Shore Power and EMS Question...

fansill · 06-20-2011, 11:40 AM

Good Afternoon All,

We are spending the week at a local Massachsetts State Campground and I need some education about electrical questions that have arisen... BTW... I have a 2003 Fleetwood Revolution LE.

When we arrived on Friday we were only able to get a site with 20 amp service. We were fine with that, knowing that we would not be able to run a lot of "stuff" simultaneously. I plugged my 50 amp cord with the surge protector on it and the appropriate dogbone attached to the 20 amp shore power pole and the coach kept tripping off. I could get no power going in to the coach. One of the Host-campers was two sites away and since he also performs some of the electrical repairs for the campground, he came over to assist. He first told me to remove my surge guard. He said that my use of the surge guard was causing some of the problems....

1. Why is this and shouldn't I be using it at all times???

He then told me that the GFI circuits that were recently installed at all sites could be the problem, so he removed the GFI at that pole. When I plugged in, I was still not getting any power to the coach. The campground worker said that my coach was the problem. My Energy Management System monitor was not lighting up at all. Also, the Magnum ?? Inverter Display showed that there was a fault and the screen read "AC Overload". Being a complete moron when it comes to electric systems, I called a local RV repair person and he came right over to the campsite. He was a little stumped also. He did notice that whenever the cord was plugged into the shore power pole, my inverter/converter ??? in the battery compartment would trip itself off. He felt that I should be able to select the lowered amp from my EMS monitor. I could see that I do have a button to press on the EMS monitor to maybe select that lower amps. The problem is....because I was unable to get power into the coach, I was unable to light up the control panel monitor and therefore could not use that button to select 20/30 amp service. I ran the coach using the inverter...everything ran fine. I also then tried the gennie...again, everything was fine, but neither one of those power applications would give me power to the EMS monitor panel. By the way...whenever we attempted to plug into shore power, there was nothing calling for power within the coach such as a fridge, TV, micro, etc...and all lights were off.

2. Does anyone have any ideas as to how to select 20 amp service when there is no service coming in? Or in the alternative maybe I cannot even attempt to use a campground with only 20 amp service?

3. Finally, we were able to get moved to a 30amp space. The first time I tried to plug in, nothing worked there either. I tried re-setting the breaker, but no luck so I called the management and another electricia came out and after he replaced the breaker, everything was okie-dokie, and we now have power...YIPPEE!!! The EMS Monitor Panel came on and read 30 AMPS and the Magnum Inverter monitor panel lit up and read that it was charging and within a short time, the screen read 13.6 v. But now that worker told me not to use my surge protector because he said that would probably cause me to lose power again... Why??? And is my coach is danger without it on right now??

I am sorry to be so long with this posting, but I am trying very hard to become an educated RV owner and to become somewhat self-sufficient managing these seemingly never-ending problems.

Thank you in advance for any and all advice and opinions.

Faith

akadeadeye · 06-20-2011, 12:19 PM

First, I am not an electrical whiz by a long shot. Full disclosure.

However, I would never.....make that never......take surge protection off line. That is what it is there for in addition to your EMS.

Since you were eventually able to get 30 amp power into your coach only after they replaced a breaker, I would guess the 20 amp problem belongs with the power at the pole and not in your coach. State parks are notorious for having old and unreliable electrical service. I always test the outlets with an electrical multi-meter to check voltage and I often find there is not enough voltage, or that it changes, sometimes significantly depending on the time of day and who else may be on your circuit. I don't know what the problem is with this, but I would guess the wiring to the power pole may be undersized.

Anyway, get yourself a multi-meter tester ($5) and test the voltage coming from the plug you are about to plug in to. If there is not enough voltage or if there is too much, your on board power system will not allow the current to flow.

We had a somewhat similar problem at a state park in Texas when we were plugged in to 30 amp (we have 50 amp on board) and at times when we were running one AC, suddenly the generator would start and run for a few minutes and then shut down. I still am not sure about that one. I did check the 30 amp plug when this happened and voltage showed to be 108. Later in the evening it showed to be 118. A few days later we were using 50 amp at another place and everything was fine.

Others, please comment. As I said, I believe this may be somewhat accurate but I don't want to mislead the OP, especially on electricity issues.

Don

akadeadeye · 06-20-2011, 12:21 PM

Incidentally, since this incident have you tried 20 amp service somewhere else? And did it work?

Don

fansill · 06-20-2011, 12:31 PM

Don,

We are still at the campground, just doing some work in my office today before I head back to the RV this evening. We rarely have to use 20 amp service, but hopefully if we do have to in the future, I will be able to figure it all out...and I think that the campground electrical is not all that good because I have heard other complaints about it...

Faith

**RJay** · 06-20-2011, 12:43 PM

It's no wonder that some parks have so much trouble with their electrical system when people like the one who told you not to use your surge guard is making the repairs.

Was this park at or near the coast? The salt air plays havoc with exposed electrical equipment. I would assume the reason the “electrical guy” told you not to use the surge guard is that it would find a floating neutral, open neutral, no ground or assortment of problems they don't know how to correct. This is exactly why you SHOULD use your surge guard.

I agree with Don, I don't think there is anything wrong with your coach. Consider yourself lucky your coach or appliances weren't damaged.