Bad wiring in parks

[Dutch 'n Sandy]

Greetings all.
I thought I would write this simply for information to any who might be interested. It is a long post, but may contain some information that might help someone. I had read pros and cons of Autoformers, and decided to buy one "just in case"� about two years ago. I have carried it in the back of the RV since then without using it.
At last years (2005) Escapees Fall Escapade we purchased a whole unit electrical monitoring and protection device and had it installed. Now when we pull into a space in a park, we do two things before I even turn off the truck. First I test the physical tightness of the internals of the plug on the post using a ladies emery board as we learned at the Escapade. If the plug internals are loose, it can cause arcing and burning of my plug. This looseness happens a lot more frequently than I would have ever expected, and in fact did burn a plug that was on a surge protector that I had been using before we got the whole rig electrical protection unit. I sometimes carry that into a park's office when I find a loose connection and want to move. But I digress. The second thing I do is plug in my electrical cord to the post and then go look at the readouts displayed on the electrical protection device. It tells me what the voltage is, the Hertz of the source, the amps being pulled, and if there are any polarity or grounding faults, etc.
On July 15, 2006, we pulled into a park about 75 miles north of Duluth that clearly was not exactly new. We were going up the western shore of Lake Superior and there were no other choices available for the weekend. Since we were only going to spend one night, I figured it was OK. The plug on the site post was in fact tight.... Surprise! However, when I plugged in, the voltage reading was only 109 volts. Since I knew that the low voltage cut off for the Electrical Protection Device (hereafter referred to as the EPD) was 105 volts, I thought it would be marginally OK. We set up and within an hour, the electricity went off and back on several times. It was about noon that day, and the area was experiencing the biggest heat wave they had experienced in almost 60 years.
Candidly, I was not thinking very well at that time, because my truck had started to run badly and the check engine light had come on. I knew we had to drive back to a larger town about 30 miles back towards Duluth to find any service for a diesel. We stopped at the park office on the way out and said that there was a problem with the electrical supply at our site because it kept going off and on. Now those of you who understand electrical supply systems can see how my mind was on other things. We had not gone out once to "reset the breaker"�, but I missed that point because of worrying about the truck and the rest of our trip.
We came back to the RV park in a small Chevy sedan because the maintenance department of the local Chevy/Chrysler/whatever-else dealer was closed on Saturday and I didn't want to drive the truck any more. When we got back, the office guy said they had changed out the breaker on the post with another used one, and then had gone into town to get a new one. It was at that time when my mind kicked back into gear. This type of breaker does not reset itself. It will not come back on once tripped. Then it clicked. The voltage in the park had been only 109 when we set up. It was the heat of the day and the park was almost full. Everyone was using their air conditioners. I went to the electrical compartment of the rig and the voltage was now reading 105. Bingo. My EPD had sensed low voltage and had turned off. When voltage came back up, it turned back on. This was a situation I had not considered before. The fellow who had changed the breaker was the park handyman/lawn cutter, etc. When I figured out the problem, I told the kid that there was nothing they could do but thanks for the effort. He looked relieved and promptly left.
It is not a good thing for power to turn off and immediately back on when you are running an AC unit. That is a good way to burn out the compressor motor, when it tries to re-start against compressor head pressure. I had to use my Autoformer to solve the problem. This is a transformer that senses low voltage and turns on, giving about a 10 % boost in voltage that goes to your rig. You plug in the Autoformer to the park electrical supply, and then plug your rig into the Autoformer.
I keep a cheap analog voltmeter plugged into a wall plug inside the trailer. I used an extension cord with it so I could hold it in my lap and watch what the voltage was doing. It was very informative and entertaining to such as I. My wife just shook her head. The Autoformer has two lights on it. One is orange and simply indicates that the unit is plugged in. The other light is red and indicates when the Autoformer kicks in and is boosting voltage. I sat with the analog voltmeter in my lap in a chair where I could see the Autoformer lights. The following is what I observed.
During the heat of the day, the Autoformer stayed on almost constantly, meaning the park voltage was low. Note that when the Autoformer kicks in, it will not turn off until the park voltage comes back to about 115 volts. I watched the voltage (coming from the Autoformer) and it varied from about 110 volts to about 120 volts. This means that the park voltage was running between 100 and 110 volts. You could see when someone's AC unit kicked on as the voltage would drop about 2 volts. The next morning when I got up, the Autoformer was off. We had not run our AC during the night. I sat in my chair, picked up the analog voltmeter and looked out at the Autoformer which was off. I had switched on the AC as I was sitting down. While I was looking at the voltmeter, my AC kicked on. Three things happened in a fraction of a second. The voltmeter went from 114 volts (park voltage with the Autoformer off) to 104 volts as the A/C tried to start, and then up to 116 volts as the Autoformer kicked on. All this happened in less than a second. As far as I am concerned, the Autoformer is preventing an early death of my AC due to the low voltage in this park. It was Sunday morning, and I spent an hour watching variations in park voltage as people turned on Microwaves or A/C units, and then when they unplugged to leave. By 10:30, the park voltage was up to about 118 volts and was steady, and my Autoformer was off. They really need to upgrade the park wiring. I was watching classic IR loss in "too small"� wiring in the park.
I know that some people think that using an Autoformer is stealing power from others in the park. With my EPD in the rig, it was either use one or damage my A/C by rapid on/off cycles of the EPD... or turn off the EPD and live with low voltage. I wasn't going to live with low voltage. I am paying for 30 amps of current from the park. I can't draw any more than that or the post breaker will trip. I can't use as many appliances when I use the Autoformer because it pulls more amps (needed to boost the voltage) for specific loads. If my microwave needs 10 amps, it will pull 11-12 amps from the park when an Autoformer is used. But then I can't use other things that normally I could use if no Autoformer was needed. If I could normally run appliances that in total pulled 28 amps (I have done that), then I would need 31-32 amps when the Autoformer was on (boosting 10% at 100% efficiency). That would trip the breaker so I have to turn something off. That is the real down side of an Autoformer.
This is not an argument for the use of Autoformers. It is simply information that others might find useful when heavy loads of power are being used in older RV parks.

