Low voltage

[itat]

Just an update on our experience this week at the RV Resort. The voltage at our site is 110V or higher most of the day except between 4pm and 6pm. I guess everyone is coming back to their trailers and cranking up the A/Cs and other equipment for the dinner hour. During that period, voltage at the power post drops to around 107V or less so running the A/C (with the PI EMS connected) requires that you shut down all other equipment and systems that need shore power and switch the refrigerator over to propane. The PI EMS will shut down power if we drop below 104V so with some management of the loads we can leave the A/C on but I don't like leaving the site in late afternoon for fear the EMS is going to start cycling the power on and off. It's definitely not what I expect from an RV resort. They've put a lot of money into their pools and other activities which is great for the family but they need to invest in upgrading the electrical system since they've expanded the number of sites they have over the last 5 years since we were here last.

At 2:50pm with the A/C running and everything else off the pendent on the EMS is showing 105V on our 30A service. The 50A plug on the post is reading 106V with no load.

EDIT: A tech finally showed up this afternoon to look at my situation. He swapped out the 30A breaker that had been arching due to a slight water leak in the box but it only improved the voltage by 1 volt. He said they recently increased the number of primary lines into the park from 9 to 12 but they are on the end of the line from the nearest town and the infrastructure feeding the park needs to be upgraded. He said the park is being sold to a new owner (the park may be in receivership now) and he said the new owner wants to upgrade the internal infrastructure. Apparently the current owner ordered him to upgrade all the boxes in this area to 50A but it was originally intended for only 30A services. They did run the proper gauge wiring for the 50A services because I watched him as he opened the service box to swap out the breaker. I don't see many trailers around us with 2 A/Cs so it's hard to know what load is being put on this branch line but clearly something needs to be upgraded.

[RubyDually]

Originally Posted by Kenny kustom

At the site today, the ems kept kicking out due to low voltage.

How often have you seen this?
Doubtful we will be back at this spot again, but curious if this is a common occurrence?

In Elkhart a couple of weeks ago our 50 amp EMS did a low voltage shut down twice in one day.

Campground had a fair amount of empty spots but it was hot so everyone's AC was running.

[325BH]

Originally Posted by Mr Havercamp

Not really......from Hughes....

"How Does It Work?

At first we are tempted to say very ‘well’. But this may not be the answer you are looking for!

Autoformers are used in industries to stabilize voltage and lower the operating cost of equipment. The Autoformer has 5 windings: 2 primary and 3 secondary. All models have surge and spike protection. When the unit is in Automatic and the park or input voltage is 116 volts or below, the output is 10% over the input. When the input is over 118 volts, the output is 2% over the input.

The Autoformer DOES NOT take power from the park.

It does not affect the park or input voltage, or make electricity.

What it is doing is changing the voltage – amperage relationship, lowering the amperage and raising the voltage. Since appliances run better on higher voltage, lower amperage, less overall power is used from the park, and better service is enjoyed from your RV

An Autoformer running at full output (50amps) will use 1 amp, but will cause appliances to cycle more often and run cooler. This will use less total power from the park."

Sounds like it is messing with the power factor... which still won't pull voltage out of the air.


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[Mr Havercamp]

Originally Posted by 325BH

Sounds like it is messing with the power factor... which still won't pull voltage out of the air.


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And your point is? I don't believe anyone was claiming it pulls voltage out of the air. The quote was taken directly from the Hughes autoformer website. Maybe it doesn't work at all and the thousands upon thousands of people that own them were all ripped off myself included?

The fact is when you combine a Hughes autoformer with a progressive Industries EMS you have the Holy Grail of RV power Protection. The only thing you could possibly do better would be to haul generators around to full hookup campgrounds and never use the shore power

[pgandw]

Originally Posted by 325BH

Sounds like it is messing with the power factor... which still won't pull voltage out of the air.

Nothing of the kind. It's simply a step-up transformer with 3 taps. The appropriate tap is auto-selected based on input (line) voltage to give you a more appropriate voltage within your trailer. It apparently has a 2% loss at full capacity (uses 1 amp passing 50 amps). The claim is that you will won't miss that 1 amp because your appliances will be operating more efficiently at the higher voltage.

Your utility uses very similar step-down auto-transformers with multiple steps to try to keep a near steady line voltage to your house and your neighbors' houses.

Air conditioners are one of the appliances that suffer most during a "brown out" (low line voltage).

Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122 A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time
next trip: Waco, TX

[325BH]

Originally Posted by pgandw

Nothing of the kind. It's simply a step-up transformer with 3 taps. The appropriate tap is auto-selected based on input (line) voltage to give you a more appropriate voltage within your trailer. It apparently has a 2% loss at full capacity (uses 1 amp passing 50 amps). The claim is that you will won't miss that 1 amp because your appliances will be operating more efficiently at the higher voltage.

Your utility uses very similar step-down auto-transformers with multiple steps to try to keep a near steady line voltage to your house and your neighbors' houses.

Air conditioners are one of the appliances that suffer most during a "brown out" (low line voltage).

Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122 A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time
next trip: Waco, TX

Now that makes sense. I either missed that explanation before or it wasn't sinking in. I get the current draw for the step-up.

Most of the time we think of transformers stepping up or down in big voltages. Stepping up just a few is very cool.

Sorry if I ruffled some feathers here.


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