Camper won't hook to house

[Britneyday1]

Hello, I'm Britney. I've wanted a camper for many years. I finally got one and have no idea what I'm doing. I figured I'd hook it up to my home to see what works. I checked the lights first. There are about 8 lights. I live in a small single wide trailer. I got a outdoor extention cord and hooked the rv to my place. I turned on all the lights but once I turned on a certain one, it blew a fuse in my house. I tried turning off the light in my house and then plugging the rv in but the same fuse blew. What do i do? What am i doing wrong

[justfishing]

Your house plug is more than likely on a gfci breaker and probably 15 amp. Many things could be wrong but i would find a circuit thats not on a gfci 15 amp plug to test it. Try 1 light at a time if necessary. Also your extension cord could be too small. Those gfci plugs on mobile homes are very sensitive. Safe but sensitive.

[tuffr2]

So you have all the adaptors to get plugged into the single wide it sounds like.
That is good. If you have enough extension cord plug it into the same outlet as the micro wave. Maybe that is a 20 amp outlet.

Your extension cord should be a thick, quality, expensive one from Home Depot or Lowe's. I am thinking it should cost $60.

[YC1]

Supply and demand. If your supply can only give you so much you must reduce your demand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DpIzugALqc

[charliez]

When I saw this, I had to thing, does the house have the proper size ball and lighting harness?

[tbos1958]

Your RV is pulling more current than your plug will permit. Depending on your RV, your AC and or microwave won’t work when hooked up to a 15 amp plug. Get to know an electrician and have him add a dedicated RV plug on your place. In the mean time, power management is your only choice. Only a few items on at a time. As others have said make sure you have a good quality very heavy duty extension cord or if you are using just your RV cord and an adapter make sure they aren’t getting hot. FYI, If you change your RV lights to LEDs they won’t draw as much power. Good luck.

[vsheetz]

Could be the converter / battery charger is drawing a goodly amount of current (draws more when the batteries are low on charge). The converter plus a few lights is exceeding the house circuit capacity.

You likely have a battery charge indicator. Leave most of the lights off till its fully charged. Then see if the lighting issue goes away.

If not, it could be the lights themselves are drawing more current than the circuit can provide. Swap out for LED bulbs, dont have them all on at once, or have a 30a RV circuit installed in the house.

[Soppy]

Could we have a little more information on your camper as to yr , type and length. It will help in giving you the correct information. A couple of pictures would be great.

As a start , turn off everything in the camper then plug in the cord and see if the fuse in your house blows. You could possibly have a short in the wiring , or it could just be overloaded.

[rrtribble]

Britneyday1

To provide the best info for your problem we need to know (1) what rv you own, a motorhome (MH), travel trailer (TT), 5th wheel (5er)? (2) what is the size of your extension cord, exterior or interior; exterior: orange (standard 20 amp), yellow heavy duty 20/30amp) or black (thick 30/50 amp)? (3) what receptacle are you plugging the extension cord into (standard -15; microwave receptacle 20 amp)? (4) how many lights are on in your rv before you blow the breaker (CB)? (5) Is it the same rv light that blows the CB?

For the long term you need to have an electrician wire you an appropriate rv exterior plug (30/50 amp) but for now let's just walk thru a procedure to get you started in testing that new baby of yours.

Insure everything is off in your rv ( you won't be able to shut off the battery charger so don't worry about that but make sure anything electric is off and rv is unpluged from your trailer (shore power).

Let's check the 12v system first.
1. If you have a multi meter (you can get a good one from WalMart, Lowes, etc.) check your battery. Power up the meter and turn the dial to 12v and place the red lead to the terminal marked with a + sign (positive) and the black lead to the terminal marked with a - sign (negative). If your reading on the meter is 12 volts or higher you are good to go, If below, you'll need to let the battery charge for a couple of hours but you still may have enough 12v power to test the 12v system in your rv.
2. Check fuse panel to insure all fusses are set by pushing in on them and releasing. If one sticks out a little further than the others unscrew it and check to see if it has a black spot on it which means it has burned thru - it could also just show a break in the fuse core. Replace as needed.
3. Begin test by turning on 1 light. If it works shut it back off and proceed to the next light and do the same until you have tested every light in the rv to insure they are working. IF the light does not come on, remove the cover and check the bulb as they do burn out or come loose.
4. Once all lights have been checked and working or needing bulbs, leave them off and turn on your refrigerator to gas. You should hear the igniter lite the flame. The battery provides the power to light the propane and keep the valve open based on the thermostat. If it does not start right up you may need to prime the propane line.
Insure propane tank is connected and turn one tank's valve fully open.
Go back inside and turn on one burner on your stove. Use a match or long lighter to ignite burner - if you have an igniter knob on the stove use it. Turn it repeatedly until burner lights. This may take a few seconds as the line needs to fill with propane. While you are at it, lite each burner. Stove now checked.
Now return to the frig and set the switch to propane and listen for ignition. Still may have to do it several times to get it going.
Let it run to check the cooling system out.
5. With the frig running it's time to check the furnace. Step over to your thermostat and turn your furnace on and set the temp up to insure it will turn on. It will normally take several seconds to hear the fan kick on then you may or may not hear the gas ignite but by placing your hand over a register you will feel cold air coming first then warming. Let it warm up for about 5 minutes and shut it down. All we're doing right now is checking to see if it makes heat.
6. With furnace still running and frig on turn on one light at a time until all are on. If no problems your 12v system is working great and your test of it is complete. So turn off everything. It's now time to test the electric side of the rv.

