Anyone have an adapter do this?

[Eklc]

And does anyone know why it would do this? Plugs were inserted completely. The trailer plug looked fine.

[Ford Idaho]

I have 2 dog bone connectors and one adapter, none of them look like that....

Almost looks like corrosion to me.

[Campin Cajun]

Did it happen to get wet while plugged in perhaps? I've seen this "look" before.

[davel1971]

something caused a poor connection, whether dirt, corrosion, spread terminal, etc. Excessive load "should" blow a breaker, so the heat had to come from bad connection.

[wmtire]

Do you also make sure to turn the power off at the outlet box before plugging/unplugging?

If not, then electrical arcing can occur, which just get's progressively worse until you get to a point of no return/burnout.

[Big Paul]

have had that before it was a loose wire in the power pedistal that I was pluged into. What happened is with the loose wire it gets very hot causing that. It could also be the blade on the other side of plug is loose contact to that plugin.

[Lee G]

Mine was simuliar to Big Paul mentioned. My adapter slowly melted as it would get very warm and allow the post inside to lose contact. Now I threw that adapter way down in the woods. 100 years from now some antique hunter will find it and say, "look, campers have been here, lets take it to antique roadshow." Sorry.

Lee

[wmtire]

I just realized you stated you were using an adapter. I assume you are using an adapter to plug into a 15 or 20 amp receptacle then.

If so, there is a possibility you could be also running at/over the capacity of the adapter cords? Do you run 15 amps or so of stuff (especially the air conditioner) in the RV when hooked up this way....or use extension cords to the adapter?

[mud yapster]

Caused by a loose connection or over current for the plug, you need to replace it and check electrical connections and tighten them. At least you found it before a total melt down occured or worse a electrical fire.

[davel1971]

Originally Posted by wmtire

I just realized you stated you were using an adapter. I assume you are using an adapter to plug into a 15 or 20 amp receptacle then.

If so, there is a possibility you could be also running at/over the capacity of the adapter cords? Do you run 15 amps or so of stuff (especially the air conditioner) in the RV when hooked up this way....or use extension cords to the adapter?

even if that is what they are adapting too, this being the 30 amp end with heavier terminals, and assume they are on a 15 amp receptacle, the 15 amp breaker would blow long before you overheat a 30 amp plug

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by davel1971

even if that is what they are adapting too, this being the 30 amp end with heavier terminals, and assume they are on a 15 amp receptacle, the 15 amp breaker would blow long before you overheat a 30 amp plug

Not always, as breakers don't always trip at/when they are supposed to....especially with an extension cord.

https://www.firearson.com/Publicatio...aker-Myths.pdf

[Forbes]

Looks like someone had a little to much juice running to neutral. Most time you are pulling more current than the plug can handle. Most problems, fires, melted plugs are caused by over loading the neutral side. If you are using an adapter plug, going from 30 amp to 50 amp is where you see the most trouble. The 50 amp is feeding current from two legs to neutral while the 30 amp is only feeding one to neutral. Reducing your current drew will in most cases stop melting the plugs or you could insure you have the right amperage plug for your load.

[Eklc]

Thanks everyone. It is a 30 amp adapter plugged into a 50 amp pedestal. Never had any electrical problems that we noticed. I got a new adapter regardless but this was the first time I had ever seen one look like this

[B and B]

That is what is going on, just exceeded 30 amps as the dogbone will allow 50 amps.

I had a 30 amp plug on a 30 amp park service that melted last time out. I just replaced the end today with a Leviton from Home Depot for $18.

[davel1971]

Originally Posted by wmtire

Not always, as breakers don't always trip at/when they are supposed to....especially with an extension cord.

https://www.firearson.com/Publicatio...aker-Myths.pdf

I understand that, but a 15amp should blow at 12-13amps, that sure won't melt a 30 amp plug

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by davel1971

I understand that, but a 15amp should blow at 12-13amps, that sure won't melt a 30 amp plug

Howdy davel1971, I'm not sure I am following you here.

As stated, not all circuit breakers trip at their specified amperage, as the article points out. If they always tripped on the low side, then you may not see the overheating. However, when they don't trip till the amps are high for the cords/adapters, then you are going to see melted plugs, similar to the OP. There are also other factors that can come into play. Besides loose/bad connections.... Lengths of extension cords/low campground voltage can increase amperage.

It has even been pointed out in these forums a few times, that not all the chinese made adapters are up to par, and melt easier since they aren't UL rated like the better adapters are.

Here is another article concerning this with more links:

Why Did My R.V. Adapter Plug Melt? My 125V 30A to 125V 15A got very hot.


The OP has since stated he was actually using an adapter to plug into a 50 amp connection, so my guess at the time doesn't apply now, but if he doesn't mind us carrying on this conversation.......we can continue it here.

Eklc, if you consider this a thread hijack, I will move it over into it's own thread.

One of the more important things, and has been pointed out here which would apply to the use of any adapter..... is to limit your loads in the RV to make sure you don't exceed the max amps of the RV or outlet.

If using a 30 amp RV, don't exceed 30 amps when plugged into a 30 amp or 50 amp (with adapter) outlet.

If plugged into a 15 amp (with adapter) don't exceed using 15 amps worth of stuff (an air-conditioner can sometimes cause problems here).

Same rules apply with a 50 amp RV, and using adapters to plug into 30 or 15 amp outlets.

It's a good idea to learn and get a good guesstimation of just how much power each thing in the RV consumes...and thus physically limit yourself......and not just place pure blind faith in a breaker tripping.

[Big Paul]

Being an Electrician for almost 50 years I have saw this many times on many different amp ratings. With a loose connection it gets hot and will melt not always tripping the breaker. That is a major reason for electrical fires. Not uncommon at all for a 15 to 30 amp or 50 to 30 to melt like the picture when it gets hot.

[Witch Doctor]

Is that picture of a 30 amp extension cord end. If so then it was heat and a bad connection in the extension plug end. That is from Heat. Also you should use Electrical Connection grease or dye electric I think it called that you can get at Napa.

[Eklc]

I wondered if it has gotten wet/hot/dirty at some point and the connection was starting to fail. Since we are at a 50amp site with a 30 amp camper we may have had a heavy draw at some point that started the breakdown. The inside of the one side of the adapter looked like it had rusted together. That's why it was so hard to get the plugs apart. It didn't hurt the camper plug at all.

[Iwannacamp]

I am not an electrician....but I don't think I am stupid either. Any service, any voltage, any appliance running at full load/max amp draw or max temperature will not last long. Put a 28 amp load on any 30 amp breaker and cycle the load and watch what happens. A long/light cord will cause similar results...it just causes more resistance and more heat.