Sparks

Howsey · 05-13-2022, 09:22 PM

2008 jayfeather
19h. Today checked rv prods rooftop cool only rooftop a/c. Fan worked fine but when I turned the temp switch all the way on it sparked and shut everything down. Compressor didnt come on. When I turned the switch back fan and lights came back on.??????

**Midnightmoon** · 05-14-2022, 04:36 AM

What type of electrical service are you connected to? Is this a campground 30 Amp service? Did it trip the breaker when this happened?

Howsey · 05-14-2022, 11:33 AM

I was connected to my home. Just purchased used. Trying to prep for use. Did not trip breakers or burn fuses. House current is 15a 110ac.

**Midnightmoon** · 05-14-2022, 12:08 PM

It should have tripped the breaker (and does not account for the spark) but some 13.5K BTU air conditioners will not start on standard 15 amp household circuits. I'd be interested to see if it will run once you get it to a campground and connect to a true 30 amp service.

Howsey · 05-14-2022, 12:58 PM

Will be a few weeks before we can get it to a site. Will let you know. Thanx

SmokerBill · 05-14-2022, 05:23 PM

What was it, exactly, that sparked? The switch? The air conditioner?

Howsey · 05-14-2022, 08:20 PM

Did not disassemble anything but from. The location it appeared to have come from directly behind the temp switch. From the fact that it shut down the whole camper I'm inclined to believe it's a dead short to ground. Won't know till I take the cover off.

RAurand · 05-14-2022, 09:32 PM

Put an Easy Start on that AC and then you will be able to run it on 15 Amp current.

https://www.microair.net/collections...r-conditioners

Howsey · 05-15-2022, 01:07 PM

OK guys here's the deal. Got up this am ran
to Home Depot and picked up some stuff. Dropped a dedicated 30a outlet and plugged in 135' of rv ext cord. PROBLEM SOLVED. EVERYTHING WORKS. Thanks for all the input. Steered me in the right direction and saved me a 1000 bux.
.

craigav · 05-15-2022, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howsey

OK guys here's the deal. Got up this am ran
to Home Depot and picked up some stuff. Dropped a dedicated 30a outlet and plugged in 135' of rv ext cord. PROBLEM SOLVED. EVERYTHING WORKS. Thanks for all the input. Steered me in the right direction and saved me a 1000 bux.
.

Good deal. One thought to share is that you should monitor your voltage. Running 135' of ext cord could drop your voltage more than you expect. 108 is as low as I would care to go and still run the A/C, for sure I would not run to run the A/C if the voltage was <105v.

**Midnightmoon** · 05-15-2022, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howsey

OK guys here's the deal. Got up this am ran
to Home Depot and picked up some stuff. Dropped a dedicated 30a outlet and plugged in 135' of rv ext cord. PROBLEM SOLVED. EVERYTHING WORKS. Thanks for all the input. Steered me in the right direction and saved me a 1000 bux.
.

That is excellent! I'm happy that I could be of help.

Yooper906 · 05-15-2022, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midnightmoon

That is excellent! I'm happy that I could be of help.

I'm trying to figure out how this is going to be o.k., or excellent.

135 ft of "rv extension cords" As far as I know these are 10 ga.? Did he buy some pre-made 25 foot cords? With a lot of connections there is some heat and power loss.

I haven't looked up the figures, but just remembering the line loss would be around 6%?
When I ran 50ft of 10 ga from my garage to my rv pedestal the loss was around 3 V leaving me with around 118v V single phase. Plus I have no idea what he would be drawing from this. Just to me, it sounds a little underwired.

I'm always open to criticism and corrections. I'm easy going. LOL

**Midnightmoon** · 05-15-2022, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yooper906

I'm trying to figure out how this is going to be o.k., or excellent.

135 ft of "rv extension cords" As far as I know these are 10 ga.? Did he buy some pre-made 25 foot cords? With a lot of connections there is some heat and power loss.

I haven't looked up the figures, but just remembering the line loss would be around 6%?
When I ran 50ft of 10 ga from my garage to my rv pedestal the loss was around 3 V leaving me with around 118v V single phase. Plus I have no idea what he would be drawing from this. Just to me, it sounds a little underwired.

I'm always open to criticism and corrections. I'm easy going. LOL

What is excellent is that the owner was was able to determine that there was in fact nothing wrong with their air conditioner, only that they were attempting to run it on a standard 15 amp circuit instead of the proper 30 amp. Now that an RV 30 amp outlet is in place, the air conditioning works and it saves them a potentially expensive repair.

I understand that you are questioning using that amount of an extension to run the unit. Which, definitely has merit. However, unless I am mistaking, I don't think that the OP intended this to be for permanent use, only to test the unit.

Howsey · 05-15-2022, 02:54 PM

I used the supplied cord from the camper, which is 35ft and my 100ft.rv cord. I'm going to run a permanent line to the outside wall of my house. That should keep me 75'. Minimal drop.

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