Surge Guard Keeps Shutting Off?

SomersIsles · 06-19-2019, 05:31 PM

(Edit to add.... tried connecting the RV to the house without the Surge Guard and it tripped the house outlet instantly. Made sure everything inside the RV (AC, water pump, water heater, lights, fans, etc.) were switched to off. No clue what's going on.... ugh.)

I have the Surge Guard 34730 and I am trying to connect my Jayco Hybrid to our house as we prepare for our first camping trip of the season. As I have always done in the past, I bring out the extension cord, connect the dog bone, connect the Surge Guard, and then plug the RV in.

Per usual it does the 120ish second countdown. The very first time I did it, everything worked as normal and I went into the RV to turn on the fridge. Fridge turned on then about 10 seconds later it turned off (I thought I heard a click... not sure). Went out and saw that the Surge Guard was completely off. No lights and nothing on the digital display.

Is it possible that the plug at my house in tripping or could it be a problem with the Surge Guard?

Sundancer330 · 06-19-2019, 06:17 PM

Have you tried plugging in without the Surge Guard, that will tell you if the problem is in the Surge Guard

SomersIsles · 06-19-2019, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundancer330

Have you tried plugging in without the Surge Guard, that will tell you if the problem is in the Surge Guard

Not yet. About to try that now. So far whenever I plug the RV in, it trips the house circuit. I've tried 3 different outlets in my house (one is a GFI) and it has tripped every single one as soon as the SurgeGuard gets past the wait time.

Makes me wonder if there's something funky going on with the RV electrical system that is causing it to draw more power? Not going to lie... a bit timid as anything electrical intimidates me. Eek

Sundancer330 · 06-19-2019, 06:28 PM

Does your Surge Guard give you any codes. I had a similar problem with an extension cord with a bad ground. When I plugged it in at home I heard a click from my EMS and it gave me a code for bad ground, switched extension cords and all was good.

SomersIsles · 06-19-2019, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundancer330

Does your Surge Guard give you any codes. I had a similar problem with an extension cord with a bad ground. When I plugged it in at home I heard a click from my EMS and it gave me a code for bad ground, switched extension cords and all was good.

No code. As soon as it hits 128 seconds I hear a loud click and it trips the outlet in the house and then the SurgeGuard just shuts off as if I had unplugged it.

RetiredOne · 06-19-2019, 06:59 PM

Do you have any high amperage items turned on in the trailer? Like the A/C. water heater, etc? Your converter would normally kick on once shore power is established to charge the battery, this alone can have a high draw, depending on the battery charger rating. Then, if something else is left on, that would trip your circuit breaker.

SomersIsles · 06-19-2019, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetiredOne

Do you have any high amperage items turned on in the trailer? Like the A/C. water heater, etc? Your converter would normally kick on once shore power is established to charge the battery, this alone can have a high draw, depending on the battery charger rating. Then, if something else is left on, that would trip your circuit breaker.

I checked and I did notice that the water heat and pump switch were on... so I thought maybe it was an easy fix and I turned those off. But the problem continues. The AC is switched to off and the lights are off.

I tried plugging it into our house (as we have always done in the past) without the Surge Guard and it tripped the house outlet again. So I feel more confident that it's not the Surge Guard at all but rather something funky happening in the camper... which just makes me paranoid because what could be happening that is causing the outlet to trip?? Ugh

(i'm going to edit my original post, if I can, to add this new insight)

Dada · 06-19-2019, 09:21 PM

Try turning main breaker off inside trailer and then plug trailer card back in to surge protector and see what happens. If it still trips then you know the problem is somewheres in the card. If it stays on then the problem is from breaker can Inside trailer. Hope this helps and you get it fixed.
Dada

Seann45 · 06-23-2019, 06:44 AM

Is it possible that mice chewed your wiring and you now have a short?

