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Old 06-05-2011, 07:39 AM   #1
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Problems with Power?

We have a 2007 Cardinal 5th wheel. Camped in in one time...at Easter. Everything worked fine. Only camped one night.

Tornadoes hit our town (Cullman, AL) on April 27th and ended up using the camper to stay in.

In a nutshell, everything worked fine, but at times the air will cut off and so will the refrigerator. There is one air unit. Breaker flipped a couple of times with the ref, but flipped it back.

We have a special 30 amp box wired for the camper at home. It is plugged from the 50 amp plug, using an adapter taking it down to a 30 amp.

We are about to go camping at the beach and I want to make sure nothing electrical is wrong before we go where its so hot, etc.

Help please.
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Old 06-05-2011, 11:34 AM   #2
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trying to get this straight so it can be answered correctly

the camper is 30 amp and you have it converted from a 50 amp service on the wall?

or is the camper a 50 amp service and the box attached to the house is a 30 amp service?

I have a box that I plug into the power outlet to make sure it is setup correctly before I plug my camper into it.

Have you ever plugged the camper into the plug and have no issues or you saying you took the camper out on a camping trip and used the elcetrical at the site without issues?
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Old 06-05-2011, 02:11 PM   #3
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I think you may be confusing people when you talk about a "special 30 amp box". If you are refering to a 110 30 amp outlet at you house heres my thoughts. My 08 cardinal is wired for 50 amps, when I take it down to 30 amps (using an adapter) I have to be careful as to what is on. My first mistake is not turning off the electric water heater switch. You should have one, most likely outside in the water heater compartment. Make sure its off. Is the AC and refer on the same side of the 50 amp split in the breaker box? You may also have a weak 50amp main breaker may want to change it out. You should beable to run the AC and most everything else with no problem, if all systems are ok. You may want to try the frig. on propane for awhile and see it you get the same results.
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Old 06-06-2011, 04:52 AM   #4
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Sorry to be confusing

I will try what you said. The box is a 110 30 amp for our camper at home.

The camper is a 50 amp service and we use the adapter to bring it down to a 30 amp to plug in at home.

When we camped, it was the only time...first time with this camper and everything was fine. It was plugged into the 50 amp at the campground.

I will try what you suggested today and see what is going on.

Thanks.
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Old 06-06-2011, 08:40 AM   #5
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which breaker is throwing? is it the one supplying the box ur plugged into? is it the individual breaker to the a/c or frig? is it the main 50 amp in the trailer?
that main 50 should not be tripping.
i usually kick the breaker supplying my trailer when i plug into 30 amp. i usually have to follow the suggestion of cardnal4fun. usually i can get away with everything as long as i don't try the a/c, microwave, and hw heater at the same time.
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Old 06-27-2011, 07:20 AM   #6
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We are camping at Gulf state park. 50 amp power, everything worked fine for 2 days. Last night the air quit and the refrigerator lights are blinking. I checked all breakers and none were flipped. After about 45 minutes the air came on and worked fine til 7 am. It went off, ref is still blinking. Now air unit just came on but is just humming. We need some help. We have 5 more days of vacation. 256-962-4468. Call please.
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Old 06-27-2011, 08:19 AM   #7
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This sounds like you had/have a problem with campground power. Brown out maybe. What is the campground voltage?

If it was low for a while (I always measure AND monitor) you could have some real damage.
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Old 06-27-2011, 08:34 AM   #8
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Lights, tv, ref. outside works fine. No power surges
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Old 06-27-2011, 08:42 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aharris562 View Post
Lights, tv, ref. outside works fine. No power surges
A Brown Out is not a power surge. A Brown out is when the available voltage at the pedestal drops below 105 volts. It happens ALL the time even at your house. The only way to tell is to have a recording voltmeter to tell that is "happened". The problem is if the voltage is low when the AC compressor tries to start it can burn up the compressor motor or control boards.

Brown outs are transient and can happen seemingly at random. At the last campground we stayed at the power was fine in the cool of the evening when we arrived, but in the morning it was low because folks were making breakfast with electric skillets/coffee makers and running their air conditioners (it was going to be a hot one so everyone was trying to "precool" their campers). Power that was 123 VAC the previous night was 104 VAC that morning.
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Old 06-27-2011, 08:51 AM   #10
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sounds like low voltage to me. what is happening to the other campers? if everyone else is ok, i would look at the 30/50 adapter. unplug the trailer and do a visual inspection of ur 50 plug and adapter prongs for color change from overheating.
if everyone else is ok, i would also try another supply.
well used campground sockets can be worn to the point of causing arcing. u should see this in melting around one of your plug spades u plug into the campground supply.
the flickering frig light also makes me wonder abt ur DC voltage (unless ur talking abt the error indication....that could happen because it tried to light and the propane wasn't there).
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Old 06-27-2011, 09:00 AM   #11
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All good info to know. We called a repair service for the campground. On the way. Also the hot water heater won't light but the light comes on and the "fantastic fan" won't work either
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Old 06-27-2011, 11:45 AM   #12
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Repairman came and replaced power converter with a much better one. The other one was burnt up and had no surge protection. New one is a Inteli Power 9200 with a Charge Wizzard . 538.34 but we are cool and everything works
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Old 06-27-2011, 01:47 PM   #13
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did u check the condition of ur battery? the battery could be putting an extra drag on the converter if it has a dead cell.
another thought. u have been camping for over a month now. if u aren't, u need to check the water level abt once/mo to make sure it still has water in it.
seems like my battery would last abt 2 yrs. i have an optma battery now. i'll find out in a couple yrs if it was worth the money. installed it last year.
glad u electrical problem was found.
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