Dutch Dinwiddie
P.S. It will probably be many days before I get Wi-Fi again, so if someone asks a question, I may not be able to answer for many days. We will be way out in the woods when the truck gets fixed.

[Dutch 'n Sandy]

Greetings all.
I thought I would write this simply for information to any who might be interested. It is a long post, but may contain some information that might help someone. I had read pros and cons of Autoformers, and decided to buy one "just in case"� about two years ago. I have carried it in the back of the RV since then without using it.
At last years (2005) Escapees Fall Escapade we purchased a whole unit electrical monitoring and protection device and had it installed. Now when we pull into a space in a park, we do two things before I even turn off the truck. First I test the physical tightness of the internals of the plug on the post using a ladies emery board as we learned at the Escapade. If the plug internals are loose, it can cause arcing and burning of my plug. This looseness happens a lot more frequently than I would have ever expected, and in fact did burn a plug that was on a surge protector that I had been using before we got the whole rig electrical protection unit. I sometimes carry that into a park's office when I find a loose connection and want to move. But I digress. The second thing I do is plug in my electrical cord to the post and then go look at the readouts displayed on the electrical protection device. It tells me what the voltage is, the Hertz of the source, the amps being pulled, and if there are any polarity or grounding faults, etc.
On July 15, 2006, we pulled into a park about 75 miles north of Duluth that clearly was not exactly new. We were going up the western shore of Lake Superior and there were no other choices available for the weekend. Since we were only going to spend one night, I figured it was OK. The plug on the site post was in fact tight.... Surprise! However, when I plugged in, the voltage reading was only 109 volts. Since I knew that the low voltage cut off for the Electrical Protection Device (hereafter referred to as the EPD) was 105 volts, I thought it would be marginally OK. We set up and within an hour, the electricity went off and back on several times. It was about noon that day, and the area was experiencing the biggest heat wave they had experienced in almost 60 years.
Candidly, I was not thinking very well at that time, because my truck had started to run badly and the check engine light had come on. I knew we had to drive back to a larger town about 30 miles back towards Duluth to find any service for a diesel. We stopped at the park office on the way out and said that there was a problem with the electrical supply at our site because it kept going off and on. Now those of you who understand electrical supply systems can see how my mind was on other things. We had not gone out once to "reset the breaker"�, but I missed that point because of worrying about the truck and the rest of our trip.
We came back to the RV park in a small Chevy sedan because the maintenance department of the local Chevy/Chrysler/whatever-else dealer was closed on Saturday and I didn't want to drive the truck any more. When we got back, the office guy said they had changed out the breaker on the post with another used one, and then had gone into town to get a new one. It was at that time when my mind kicked back into gear. This type of breaker does not reset itself. It will not come back on once tripped. Then it clicked. The voltage in the park had been only 109 when we set up. It was the heat of the day and the park was almost full. Everyone was using their air conditioners. I went to the electrical compartment of the rig and the voltage was now reading 105. Bingo. My EPD had sensed low voltage and had turned off. When voltage came back up, it turned back on. This was a situation I had not considered before. The fellow who had changed the breaker was the park handyman/lawn cutter, etc. When I figured out the problem, I told the kid that there was nothing they could do but thanks for the effort. He looked relieved and promptly left.
It is not a good thing for power to turn off and immediately back on when you are running an AC unit. That is a good way to burn out the compressor motor, when it tries to re-start against compressor head pressure. I had to use my Autoformer to solve the problem. This is a transformer that senses low voltage and turns on, giving about a 10 % boost in voltage that goes to your rig. You plug in the Autoformer to the park electrical supply, and then plug your rig into the Autoformer.
