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Old 11-13-2019, 02:45 PM   #1
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50 Amp Power Cord

Had a bad 50amp male plug which threw the breaker replaced the plug and now I am only reading 30amps on my EMS .... I rechecked the plug it looks good...
The rest of the cord at the plug end looks fine nothing burnt up.
What kind of damaged could I have possibly have done .... I can find no other breakers that have been tripped... would check the other end of the power cord but it travels through the power reel inside that storage bucket and from there it goes underneath to somewhere .... where should I Be looking any ideas
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Old 11-13-2019, 03:32 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyparker View Post
Had a bad 50amp male plug which threw the breaker replaced the plug and now I am only reading 30amps on my EMS .... I rechecked the plug it looks good...
The rest of the cord at the plug end looks fine nothing burnt up.
What kind of damaged could I have possibly have done .... I can find no other breakers that have been tripped... would check the other end of the power cord but it travels through the power reel inside that storage bucket and from there it goes underneath to somewhere .... where should I Be looking any ideas
I'm no electrician but it sounds like you're only getting one hot leg. Did you replace the plug on the wire yourself?
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Old 11-13-2019, 03:40 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyparker View Post
Had a bad 50amp male plug which threw the breaker replaced the plug and now I am only reading 30amps on my EMS .... I rechecked the plug it looks good...
The rest of the cord at the plug end looks fine nothing burnt up.
What kind of damaged could I have possibly have done .... I can find no other breakers that have been tripped... would check the other end of the power cord but it travels through the power reel inside that storage bucket and from there it goes underneath to somewhere .... where should I Be looking any ideas
Since you are the one that changed the plug That is where In would start. 50 amps is 240 volts. 30 amps is 120 volts. You have missed wired the new plug. Take it apart and try again. Outside straight blades are black and red. 240 volts. Center straight blade is white. Center round blade is green. Make sure they are VERY tight. You are measuring 120 volts. MISS WIRED PLUG.
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Old 11-13-2019, 03:58 PM   #4
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What makes you think the 50A plug threw the breaker? Are you sure it wasn't something on down the cord.
If the red or black came loose in the plug, you'll only get 30A. If you wired the plug wrong, you would trip the breaker instantly when you plug into the female plug.
Go into your beaker panel inside the coach and measure voltage for the two
120 V lines to see if they are both "hot" at the top of the panel. Also check the female plug to see it's still hot on both legs.
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Old 11-13-2019, 04:28 PM   #5
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All the above recommendations are spot on, OP needs to go back to basics,, why did the breaker trip, Bad plug ? not likely, more about something down stream. OP did not say that after he replaced the plug that the breaker tripped AGAIN,,, so, what's going on. The new issue is no 240 volts ,, OP says only 30 amp now available. Is this a cord reel issue?

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Old 11-13-2019, 04:50 PM   #6
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If thing are working in the MH, you may not have a plug wiring issue.

Some EMS systems depend on the correct circuit breakers to be switched on.

Check that ALL of the breakers in the breaker panel are on, then check the EMS readout.
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Old 11-13-2019, 05:33 PM   #7
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Check to make sure you have 240 volts at the pole. Here in our park I have seen many 50 amp breakers go bad on one side only. Might also have a bad connection at the breaker our the outlet.
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Old 11-14-2019, 06:40 AM   #8
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Be extremely careful, sounds like one of the hot wires may be connected to the neutral or ground in the new plug
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Old 11-14-2019, 07:57 AM   #9
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Power cord

The plug in question is a replacement plug that was put on by previous owners ... the cord itself had gradually been pulled out of the plug I didnt notice but this caused one of the hot legs to touch inside the plug that immediately tripped 50 amp breaker ... took the plug apart reworked the plug made sure the two hot legs were on the outside and the ground at the top and neutral on the bottom blade ....
So now when I plug in I’m only reading 30amps at the ems... one curious thing sometimes the ems will start searching switch to 50 and then will go back to 30 where it primarily will stay until it starts searching again .... running the generator gives me a full 50 at the ems ..... considered perhaps I messed up the transfer switch...
Question can I check my power cord output at the transfer switch since I can’t see where the power cord is wired too.
I’m ready to go and just rechecked everything I did at the plug alto I’m pretty sure it’s all good
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Old 11-14-2019, 08:56 AM   #10
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Be extremely careful, sounds like one of the hot wires may be connected to the neutral or ground in the new plug
If that was the case, a breaker back at the source would trip instantly. Once you plug it in you have a hot to ground, or neutral, and that is a dead short.
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Old 11-14-2019, 08:58 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyparker View Post
The plug in question is a replacement plug that was put on by previous owners ... the cord itself had gradually been pulled out of the plug I didnt notice but this caused one of the hot legs to touch inside the plug that immediately tripped 50 amp breaker ... took the plug apart reworked the plug made sure the two hot legs were on the outside and the ground at the top and neutral on the bottom blade ....
So now when I plug in I’m only reading 30amps at the ems... one curious thing sometimes the ems will start searching switch to 50 and then will go back to 30 where it primarily will stay until it starts searching again .... running the generator gives me a full 50 at the ems ..... considered perhaps I messed up the transfer switch...
Question can I check my power cord output at the transfer switch since I can’t see where the power cord is wired too.
I’m ready to go and just rechecked everything I did at the plug alto I’m pretty sure it’s all good
Yes, that would be a good point to check.
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Old 11-14-2019, 09:01 AM   #12
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Yes, checking the voltage on the switch that closes when you plug in will tell you what you have at that point.
With your voltmeter, put one lead on the neutral and one lead on one side of the switch, should have 120V. Then move the switch lead to the other side of the switch an you should see 120V. After that move the neutral lead to the first side of the switch and there should be 240V across the two sides of the switch. If that's what you get, then the 50A plug & cord is providing what it should to the switch.

If you do that procedure and get 0V across the two sides of the switch, then both sides of the switch are being fed power by only one leg of the 50A plug, just the same as using plug in adaptors to go from a 30A plug into a 50A plug to power the coach, and you will see 30A on your EMS .

Let us know what you get.
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Old 11-14-2019, 09:03 AM   #13
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Take the plug apart again. Loose connection.
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Old 11-14-2019, 09:35 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by alank View Post
Yes, checking the voltage on the switch that closes when you plug in will tell you what you have at that point.
With your voltmeter, put one lead on the neutral and one lead on one side of the switch, should have 120V. Then move the switch lead to the other side of the switch an you should see 120V. After that move the neutral lead to the first side of the switch and there should be 240V across the two sides of the switch. If that's what you get, then the 50A plug & cord is providing what it should to the switch.

If you do that procedure and get 0V across the two sides of the switch, then both sides of the switch are being fed power by only one leg of the 50A plug, just the same as using plug in adaptors to go from a 30A plug into a 50A plug to power the coach, and you will see 30A on your EMS .

Let us know what you get.
I found out that power cord runs directly into the transfer switch where I put the probe on neutral and check power at both black and red and I have 120 on each .... on the left side of the transfer switch I can find no power on the right red and green together has 240 on that same side probe on neutral while checking red and the black gives me 120 each
There are two sides to the transfer switch I see power coming in the center but I have no idea how the different sides work.... having no power in one side and power in the other don’t know what that means .... did I check them correctly??
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