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Old 04-01-2018, 07:48 PM   #1
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50amp/15amp hookup (110 power)

I have a 2016 Georgetown with 50amp service. I have bought a 50/15am connector to be able to hook up to 110 volt power at home to keep the batteries charge and such. But when i connect the 110 power i hear a loud clicking in the 50amp power cord connection box. Have tried with the battery control switch in both the on and off position. any ideas why. Do not want to cause damage to the system. Am I missing something?
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Old 04-01-2018, 08:02 PM   #2
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Our 30amp to 110 did the same thing, our 50amp dog boned down to 110 does it too, nothing out of the norm. just making connection I would think.
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Old 04-01-2018, 08:04 PM   #3
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Is it continuous or one click?
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Old 04-01-2018, 08:06 PM   #4
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I have a 2016 Georgetown with 50amp service. I have bought a 50/15am connector to be able to hook up to 110 volt power at home to keep the batteries charge and such. But when i connect the 110 power i hear a loud clicking in the 50amp power cord connection box. Have tried with the battery control switch in both the on and off position. any ideas why. Do not want to cause damage to the system. Am I missing something?
if it is a one time click each time you plug in it's normal. It's the transfer switch changing from shore power to generator. If it is a continues clicking you have a problem.
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Old 04-01-2018, 10:07 PM   #5
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What we do is to unplug the battery charger from the rig, and then plug it into a 110 extension cord. This keeps the batteries charged, without over charging them.
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Old 04-02-2018, 07:54 AM   #6
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What we do is to unplug the battery charger from the rig, and then plug it into a 110 extension cord. This keeps the batteries charged, without over charging them.
Never gave that a thought, although I already had the dogbone and going through the main cord I'm protected by my EMS.
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Old 04-02-2018, 07:42 PM   #7
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no it was a continuous type click. did not make the full connection due to the clicking.
just hope it does not cause an issue when i hook up to 50 amp shore power at a camp ground now.
or the next time i hook to 50 amps.

guess i will use a battery charger or trickle charge to keep house batteries charged
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Old 04-02-2018, 09:13 PM   #8
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Is your water heater turned off. That will overload the 15 amp supply.
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Old 04-02-2018, 09:45 PM   #9
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no it was a continuous type click. did not make the full connection due to the clicking.
just hope it does not cause an issue when i hook up to 50 amp shore power at a camp ground now.
or the next time i hook to 50 amps.

guess i will use a battery charger or trickle charge to keep house batteries charged


That's not right.
Try turning all of the breaker switches but the converter and see if that does it.
I would unplug the converter and connect it directly to a 120 volt extension cord. This would at least keep your batteries charged.
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Old 04-02-2018, 10:12 PM   #10
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Is your water heater turned off. That will overload the 15 amp supply.
Not sure I agree with you.

The 6, 10, 12 and 16 gal Suburban WH's use a 1440 watt heating element, which pulls about 12 amps. This is just a little bit less than a standard 1500 watt space heater you'd buy at Home Depot, which would pull about 12.5 amps.

I believe the Atwoods use a 1400 watt element (11.67 amps).

They are usually on their own internal 15-20 amp circuit breakers in the coach.

Maybe Georgetowns use some other brand of water heater?

But if the heating element WERE on and he had other stuff pulling additional amps, I'd think it would trip his house circuit breaker first, not cause a clicking in the coach.

Clicking in the coach sounds like an automatic transfer switch.
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Old 04-03-2018, 05:24 AM   #11
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no it was a continuous type click. did not make the full connection due to the clicking.
just hope it does not cause an issue when i hook up to 50 amp shore power at a camp ground now.
or the next time i hook to 50 amps.

guess i will use a battery charger or trickle charge to keep house batteries charged
Your transfer switch is defective. The clicking you hear is the contactor. Have an electrician look at it. Any commercial electrician will do. He doesn't need to be an RV tech. It's not gonna get better or fix it'self.
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Old 04-03-2018, 07:12 AM   #12
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Your transfer switch is defective. The clicking you hear is the contactor. Have an electrician look at it. Any commercial electrician will do. He doesn't need to be an RV tech. It's not gonna get better or fix it'self.
Not necessarily, it could be the adapter. Does the transfer switch make solid contact when running the generator?
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Old 04-03-2018, 09:01 AM   #13
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Shore power should be the default (NC contacts) de-energized contactor side. The contactor will switch, after about 30 seconds, to the generator when it is started. Seems to me that, unless something is miswired (adapter or otherwise) there should be no shore to genny contactor switching and thus not the sound heard. I'm assuming a shore 50amp input is normal.
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Old 04-03-2018, 09:06 AM   #14
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Mine switches on shore power, it falls out to generator when power is lost.
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Old 04-03-2018, 10:53 AM   #15
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I suppose it could be that way but then the other way there is typically an approximate 30 second delay before switching to allow the genny to stabilize voltage and frequency. Seems that wouldn't happen with your setup. Guess they all do it different. I'm not 100% sure mine is wired for shore power default but there is a 30 second delay before genny comes on line with or without shore power and that is within the auto switch panel itself. Guess all coach manufacturers do it differently
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Old 04-05-2018, 05:23 AM   #16
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I believe the delay is on the generator itself. The transfer switch activates where there is power with shore being primary and generator being secondary.
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Old 04-05-2018, 06:43 AM   #17
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This is what I said which is opposite your post #14.

