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Old 07-11-2012, 01:26 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by Timex
Extention cord plugged to power cord. Probably 50' or more. Buried. Underground. OooooKayyyyyy! Sounds like fun to me!!!
I have two power cords. Two 25 foot "heavy duty" 30 amp power cords buried under about 2 inches of dirt starting from the box and leading to the camper. The "plugs" are under ground wrapped in electrical tape. Most of the campers where I camp have this same kind of set up.
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Old 07-11-2012, 01:34 PM   #22
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You have 2 things working against you.

1) Poor park power. If you put a volt meter on the pole while your AC is trying to start you most likely have about 105 volts instead of 120. This happens at many older campsites wired for "30 amps" only service.

In fact the ones with both a 30 amp plug and a 20 amp GFCI duplex are wired to the same incoming wire through 2 breakers. 30 amps shared is all you are going to get.

2) The extension cords also cause a voltage drop over the length of wire. The longer the wire and the more connections (plugs); the more the lost voltage.

Your compressor NEEDS watts (inductive power) to turn over. when it (say) needs 14-15 amps at 120 volts to start pumping; it may need 20 amps at 100 volts (enough to trip your circuit breaker).

The solution (other than changing campgrounds or buying a 50 amp site) is to use an autotransformer to boost your incoming voltage high enough to spin your compressor without blowing the circuit protection.

See post #50
http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ion-24971.html

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ers-14101.html

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...wer-12667.html
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Old 07-11-2012, 01:36 PM   #23
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Would a meter plugged into the camper tell me if the breaker is bad? What would be the best and most cost effective process of elimination?
Easiest thing to do is have the owner remove the breaker, go to HD or Lowes and get a replacement. While you're there, pick up 50' of #10-3 underground Romex, 50' of pvc, put a plug on each end and bury it. Problem solved and a lot safer than a buried plug with even 3 rolls of tape on it. You are asking for problems. Without any protection, if someone (kids) start digging and hit that line, they could be electrocuted. Hate to have that hanging over anyone.

Hate to say it, but you're playing with fire.
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Old 07-11-2012, 02:16 PM   #24
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First thing I would do is kill the power and check the lugs on your mains in the breaker box of the camper for tightness along with all your breakers, then I would make sure the roof top a/c coils are clean and power connections are good as well. If you still have problems after this I would ask the park owner to check his connections for the power circuit..
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Old 07-11-2012, 02:18 PM   #25
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Easiest thing to do is have the owner remove the breaker, go to HD or Lowes and get a replacement. While you're there, pick up 50' of #10-3 underground Romex, 50' of pvc, put a plug on each end and bury it. Problem solved and a lot safer than a buried plug with even 3 rolls of tape on it. You are asking for problems. Without any protection, if someone (kids) start digging and hit that line, they could be electrocuted. Hate to have that hanging over anyone.

Hate to say it, but you're playing with fire.
Would a meter on the inside tell me that the power supplied to me is short? The owner of the grounds told me that in the hot part of the day all the people up and down the river are using the a/c and it cuts us short. If this is true couldn't this hurt my camper?


Oh and about the power cords. This is a private lot. No kids or anyone around. I cannot leave the cord above ground because it would get damaged from mowers or golf carts or stolen. Everyone who does not bury their cords ends up missing their cords. The "plugs" are beneath my deck which is 20x12 and site about 1.5 ft off the ground. No one would be under there.

Since I have about 100 bucks tied up in these two 30 amp cords (this might be a dumb question?) can I just splice the "plugs" out and hard wire them together? What i fear is I am going to buy a new cord and it make no difference.
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Old 07-11-2012, 02:34 PM   #26
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Would a meter on the inside tell me that the power supplied to me is short? The owner of the grounds told me that in the hot part of the day all the people up and down the river are using the a/c and it cuts us short. If this is true couldn't this hurt my camper?


Oh and about the power cords. This is a private lot. No kids or anyone around. I cannot leave the cord above ground because it would get damaged from mowers or golf carts or stolen. Everyone who does not bury their cords ends up missing their cords. The "plugs" are beneath my deck which is 20x12 and site about 1.5 ft off the ground. No one would be under there.

Since I have about 100 bucks tied up in these two 30 amp cords (this might be a dumb question?) can I just splice the "plugs" out and hard wire them together? What i fear is I am going to buy a new cord and it make no difference.
Cord is a little light to carry the load 50' and it is unprotected from anything or anyone probing the ground for any reason. Splicing might help, but still not the best solution. You can monitor the voltage from the inside and if it is low, I would not run the ac for fear of damage to the unit.
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Old 07-11-2012, 02:39 PM   #27
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Would a meter on the inside tell me that the power supplied to me is short? The owner of the grounds told me that in the hot part of the day all the people up and down the river are using the a/c and it cuts us short. If this is true couldn't this hurt my camper?

Yes. Low power will shorten the life of your air conditioner by drawing higher amperage than the motor was designed to carry. It will run hot until it eventually burns up.

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Since I have about 100 bucks tied up in these two 30 amp cords (this might be a dumb question?) can I just splice the "plugs" out and hard wire them together? What i fear is I am going to buy a new cord and it make no difference.

Not so simple. Even if you used self vulcanizing splicing tape (you most likely used electricians tape) water will eventually corrode your plugs. That higher resistance from the corrosion will rapidly drop your available voltage at the camper. Twer' me, I would dig that puppy up and replace it with a single run of underground 50 amp rated UF cable with 30 amp RV plugs on the ends.

