What happens when you send 220 volts down your trailer cord?

[NDJollyMon]

Yep...the nightmare has happened!

The Setting: A friend was expecting me to visit and wanted to have an electrical connection for my new White Hawk trailer when I arrived. He went to Walmart and purchased a 50 amp to 30 amp adapter cord, cut off the 50 amp end and wired it to a circuit breaker in the garage panel. Unbeknownst to me...it was wired to his 220 volt (welder) circuit~!

I roll in, set up and get plugged in. I open the trailer door and smell electrical smoke. ARGH! At first look, the only strange thing I noticed was the microwave clock was not on. We quickly disconnected and after some deliberation...figured out the huge mistake!

Ended up with a fried microwave oven, fried a nightlight in the kitchen outlet and fried the converter. So far...everything else seems to be in working condition.

I am an experienced RVer and yes...I KNOW BETTER! Don't let your guard down for a minute....ALWAYS CHECK YOUR ELECTRICAL VOLTAGE PRIOR TO PLUGGING IN THAT CORD! Trust no one.

[Tunce the traveler]

An electrician told me once " don't even trust your mother" always check it yourself.

[clutch]

Sorry to hear of your troubles.

[Seann45]

That is the sort of reason that I wont plug into any outlet until I have one of these plugged in.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...y-30-amp/58464

[eldermike]

Your netural was hot! I would check anything that runs on AC for burnt wires.

[Bassdogs]

If it had been wired properly, it would not have caused a problem. 220 is nothing more than 2 110 legs of power being fed to your panel. My house boat shore power hooks to a 220 50A outlet but the 2 sides of the breaker panel in the boat are separate and I do not have double breakers so all I have is 110 to all circuits.

Had the friend only connected one leg of the circuit the feed to the RV would have been limited to 110. Previous poster is correct. What happened was that the negative was hot. All in all it was not a good solution to trying to provide shorepower to the RV. The friend should have used an empty slot on the panel and installed a 30A single pole breaker and created an RV outlet for his friend.

[33 RLDS]

When I was picking the brain of an electrician at work about a 30 amp RV outlet the first thing he said to me was "thats 220V right?" Thats when I decided to install it myself. Lol...

[mcfarmall]

Originally Posted by 33 RLDS

When I was picking the brain of an electrician at work about a 30 amp RV outlet the first thing he said to me was "thats 220V right?" Thats when I decided to install it myself. Lol...

Sometimes even the "pro's" are clueless if they haven't had experience with RV shore power receptacles.

[NDJollyMon]

UPDATE:
Since this is not something covered under the warranty...
I've decided to fix these items myself.
FYI...
MICROWAVE
It's a built in HIGH POINTE brand 900 watt model. I a website and ordered an exact replacement model for $99 plus $34 shipping. Comes complete with trim kit. You take out the 4 screws on the front and the old one slides right out.

CONVERTER
I found the that the manufacturer is Progressive Dynamics. I contacted their service department and they sold me a reconditioned converter for $133 + $14 shipping. (one year warranty) Their are five wires to reconnect, as I already removed the converter from the Power Control Center. Should be a simple replacement to reconnect the wires.

[Plowtoy]

The a/c still works? That is one of the few things that run on 110 only (no 12v).

[eldermike]

You need to check anything and everything that runs on AC. There should be a transformer in the AC unit for the control circuits for the AC. It might be smoked.

[NDJollyMon]

A/C works like a champ. Used it for 3 nights over Labor Day weekend. Actually, I think these guys above are right and I didn't actually get 220 down the line, but the neutral was hot.

[NDJollyMon]

I had someone check around for anything that might have had a meltdown. Couldn't find anything unusual. We have put all electronics through their paces and so far so good.

[BNear]

Originally Posted by Seann45

That is the sort of reason that I wont plug into any outlet until I have one of these plugged in.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...y-30-amp/58464

I was going to ask how one can verify the outlet you are looking to connect to but this answers that question completely. As a matter of fact, this thread is a great piece for all to read and should be stickied!!

[namusmc65]

I had the exact same scenario when my cousin wired up an outlet at his cabin. Fortunately, It just blew my main breaker. I saw what had happened and rewired it and all was good. Just recently, I had an electrician wire up a 30 amp breaker for a second Rv spot for my hunting buddies out back. Went out to check on him before he closed up the box and he had wired it up for 220! Something about the look of those outlets I guess.

[OnTheGo]

... good to know that you are capable of doing the repairs yourself.

[NDJollyMon]

Well, the microwave will be easy enough. I wouldn't normally have messed with the converter... but the guy who created this whole situation is actually a carpenter that builds luxury homes. (but obviously doesn't know RV's!) This is in part... why I trusted his wiring in the first place. He has fixed and built things for me before.
He took out the converter himself and said, lets order one and put it in. Only 5 wires to hook up.

[NDJollyMon]

Originally Posted by namusmc65

I had the exact same scenario when my cousin wired up an outlet at his cabin. Fortunately, It just blew my main breaker. I saw what had happened and rewired it and all was good. Just recently, I had an electrician wire up a 30 amp breaker for a second Rv spot for my hunting buddies out back. Went out to check on him before he closed up the box and he had wired it up for 220! Something about the look of those outlets I guess.

It's comforting to know that this is a common occurrence. This thread may just save someone my fate in the future.

[NDJollyMon]

New microwave arrived today from the distributor. Very easy to change out. Everything is back to normal again. Whew.

[SecretCoveDave]

Thanks for the wakeup call!

Dave