Fried 50 AMP line into Hughes Regulator

[daverule]

Greetings,

Woke up this morning to find that all the outlets in the kitchen curcuit were dead. Thought it must be GFI or GFCI. Nope. For some reason, it came to me it was acting like we were boon docking and running off batteries, even though we were plugged into our house with a 50 AMP curcuit. What I found was a burned out 50 AMP plug from our rig to the Hughes Regulator/Surge protect and its related plug. Thoughts? See pictures below.

The first is the plug from Hughes to the house, second is the Hughes, third is the plug from the RV to Hughes, and last is plug on the Hughes where the RV was plugged in. (RV is a 2011 Forest River Berkshire 390BH.

Any thoughts as to what could have caused this??

Blessings, Dave

[Cabinfever97]

Could have been a loose or bad outlet.

[ejohnson1144]

Loose Nuetral would be my thought or to heavy a load on the Nuetral.

[llr]

I agree with a loose neutral wire, from the damage probably at the plug end which needs to be replaced. The socket should be replaced, put with close inspection it may be salvageable, if in doubt replace it.

Also the loose neutral wire could have caused damage to electronics in the camper.

[Herk7769]

On second look, that the Neutral part of the socket (or plug) may have corroded (or become too loose) causing a high resistance connection. This causes heat which corrodes faster, causing more heat until the wire burned up.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Herk....those all look like 50A connectors.


See you edited your post.

[daverule]

Thanks. So, step 1, replace the plug. Step 2, replace the plug the Hughes (may still be under warranty, btw). Step 3, plug it all back in and see what happens! Yes?

[Paulie1138]

I would also look at where you are getting your power from as well. Verify those connections too. In the meanwhile, you could plug direct, temporarily bypassing the autoformer to see what else you may have to go shopping for. Plus, allow your batteries to recharge if neeeded.

Fortunately, those connectors are readily available at most big box stores.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82

Herk....those all look like 50A connectors.


See you edited your post.

Yep, right after I posted I took another look at the blade and saw the L1 Blade behind the burnt neutral.

I thought I got the edit in in time, but no …

[itat]

Replace the Camco plug - yes. Do not open the Autoformer. Call them to see what they advise. Their unit is uses rivets and you'll void the warranty if you open it yourself.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Originally Posted by Herk7769

Yep, right after I posted I took another look at the blade and saw the L1 Blade behind the burnt neutral.

I thought I got the edit in in time, but no …

Yeah...I think I'd look at every neutral connection along the entire run. Had a loose wire take a lug on my 30A cord.

[bubbles]

Your 3rd looks like a DIY Camco. I'd start there.

[cavie]

This is an example of why you need an EMS in series with an autotransformer. No one piece of equipment can do it all. Yet.

The white Camco plug was not factory. I suspect a loose connection on the neutral.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by cavie

This is an example of why you need an EMS in series with an autotransformer.

Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think it would have helped here as this was between the pedestal and the AutoFormer.

Even if you added an EMS, it would be *after* the AutoFormer:
> campsite pedestal --> AutoFormer --> portable EMS --> power cord --> camper
or
> campsite pedestal --> AutoFormer --> power cord --> camper --> hard-wired EMS

You can't have the EMS between the pedestal and the AutoFormer is the EMS will cut off low voltage and the AutoFormer wouldn't have anything to boost.

[Paulie1138]

I will second Itat. Do not open the autoformer. Maybe something inside it caused the grief.

[Paulie1138]

Just curious, if you have an autoformer, do you need the additional protection of the EMS? Does the autoformer provide the same functions?

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Paulie1138

Just curious, if you have an autoformer, do you need the additional protection of the EMS?

I really wondered about the same. I have both because I bought the EMS first and hard-wired it. The AutoFormer only gets added in situations that I need the boost.

I like having both because my AutoFormer malfunctioned on me and was boosting me into overvoltage situations (134+ volts). I had to send it back and the total turnaround time took about 3 weeks. I wouldn't have liked being without protection.

[Paulie1138]

Thanks E’dad! Gotts to have protection for those plugins! I asked about the autoformer, as they included the 50A PI EMS with the trailer. Have not had too many undervoltage situations yet. I like how the EMS disconnects me the few times I have lost power or seen under voltages. These problems have all been short-lived, tho. Have been debating the autoformer idea, and have not decided on it yet.

[Thurman]

My two cents worth based on photo #3: That is an aftermarket, or non-factory, male 50 amp plug. There could be a chance the wire that attaches to the long lead inside the 50 plug was not tightened enough. I was taught to tighten the screws on/within electrical fixtures down, then loosen them up just a bit and re-tighten the screw. With the way we handle our shore power cords and shore power extension cords any of the four screws within the adapter could vibrate loose.

[daverule]

Hmmmm . . . I was told/read and bought this version of Hughes because it is BOTH a voltage regulator AND a surge protector. So how would a EMS help or add anything?

New plug is now on order and learned my Hughes is well within the two year warranty. My guess is the that the damage isn't covered, but don't wish to negate the warranty by doing the fix myself.