This is what I believe happens in my unit:

The transfer switches used in RVs are generator priority switches. This means that the switch will connect to shore power when under normal use or even when there is no power present. As soon as the transfer switch detects the presence of 120 volt power on the generator input lines it will switch over to the generator's inputs and drop the connection to shore power. Transfer switches are designed so that only one input can be connected at a time in order to prevent any backfeeding of electrical power back down the other input line, which would be a hazardous condition. In addition, RV transfer switches generally have a built-in delay so that the generator can come up to speed and warm up a bit for actually switching the load. This prevents stalling or stumbling that could cause the generator to die if the air conditioners or other heavy loads while the engine was still cold and not producing full power.
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Old 04-05-2018, 07:42 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by drw View Post
...a loud clicking in the 50amp power cord connection box. ...
not sure what you mean by this 'connection box'.... are you referring to the connection point at your RV? within the RV?

a SINGLE 'click', or 'bump'? or is it continuous?


when using an adapter, it's really no different than anything else when you plug in, whether directly to a 50a outlet, or using an adapter(s) to a 30a outlet, or a regular household outlet.
Your coach's ATS(Automatic Transfer Switch), usually located near/next to the coach's breaker box(many times under or at the foot of the bed), will 'clunk' or 'bump', which is when it is transferring the electrical connections to SHore POwer. The ATS is just a mechanical 'box', with spring loaded blocks inside, that determines where power is coming from, and makes the correct 'direction' for it to your coach's breaker box. It makes a hard 'clunk' sound whenever it changes which source it is using, such as Shore Power or Generator.

Plugging into a 15a or 20a household outlet should in no way 'hurt' your coach. If anything, overloading the household outlet should only trip it's OWN circuit breaker, not any in your coach. If that happens, it just means that you have more items 'on' in your coach than the smaller outlet can handle... cut off most everything except what you 'need', such as the Charger, for the batteries. If batteries are low and the charger is in 'bulk' charging mode, it will use a fair amount of amperage for some time - if your coach has a Magnum Inverter, or similar type, it may have a 'SHORE' button, or mode, that allows you to 'dial back' the amount of amps your Charger is allowed to use when you are on less than 50amps of power. Turn it down to below the amps of your outlet, such as 10 or 15. This will also leave you a few amps for lights, and even possibly the residential fridge, if it needs to also run.
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Old 04-05-2018, 08:07 AM   #19
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This is what I said which is opposite your post #14.

This is what I believe happens in my unit:

The transfer switches used in RVs are generator priority switches. This means that the switch will connect to shore power when under normal use or even when there is no power present. As soon as the transfer switch detects the presence of 120 volt power on the generator input lines it will switch over to the generator's inputs and drop the connection to shore power. Transfer switches are designed so that only one input can be connected at a time in order to prevent any backfeeding of electrical power back down the other input line, which would be a hazardous condition. In addition, RV transfer switches generally have a built-in delay so that the generator can come up to speed and warm up a bit for actually switching the load. This prevents stalling or stumbling that could cause the generator to die if the air conditioners or other heavy loads while the engine was still cold and not producing full power.
I'm not sure this is right. I can have my generator running, be on generator power in the coach, hook up to shore power and the generator will be dropped and the coach is on shore power. Shore power is primary and I still say the delay is in the generator, no output until voltage is stabilized.
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Old 04-05-2018, 08:33 AM   #20
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I'm not sure this is right. I can have my generator running, be on generator power in the coach, hook up to shore power and the generator will be dropped and the coach is on shore power. Shore power is primary and I still say the delay is in the generator, no output until voltage is stabilized.
I am an electrician but have no experience in MH world but common sense tells me that it works just like a residential system. Shore power is primary. Generator comes on when shore power stops. The transfer switch only allows for electric on one or the other. Transfer switches are designed to be repaired. not thrown away. Sometimes a simple cleaning of the contacts will make things right again. The transfer switch is made up of Two 3 pole contactors.
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