Wire & Cable | Wire | Southwire 20858702 UF-B Underground Feeder Cable, 8/2 AWG, 125 ft | B242179 - GlobalIndustrial.com
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Old 07-11-2012, 02:52 PM   #28
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Would the big box hardware store have what I need? Im sure they do not carry the plugs.

We measured the power once before coming into te camper and it was fine. But this wasn't at the hot part of day when the problems occur.almost seems like of the cause of this was my wire it would act up all of the time.
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Old 07-11-2012, 02:57 PM   #29
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Your biggest problem is your neighbors.

In the dark of the night sneak around and turn off the AC on their water heaters. While you can't force then to turn up the temp on their air conditioners so they don't run 24/7, you can halve their power usage by getting their hot water back on propane and off the under powered grid.

I will totally deny I said that and will edit the post if cornered...

They will certainly carry the cable (you can buy it by the foot at most stores) Make sure you buy enough!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leviton-L5-3...ht_3294wt_1221


http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...g-30a/coa18203

One with a locking ring is pretty pricey.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YDY8NK/...SIN=B003YDY8NK
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Old 07-11-2012, 03:10 PM   #30
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try cleaning the coil on top. wash back thru it with a water hose. this is the coil that u can see. if that is dirty, pressure will build on the compressor causing it to pull more amps and tripping the breaker.
the rest has been suggested.
i really believe ur going to find low voltage from the campground or a weak breaker or both.
cleaning the coil is a quick thing. dirt collects on the coil between the fan and coil. washing back thru it will clean that off. u don't have to disassemble anything to do that. i would direct the water at a slightly downward angle to the coil.

the wire size, i don't believe u have a problem. anytime i can run an a/c, frig, and tv off a #12 100' extension cord, that would not be suspect to me. the connection between the cables is another story. if that is buried, ur asking for problems. if u have to run underground, don't make any connections underground and use direct burial cable. reg cable can become contaminated and leak (short).

one other thing that hasn't been mentioned (or i missed it) is the run capacitor on the compressor. that may be a problem but i don't think it would work ok at night.
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Old 07-11-2012, 03:23 PM   #31
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Imo your lot rent includes electricity to be maintained to proper spec. If in fact that's the issue.
And I don't think there fulfilling there end of the agreement
If they have so many campers drawing down the voltage then they are over selling space.
Me id be packing up to never return unless its fixed. Seasonal or not.

When he said hit the rocks if u don't likw it Id have been off like a prom dress and made sure everyone I knew how crappy there service is.
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Old 07-11-2012, 03:25 PM   #32
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I will dig the plugs up and just let them sit out. They are just under the surface about 2 inches maybe.

Yes it only has trouble on hot days between 1 and 6 pm. For those hours however it is miserable.
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Old 07-11-2012, 03:29 PM   #33
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Imo your lot rent includes electricity to be maintained to proper spec. If in fact that's the issue.
And I don't think there fulfilling there end of the agreement
If they have so many campers drawing down the voltage then they are over selling space.
Me id be packing up to never return unless its fixed. Seasonal or not.

When he said hit the rocks if u don't likw it Id have been off like a prom dress and made sure everyone I knew how crappy there service is.
"off like a prom dress" lol


My family camps here and we have 2k in the deck alone or I would have moved already. If a voltage meter tells me it is short I am going to complain again. He didn't tell me to kick rock in those words but pretty much.
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Old 07-11-2012, 04:10 PM   #34
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Lol ok!
Be persistent in getting what u need with cg owner.
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Old 07-11-2012, 08:29 PM   #35
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Is there any downside to not having a battery at all connected to the camper?
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Old 07-11-2012, 10:01 PM   #36
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Is there any downside to not having a battery at all connected to the camper?
The normal answer is always have a fully charged battery installed. That is because most folks actually MOVE their camper around and the brakes won't work if you breakaway without one.

Additionally, there is a caution about high loads burning out the converter if a battery is not installed, so running the slides in and out without a battery is Verboten.

In YOUR case, a seasonal site that will never be moved and slides that are perpetually out and never retracted, it gets complicated.

Your converter "should" provide all the "normal" 12 VDC you will ever need.

However, if anything ever happened to your converter you would immediately lose your fridge as 12 VDC is required to power the control board that manages the AC heater element that cools the fridge. You would not be able to switch to propane to run the fridge; use the furnace; manage your tanks; depending on model you may not be able to use the microwave; or use any lighting in the camper until you replaced the converter.
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Old 07-11-2012, 10:49 PM   #37
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if it trips breaker after 1 hour might need a hard start kit.
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Old 07-11-2012, 11:24 PM   #38
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No slide outs and I have a full sized house fridge.
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Old 07-11-2012, 11:29 PM   #39
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Lou, if his camper was designed to have a battery and it doesn't, isn't his converter "seeing" a low 12V DC situation (perpetually) and trying like hell to charge something that can't be charged? If so, that's probably pulling a boat-load of power from the 120V AC side of things and could be why there doesn't seem to be enough power for the air con...yes?
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Old 07-12-2012, 06:46 AM   #40
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Lou, if his camper was designed to have a battery and it doesn't, isn't his converter "seeing" a low 12V DC situation (perpetually) and trying like hell to charge something that can't be charged? If so, that's probably pulling a boat-load of power from the 120V AC side of things and could be why there doesn't seem to be enough power for the air con...yes?
I contacted wfco and progressive dynamics about this very question.
I'll post up the responses later today.
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