Vicr · 06-25-2019, 01:00 PM

You say your "outlet" trips. Are you plugging in to a GFCI receptacle? It's been a week since you posted anything. Did you get it figured out?

paul_ottawa · 06-25-2019, 02:06 PM

I plug mine (x213, 30amp, Progressive Industries EMS) at home and I sometimes trip the breaker in the house. The most convenient plug seems to be a bit weak, as I have tried another one (in a bit more awkward location) and it doesn't seem to trip.

On startup for me the biggest draw (for me) was the converter to charge up the battery. If I turned off the charging breaker, I could manually turn it on after it was connected and it charged fine.

I had the same problem with my old tent trailer as well.

One of these days I'll get around to replacing the breaker in the house, as I suspect it is a bit weak.

Don't forget that your trailer will willingly try and pull as much power as it can, so if your converter will pull 20amp, it can easily try that and blow your 15amp breaker in the house.

us71na · 06-25-2019, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dada

Try turning main breaker off inside trailer and then plug trailer card back in to surge protector and see what happens. If it still trips then you know the problem is somewheres in the card. If it stays on then the problem is from breaker can Inside trailer. Hope this helps and you get it fixed.
Dada

Also turn off all the individual breakers. After you turn on the main, you can turn on the individual breakers one at a time to determine which circuit has a problem.

SloPoke · 06-26-2019, 09:51 AM

After reading thru this... can you give more info on the plug you are connecting everything into? Is it a GFCI protected outlet? What exactly is tripping, the GFCI or the circuit breaker? Have you tried another outlet that is NOT GFCI?

Vicr · 06-26-2019, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SloPoke

After reading thru this... can you give more info on the plug you are connecting everything into? Is it a GFCI protected outlet? What exactly is tripping, the GFCI or the circuit breaker? Have you tried another outlet that is NOT GFCI?

Looks like we both have asked and no reply.

SomersIsles · 06-30-2019, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicr

Looks like we both have asked and no reply.

Sorry for the delay! Busy week!

Well we thought we fixed it and then we were maybe wrong?

We ended up pulling the battery out and hooking that up to a trickle charger. The next morning, hooked up the battery and connected to the house again (with the Surge Guard in place). Everything worked wonderfully.

Get to camper, hook up to pedestal with SurgeGuard and the SurgeGuard (even with lights on) was reading 0amps. The lights were working and we were able to move the slide out. The fridge was not working so we had that on gas until we could figure it out. As time went on the lights started to dim. So I assume we were just running on battery despite being plugged in.

Took the SurgeGuard off and hooked up directly to the pedestal. Problem solved.

Not really sure what that means because we did try to connect to the house with and without the SurgeGuard with no luck. We tried GFCI and nonGFCI.

We did back to back weekends and haven’t had much time to troubleshoot since. But so far things are back to normal minus the SurgeGuard. I do want to buy a new one because I’m paranoid something will happen

Witt74 · 06-30-2019, 03:22 PM

Have you tried contacting Surge Guard? They may have a solution and depending on warranty, offer you a replacement.

Captnjimk · 07-07-2019, 08:19 AM

Three thoughts from experience. 1.have you checked your transfer switch if you have one, I had a short from loose wires(multi strand wires work loose routinely), and it shut down my motorhome. 2. While I had a Surge Guard for years, on this new motorhome, I installed a Progressive EMS, which I think is better and a better warranty, and 3. I had a homemade extension cord the had “reverse” polarity whic wouldn’t allow electricity into the coach. Good luck.

Johnynorthland · 07-07-2019, 10:08 AM

I would take the good advice of all the above. You need to check all electrical systems to rule out anything. A chewed wire as mentioned sounds possible.

Do you have a generator? I would run it if you do, then see what happens. If you feel comfortable with a meter I would test the lines coming and going from your transfer switch, converter and main breaker with then gen running. Even Pull ground off battery terminal , put meter or test light between battery and the disconnected terminal to make sure there is no voltage going to ground, (even though this is the 12v side of things) check everything. I would even plug in the surge by itself, let it count up the delay, switch on and read your house polarity and voltage without plugging in the RV at all. Try Go to an RV park, plug in there.

Let us all know your results, good luck

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