebutchers]

Is your surge protector outside?......you mentioned it's been very wet and you've been beachfront for a few days. The condensation on your surge protector overnight could be very briny which is conductive. Could be creating a "bleeding effect"????

[David472]

Since your plugs appear in good shape, then it's a good idea to do as you plan to do, and talk with the CG management about the problem. Your Surge Guard is telling you there's a problem with the pedestal electrical supply. Low voltage or open circuit condition.

As the other post said, another thing you can do if it's a case of marginally low voltage, is to run your water heater on propane instead of electric. The space heater plus the water heater are together a substantial draw. I'm guessing that when the water heater cycles to ON, it draws enough and then the voltage drops enough to trigger your Surge Guard.

[RedHorse1]

Has your neighbor continued to have problems as well? As "Three" points out the salt water could be a culprit. The park wiring is exposed 24 x 7 so I'd expect problems there rather than with yours. Does your neighbor have surge protection or was a breaker tripping?
There's something going on with the power that your protector doesn't like, I'd keep it plugged in and let it do its job.

[Boubou]

Originally Posted by Threebutchers

Is your surge protector outside?......you mentioned it's been very wet and you've been beachfront for a few days. The condensation on your surge protector overnight could be very briny which is conductive. Could be creating a "bleeding effect"????

Dry now but should I unplug an clean is with a wet cloth?
Sorry if I sound ignorant about the matter but I am!

[Boubou]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

Has your neighbor continued to have problems as well? As "Three" points out the salt water could be a culprit. The park wiring is exposed 24 x 7 so I'd expect problems there rather than with yours. Does your neighbor have surge protection or was a breaker tripping?
There's something going on with the power that your protector doesn't like, I'd keep it plugged in and let it do its job.

The SP is outside the neighbor with same problem (we didn't have problem when he did) was using a wired SP inside coach.
Sp wasn't tripping with space heater, just started doing that yesterday. Even happened during night.
We turned wh iff electric to see but like I said, nothing on other than radio, fridge

[Boubou]

Oh and CG guy came checked pedestal and inside and of course all was well at the time. It's random.

[David472]

It could be just plain low voltage from the local utility company, with the level just above the shut-down threshold. Larger loads dip it just enough to trip the SP. For cases like that, some people add a "voltage regulator" to boost the voltage to a usable level, so the SP is happy. I don't suppose you have a volt meter with you?

[Boubou]

No I don't but now plan on getting on an learn how to use it

What is a voltage regulator?

[David472]

Okay....
an RV voltage regulator is also known as an auto-transformer. It is a special type of transformer with only one winding, instead of the usual separate primary and secondary windings. This one winding has several tap points, and selecting the right tap point, the voltage to your RV will be boosted up to maybe 10%. Here is a link to a few examples;
http://tweetys.com/rv_autoformers.aspx

[Boubou]

So we've had the hot water heater turned to propane instead of electric all afternoon and power didn't trip once.
The campground guy is the one suggesting trying this first. Funny he was able to say just what was needed.
Me think that the power to the pedestal is marginal.
But how is it, that running microwave or space heater didn't trip it?
just time and place problem?

[David472]

Well, the bottom line is, you cannot run everything at once.

[Boubou]

Originally Posted by David472

Okay....
an RV voltage regulator is also known as an auto-transformer. It is a special type of transformer with only one winding, instead of the usual separate primary and secondary windings. This one winding has several tap points, and selecting the right tap point, the voltage to your RV will be boosted up to maybe 10%. Here is a link to a few examples;
http://tweetys.com/rv_autoformers.aspx

Do these get plugged in right at the pedestal before the PS protector or in the RV?

[Threebutchers]

Do you have a plug-in voltage meter? I got mine on eBay for under $10 bucks. At a glance, a voltmeter will tell you what's going on with the power throughout the day. Your surge protector has you covered for spikes and drops....but at least you may come to better learn what your Surge Suppressors thresholds are and manage your electric use....or move sites if you see marginal conditions

[Boubou]

I will get me one of them voltage meter from ebay.
looks like both trailers on either side of us are also having trouble.
Guys are out there trouble shooting for a few hours. Guess it's not our unit or gear.
Obviously, it looks as if we should be moving site but leaving on Monday so, we are just careful with usage and will live with this for now. Cannot be bothered to move.
I have to give kuddos to Camp Hatteras work campers for not giving up and keep on trying to find out what the problem is. They've been at it all day and still out there as the sun is setting. We have power, it just trips a few times a day.

[David472]

Originally Posted by Boubou

Do these get plugged in right at the pedestal before the PS protector or in the RV?

They plug in to the pedistal, then your SP plugs into it, then your RV into the SP.
Although they are available, you may find you can get away with doing what threebutchers has suggested. That is my approach, I don't have an auto-transformer..... so far.
We are camping this weekend, and just finished using the microwave. While it's running, it's my habit to watch the voltage monitor. You can see the voltage drop a couple volts when it fires up, that's normal. On one occasion last fall I saw it drop 5 or 6 volts, which is a bit much. I knew from that, the particular CG had supply voltage problems. It didn't cause us to move, but changed our habits of which stuff we ran and when we ran them.

[Boubou]

The guys worked right up til dark last night, outfitting us the our neighbour with a dogbone 50/30 amp and an extension to the 50 amp box behind us. Problem solved. But not for them, they are back out this morning trying to fix the problem permanently.
They did a great job to help us.
I was thinking about doing the same for the 50/30 dogbone and extension. Do you see a problem with this set up? The PS is still hooked before power gets to the trailer.
I was also told that we could get an extra 20 amp power cord coming from under the trailer, rewire the microwave, TV or fridge (not sure which one) and have 2 cords coming out and plugging into pedestal making it a cheap 50 amp rig option.
I've never seen or heard of this kind of set up..... good idea?