Tripping breaker

[RVRon]

Alrighty then....I'm having the new Motorhome fire drill. Building a list for the dealer to fix, but there's one problem in particular that's driving me nuts (short drive, as they say). Started out yesterday when I couldn't get any shorepower in the unit. Generator ran, no power...plugged into my house, no power and tripped the house breaker. (Used a 50A to 30A dogbone and then a 30A to 15A dogbone). Took unit to dealer (Campers Barn in Kingston, NY) to check it out and, to their credit, they diagnosed and replaced a bad transfer switch. In my bliss at getting my unit back so quickly, I neglected to ask about plugging in for house power. When I got home all seemed well, generator running and 115V power running the air conditioner units fine. Tonight I plugged the unit into the house. Turned all big loads off first, and , voila....a tripped breaker in the house again and again and again and no power in the coach. Fired up the genset and I had 115V just fine. Do you think it's from reducing the line from 50A to 15A? Maybe the dogbone is faulty? Old RV worked fine on this outlet but was only 30A reduced to 15A. What do you guys think?

[RVRon]

Alrighty then....I'm having the new Motorhome fire drill. Building a list for the dealer to fix, but there's one problem in particular that's driving me nuts (short drive, as they say). Started out yesterday when I couldn't get any shorepower in the unit. Generator ran, no power...plugged into my house, no power and tripped the house breaker. (Used a 50A to 30A dogbone and then a 30A to 15A dogbone). Took unit to dealer (Campers Barn in Kingston, NY) to check it out and, to their credit, they diagnosed and replaced a bad transfer switch. In my bliss at getting my unit back so quickly, I neglected to ask about plugging in for house power. When I got home all seemed well, generator running and 115V power running the air conditioner units fine. Tonight I plugged the unit into the house. Turned all big loads off first, and , voila....a tripped breaker in the house again and again and again and no power in the coach. Fired up the genset and I had 115V just fine. Do you think it's from reducing the line from 50A to 15A? Maybe the dogbone is faulty? Old RV worked fine on this outlet but was only 30A reduced to 15A. What do you guys think?

[JB Texas]

Ron,
Quick question, when you say "tripped breaker", is it a breaker in the house main panel or is it a GFI breaker?

[RVRon]

Main panel in house 15A circuit, non GFI

["007"]

RON, Your 15 amps from house can't run two airs like your GEN can. Plus you may have a larger amp draw from larger refer,converter etc,etc. When the compresser of air kicks in it draws a higher amperage. Like you say you could also have a faulty 50 amp dog-bone. With a meter check the three leads for continuity than for shorts across any of them, use ohm scale or tone ckt of meter. Congratulations on your new coach. "007"

[RVRon]

007, I had all systems shut down when I plugged into the house. I just use the house to run the fridge while I'm home. I would never put that heavy of a load on a 15A circuit....

["007"]

I do the same thing, but if I use a vacume in MH, an large TV is turned on in house 15 amp pops. I'd check that 50-amp to 30-amp dogbone. "007"

[Grumpy Dave]

Do you nave a Energy Management System? On some setups you have to actually set the system for the incoming power source.If you in fact have this type of system make sure it's set for 15amp.

[RVRon]

Thanks for all the input so far.....checking the dogbone and the PMS as suggested in a while.

[RVRon]

ok, so....I replaced BOTH adapters (the 50A to 30A & the 30A to 15A) and still the breaker tripped in the house gfi circuit. Checked the Power Management System and had it set correctly. No go. Called the dealer who informed me they called Monaco who said that the coach needed to be plugged into it's own 50A outlet if at all possible, 30A if not. I then called myself and a service advisor advised me to turn down the Magnadyne invertor/convertor so it was looking for 10A shore power rather than 30A or 50A. This I did and still no luck with the outlet or any GFI circuit. Checked the polarity..(it is fine). Gave up and came back to work to write this, but before I did I called Monaco again. This time another service advisor told me that because of the step downs in wire sizes though the adapters, the GFI circuit would ALWAYS sense a fault. So here I am. Can't cool down my refrigerator with house electric in my own driveway. Anyone have a comment or additional information??

[troth]

Just my 2 cents...
You contacted two different service advisors at Monaco and got two different answers. -I would call Monaco again and ask for the Service manager to see if you can find the "truth". Seems unlikely that the coach cannot just use a household 15A receptacle to power up it's fridge.

[RVRon]

My thoughts, too. The last guy suggested taking the outside cover off the refrigerator compartment and running a dedicated extension cord to the fridge....can you imagine? I know it will probably work, but paper clips and chewing gum are not my favorite tools to repair a very expensive motorcoach.

[Hitchhiker]

Some hunches:

<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Maybe a weak 15 amp breaker in the house panel.
<LI>GFCI on house panel tripping.[/list]
You might test that outlet with another electrical device such as a toaster, iron, heavy duty drill, etc. Use something that'll pull ~10 amps and see if that circuit will hold. Also, test with something that has a 3 prong plug to see if that GFCI is working right.

[RVRon]

Hi Richard,
I appreciate your input. Tested the outlet, in fact, I tried all my GFI outdoor outlets to no avail. I do get electric from a non-GFI no problem. As far as a load, It was fine a week ago with the old 30 amp coach necked down to 15A. Still confused.