2016 Jay series electrical

[sirhoot]

Hello, I have a Jayco 2016 Jay seriers A frame. I have this issue when plugging into the camp site, below is a list of events:

I found this out at the beginning of the year when I took my rig to a campground. When I plug my 30 amp plug into the outlet and started turning the breakers on, when I got to the air conditioner all of a sudden the power started oscillating on and off. Basically like it was blinking. I also noticed the GFCI popped. I wasn't sure what was going on so on the fly I replace the GFCI thinking it was bad. This did not solve the issue. Long story short for that night I basically slept in the dark. After getting the RV home I found that my refrigerator had a short in it. So I thought this made sense. I replaced the fridge. Plug the RV into the generator at home and everything works fine.

Fast forward to this past weekend and I plug in to the 30amp and the same thing happens. Once I flipped on the breaker and turned on the AC, It starts cycling off and on, as if there is not enough current to push the AC. The lights blink on and off. I think the GFCI popped again but not to sure if it wasn't popped already. We had lights and the radio worked but if I had to many lights on then you can see the dimming as if I was drawing too much current.

Now I'm home and I plug it into my generator or my house and it works fine. No issues, AC runs like it should.

Question is why this is happening? I can't reproduce the issue here at home. Does anyone know what this could be? This year is the first time I have run across this. Please send me any thoughts or questions you may have to help. Thanks.

 

[Jeffp60]

Same campground? Them
Short , bouncing on road moves wires.

 

[JimD]

Lights dimming or AC doing weird things is typical of a poor connection somewhere. When you pull more current the bad or resistive contact will cause more voltage to be lost across the bad contact. The lower the voltage goes the worse it is for things you are trying to operate. Also, a bad connection like this could lead to a lot of heat that may melt or burn things.

So, where to look. You want a nice clean shiny connection where you plug in. If your plug end isn't clean you can clean it. It should also be tight fitting in the socket. The campground's socket may be loose, not that uncommon. I would recommend getting a 30 to 50 amp adapter so you can try plugging your 30 amp plug into the campground's 50 amp socket. I have heard they are often in better shape than the 30s.

Another area where you could have a loose connection is your transfer switch. Many members have reported loose and burnt connections in there. It is a simple matter to open it up (with no power applied) and just tighten everything.

The GFCI tripping should have nothing to do with the main problem. It may be tripping due to the extreme voltage swings when you have a heavy load. Put a voltmeter on any outlet to see how low your voltage is going.

 

[craigav]

Do you know what the voltage was at the campground? If the voltage was low, it may be just at the disconnect point for your Surge\EMS (if you have one) and the A/C on drops the volts enough to cause the disconnect and once the A/C is off the volts come up a little and the ems reconnects. Just a thought of one possibility, for sure a voltage measurement would be good to have.

If you are not familiar with voltage meters and RV electrical systems, then JimD (above) has written several very helpful articles for using a voltage meter and RV electrical systems, just search on his name and posts.

Do you have any more details? Are you using a surge or ems protector and if so, which one do you have?

Also, as a thought, I wouldn't be surprised if your previous refrigerator was not the cause of your issue and instead was the victim of whatever was happening originally.

BTW Welcome to the Jayco Owners Forums (JOF) as I see this is your first post.

~CA

 

[sirhoot]

Jeffp60
No this was a different camp ground doing the same issue as the first one.

 

[sirhoot]

Lights dimming or AC doing weird things is typical of a poor connection somewhere. When you pull more current the bad or resistive contact will cause more voltage to be lost across the bad contact. The lower the voltage goes the worse it is for things you are trying to operate. Also, a bad connection like this could lead to a lot of heat that may melt or burn things.

So, where to look. You want a nice clean shiny connection where you plug in. If your plug end isn't clean you can clean it. It should also be tight fitting in the socket. The campground's socket may be loose, not that uncommon. I would recommend getting a 30 to 50 amp adapter so you can try plugging your 30 amp plug into the campground's 50 amp socket. I have heard they are often in better shape than the 30s.

Another area where you could have a loose connection is your transfer switch. Many members have reported loose and burnt connections in there. It is a simple matter to open it up (with no power applied) and just tighten everything.

The GFCI tripping should have nothing to do with the main problem. It may be tripping due to the extreme voltage swings when you have a heavy load. Put a voltmeter on any outlet to see how low your voltage is going.

I have done the 50 to 30 at the first camp site. Same issue. Is the transfer switch in the electrical box (the main)?

 

[sirhoot]

Do you know what the voltage was at the campground? If the voltage was low, it may be just at the disconnect point for your Surge\EMS (if you have one) and the A/C on drops the volts enough to cause the disconnect and once the A/C is off the volts come up a little and the ems reconnects. Just a thought of one possibility, for sure a voltage measurement would be good to have.

If you are not familiar with voltage meters and RV electrical systems, then JimD (above) has written several very helpful articles for using a voltage meter and RV electrical systems, just search on his name and posts.

Do you have any more details? Are you using a surge or ems protector and if so, which one do you have?

Also, as a thought, I wouldn't be surprised if your previous refrigerator was not the cause of your issue and instead was the victim of whatever was happening originally.

BTW Welcome to the Jayco Owners Forums (JOF) as I see this is your first post.

~CA

Yes, thank you for the welcome. So much good information here.

I do not have electrical readings from the first site or the second. The first site I asked the camps ground maintenance for a meter and he did not have one. We did try a 50 to 30 with same results. Although this latest camp ground did have a meter but i was on a research trip had had not time to investigate (the low was in the low 70's here in FL, got lucky for two nights). I do know and understand electrical for the most part. I do agree now that the fridge was not the main issue causing this as i have figured out my breaker box and how all that works. I found that the GFCI is in series with all other outlets and the air is on a isolated breaker. The thing that bothers me is I cant reproduce the issue at home. I gave my camper to a friend to use at his house for a few days and will see if he has issues with power. I dont think i have a surge that i know of. On both camp sites every one else were doing just fine. What could explain the issue that is happening at the camp ground (two different ones) that is not happening at home, on a gen or plugged into the house??? So baffled...