Surge Protector question

[meffrig]

I went to my favorite park and plugged in as always to the 50 amp pedestal and my built in surge protector would not allow the coach to have power. The nice folks at the park came out to help and checked the power which showed fine.. They had changed out the breaker to 60 amp. I even tried reducing the power down to 30"amp with no luck. I moved to a different site with a 50 amp breaker and my power came thru. By changing the breaker in the pedestal, did this keep me from getting power on my original site? Also, my surge protector makes a popping noise when the power in the coach kicks on. Is this normal? Any advice is much appreciated.

[Gary RVRoamer]

What make & model of surge protector do you have, and what power error was it showing? Even the simplest unit has a a few indicator lights to show why power is hut down. At a guess, I would say that pedestal had an open ground or some reversed wires and the "test" that the park people did was not thorough enough to detect it. There are multiple faults that won't show if they only test for power across the hot terminals.

If a park handyman recently changed a breaker, there is a fair chance the guy failed to odo the correct wiring for the outlet, e.g. an open ground or reversed ground and neutral. Too many people simply don't know there is a right & a wrong way to do, but your surge protector knows the difference.

[meffrig]

Thanks for replying Gary.

My surge protector is Surge Guard, model 34560. Line 1 and Line 2 light up in green and the Caution When Flashing Light blinks in red while checking the power from the pedestal. The photo I have attached is what it should look like (3 green lights, no red) when all is OK. I have my unit hooked up to a 15 amp outlet at home just to keep my batteries charged.

I guess a possibility is to check back with the park handyman and try to explain to him the issue. Other motorhomes were hooked up and doing fine on the same row that I was assigned. They maybe didn't have surge protectors either. I'm still puzzled. Could my surge protector be shot?

[powercat_ras]

If both power lights were green and the caution light was flashing, it should have cut thru power after 120 seconds. The manual states that this condition after 120 seconds indicates voltage is present on the ground wire. It is supposed to still cut power thru but give you the flashing light as a saftey warning that the pedestal has a bad ground. This should be confirmable with a volt meter by the park staff.

34560 Users Manual

[meffrig]

I went back to the campground today. They are replacing some of the 50 amp breakers with 60 amps as needed. I assume some of the 50 amp breakers are worn out and continue to trip.The campground handy man told me some of the new larger Class A busses are now all electric--therefore the reason for replacing bad 50 amp breakers with the 60 amp breakers. He assures me that the pedestal is hooked up properly because all he did was change the 50 amp to a 60.

This has really got me puzzled. I will continue to try to find the solution because I really like the campground and the people there.

[cimplexsound]

There are probably step down adapters available from the internet you can plug your coach into. If it were me I would do some research on eBay. The park probably has an adapter they can sell you so you can safely run your coach on 60 amp power.

I run on a 30 AMP system and so I never had issues. But I do know now many power inverters in today's RVs are computer chipped and have relay switches that switch between shore power, solar, and generator with auto detect feature. The clicking noise might be one your relay switch turning on as you flip the power on. Mine also has built in surge protection but I almost never know its working because my inverter system is completely automatic.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Swapping 50A breakers for 60's to better handle all-electric coaches is another bad sign concerning the park staff's electrical prowess. That won't change anything one iota - the coach 50A breakers will still trip if they exceed 50A. They are wasting money and clearly do not understand how their power systems is supposed to work.

Voltage on the ground won't show up unless explicitly tested for, but it's still a flaw. Not a very dangerous one if its very low voltage, say under 10v, but still a sign of a power problem.

Replacing a breaker still gives ample opportunity to mix up the wires if they aren't aware that it really does make a difference what wire goes where.

Sorry, cimplexsound, but you don't need any equipment to plug into a 60A outlet vs 50A. It doesn't push extra amps into your coach - it merely means the outlet can supply more amps before the breaker trips. And you can't "step down" amperage; transformers step down voltage.

[Hooligan]

Originally Posted by meffrig

........Also, my surge protector makes a popping noise when the power in the coach kicks on. Is this normal? Any advice is much appreciated.

The Surge Guard has a relay that connects the power to the coach if there are no errors. That's the clunk you hear.
If your coach worked fine on the other power pedestal, problem is not your surge protection or coach. Either mis-wire or faulty connections at that particular pedestal.

[meffrig]

Well I drove my motor home back to the park and tried 2 different sites with 50 amp service. After 2 minutes, my surge protector allowed the power to come into the coach.

I explained to the camp staff that my surge protector is fine and they may have some issues at those pedestals in which they changed to 60 amps. I am unsure if they believed me so I guess we will wait and see if other RV'ers run into the same problems I had. I really don't know what else I can do.

Thanks to all who responded to my post. You were a big help!

[Gary RVRoamer]

I am unsure if they believed me

I'm willing to bet they did not, but at least you tried. Maybe they will eventually understand.