I keep a cheap analog voltmeter plugged into a wall plug inside the trailer. I used an extension cord with it so I could hold it in my lap and watch what the voltage was doing. It was very informative and entertaining to such as I. My wife just shook her head. The Autoformer has two lights on it. One is orange and simply indicates that the unit is plugged in. The other light is red and indicates when the Autoformer kicks in and is boosting voltage. I sat with the analog voltmeter in my lap in a chair where I could see the Autoformer lights. The following is what I observed.
During the heat of the day, the Autoformer stayed on almost constantly, meaning the park voltage was low. Note that when the Autoformer kicks in, it will not turn off until the park voltage comes back to about 115 volts. I watched the voltage (coming from the Autoformer) and it varied from about 110 volts to about 120 volts. This means that the park voltage was running between 100 and 110 volts. You could see when someone's AC unit kicked on as the voltage would drop about 2 volts. The next morning when I got up, the Autoformer was off. We had not run our AC during the night. I sat in my chair, picked up the analog voltmeter and looked out at the Autoformer which was off. I had switched on the AC as I was sitting down. While I was looking at the voltmeter, my AC kicked on. Three things happened in a fraction of a second. The voltmeter went from 114 volts (park voltage with the Autoformer off) to 104 volts as the A/C tried to start, and then up to 116 volts as the Autoformer kicked on. All this happened in less than a second. As far as I am concerned, the Autoformer is preventing an early death of my AC due to the low voltage in this park. It was Sunday morning, and I spent an hour watching variations in park voltage as people turned on Microwaves or A/C units, and then when they unplugged to leave. By 10:30, the park voltage was up to about 118 volts and was steady, and my Autoformer was off. They really need to upgrade the park wiring. I was watching classic IR loss in "too small"� wiring in the park.
I know that some people think that using an Autoformer is stealing power from others in the park. With my EPD in the rig, it was either use one or damage my A/C by rapid on/off cycles of the EPD... or turn off the EPD and live with low voltage. I wasn't going to live with low voltage. I am paying for 30 amps of current from the park. I can't draw any more than that or the post breaker will trip. I can't use as many appliances when I use the Autoformer because it pulls more amps (needed to boost the voltage) for specific loads. If my microwave needs 10 amps, it will pull 11-12 amps from the park when an Autoformer is used. But then I can't use other things that normally I could use if no Autoformer was needed. If I could normally run appliances that in total pulled 28 amps (I have done that), then I would need 31-32 amps when the Autoformer was on (boosting 10% at 100% efficiency). That would trip the breaker so I have to turn something off. That is the real down side of an Autoformer.
This is not an argument for the use of Autoformers. It is simply information that others might find useful when heavy loads of power are being used in older RV parks.

Dutch Dinwiddie
P.S. It will probably be many days before I get Wi-Fi again, so if someone asks a question, I may not be able to answer for many days. We will be way out in the woods when the truck gets fixed.

[troth]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">My EPD had sensed low voltage and had turned off. When voltage came back up, it turned back on. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


Nice write-up, Dutch! If I am reading this correctly, I sense that you have concern about the power on/off cycling of the Autoformer and the susequent rapid on/off of your air conditioner compressor. I know the Autoformer has a built-in surge protector, however there are other surge protectors available which can help you in two ways: a.) they have a higher joule rating (for speed and power of the cutoff, and b.) they have a built-in time delay, usually about 2 minutes... -so if power does "brown-out" and fall below 104 vdc, it trips and has to wait 2 minutes before re-trying the power. This two minutes can save A/C compressors restarting.
You might want to look at a TRC or Progressive Industries surge protector and install it after your autoformer so conditioned power from the autoformer has to pass through the surge protector 2 minute delay.