Testing the electric side of the rv:
1. Plug in you drop cord from the trailer to rv. Nothing should be on except the battery charger that you normally can't turn on or off yourself.
2. Check your Circuit Breaker panel to insure all CBs are on and ready for your test.
3. Walk thru the steps listed above for the 12v system checking each light one at a time and then turning it off. If any one of them causes a loss of electric power to unit by flipping a CB you will need to have an electrician check it out because you probably have a short. Mark any that don't work so you will know in future.
4. Turn all working lights on. Now turn them off.
5. Turn frig on AC. Let it fire up and run about 5 minutes or so to insure it is cooling and turn off.
6. Turn on furnace and let it cycle.
7. With furnace running turn on one light at a time until all working lights are on. If no problems - no loss of power everything is working fine.
Shut everything down as this is all you can do until you have a full rv receptacle in place but now you'll know how things are working.

Final step, take it to a local rv campground for the day and night to check out microwave and air conditioning unit plus water and sewer. While there you can add some water to your on board fresh water tank and try out your 12v pump, then city water hookup, hot water heater and drain valves.

NOW you're ready to go. Enjoy the rv lifestyle. It can be a little stressful learning everything but it is worth it. Hope this helps - Richard

[tuffr2]

I a nutshell you should be able to run the lights in your RV. If I plug into any 15 amp and socket I can run all the lights.

I am thinking you may have a short.

[Bob_C]

Not to confuse you, but all lights inside, except for any that are plugged in like a lamp in the house, are 12 volt....work off of the battery....any time you plug the trailers cord in, the charger/ circuit breaker side of power panel (120 volt stuff......what your house is) is powered up......so, there's two systems in power center.....the fuses are the same as cars/ trucks use and just pull straight out to replace.....each one has it's rating on the front of it (5,7.5, 10, 15, 20 and etc.)

[Bob_C]

This is mine.......circuit breakers on left (120 volt) and 12 volt fuses on right

[Persistent]

Originally Posted by Britneyday1

Hello, I'm Britney. I've wanted a camper for many years. I finally got one and have no idea what I'm doing. I figured I'd hook it up to my home to see what works. I checked the lights first. There are about 8 lights. I live in a small single wide trailer. I got a outdoor extention cord and hooked the rv to my place. I turned on all the lights but once I turned on a certain one, it blew a fuse in my house. I tried turning off the light in my house and then plugging the rv in but the same fuse blew. What do i do? What am i doing wrong

Hello Britney. I see many gallant Knights have come to your rescue. Some have assumed facts you have not provided. Some don’t relate to the facts you did provide. I am going to assume your know what you are talking about when you listed the facts.
Conclusion: A small additional current drawn by the camper added to a high draw from something in the single wide home blew the fuse.
You said turning on the 8th light “blew a fuse in my house”. This rules out a GFI issue. GFI breakers open the circuit when the current in the wire is unbalance, indicating a ground fault. A 12 volt light in the camper cannot do that. Also GFI fuses are extremely rare so it means there was enough current in your single wide home to blow the fuse.
Turning off the lights in your single wide home was a good troubleshooting step. It shows the lights in your home are probably not on the same circuit as the outlet your camper is plugged into. Unfortunately it cost you another fuse.
It is possible, but unlikely the 8th light you turned on is defective and caused a 12 volt short. If so, it probably would have blown a 12 volt fuse in the camper not the home. It is also possible total power increased just enough to blow the fuse. It is more likely something in your single wide home like an electric heater or refrigerator spontaneously turned on making the current too high for the fuse.
So the next step is to answer some questions.
What is the size of the fuse that blew? It is likely either 15 A or 20 A. What are the sizes of other fuses in the singlewide home fuse box. There is likely a main fuse that will be larger and several other fuses that are 15 or 20 Amp.
What is the camper make, and model? Does it have a circuit breaker and/or fuse panel? A picture of the panel would help greatly. Many smaller campers come with a 30 amp main circuit breaker. It would have a heavy cord with a large three blade connector that you plugged into your single wide home socket with an adapter.
What do you know about the battery in the camper? Is it charged? Is it old and dead? A discharged battery will cause the built in 12 volt converter to supply a large current to the battery. Mine is a 40 amp 12 volt charger that would draw 4 or 5 amps at 120 volt AC. Each of the lights in the camper if they are incandescent would be 3 to 5 amps. 8 X 4 = 32 amps at 12 volts. That would be 3 or 4 amps for a total draw from the single wide home of about 8 amps.
You can see it is not enough to blow the single wide home fuse by itself. But, it is a significant portion of a 15 amp fuse capacity. My guess is the battery in the camper is not connected to the camper 12 volt service. If it was connected and at least minimally charged, the lights in the camper would not have gone out when the home fuse blew. In this case the camper would have been drawing only 3 or 4 amps from the home fuse. If the camper lights are LED lights, the draw would be almost nothing. (Incandescent lights get burning hot to the touch. LED lights only get warm.)
Conclusion: A small additional current drawn by the camper added to a high draw from something in the single wide home blew the fuse.
Solution: You must use an outlet on a different circuit that has less load on it already. Or, you could find the load in the home and shut it off before connecting the camper.
This could cost a lot of fuses. Tip; kitchen counter outlets are often 20 amp outlets. Living room outlets are often 15 amp outlets.
All us Knights are standing by for you.

[joshuajim]

The OP mentioned blowing a “fuse”. If the house is still wide with fuses instead of breakers it probably only has 15a circuits.