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Old 09-07-2015, 11:19 AM   #1
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Mike Sokol, this buds for you

I was staying at my favorite state park this holiday weekend, and when testing the 30 amp outlet using the plug-n-play circuit tester I made from the directions from the myrv.us site...it indicated that the hot and neutral wires were reversed.

I pulled out the multitester then to verify, and yes it was correct, they were reversed. As the pics show , the normal hot line at the seven o'clock position is reading 0 volts, and the neutral line at the 5 o'clock position is reading 120 volts with both checked with ground.

The 20 amp is also reversed but may just be slaved off the 30 amp outlet.

The 50 amp was good, so I just used an adapter and all was good for the weekend. I told the parks maintenance guy (who is an excellent electrician) and he said they just had some contract electric work done. He was fully aware of the problem this can cause along with ground problems in a rv....and was going to fix it asap. He even told me a story of where one lady had aluminum siding put on her house and they had screwed into a wire (like we hear happening in the rv industry) along with something with her air-conditioner....and she couldn't get back into her house as the door frame was electrified.

He also was fully aware that those rv'ers with EMS , wouldn't be able to connect to a 30 amp outlet with miswired hot/neutral.

Anyhow, this is another good example of testing all outlets, and reading the good information that Mike Sokol has on the "no shock zone.org " site.

No Shock Zone

Here is a link to a great post from Mike that we made a sticky here in the electrical forums. All RV'ers should know this;

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...-rv-89191.html
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Old 09-07-2015, 11:32 AM   #2
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We test the Box before we even Pull/back In! Better Safe than Sorry! Youroo!!
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Old 09-07-2015, 01:52 PM   #3
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When the state park guy and I were talking about electrical things in general, he stated that one of the biggest things he get's called out on, is people overloading their 30 amp RV's and thus tripping the breakers.

He says he get's argued with a bunch, especially with newer RV'ers who don't understand the limited power they have. He was laughing, when he said there sure must be a lot of lying RV salesmen somewhere, cause of the sheer amount of people who argue with him that the salesman said they could use everything at the same time.

He said he wished he had some kind of handout to explain it all. I told him that when I came back up there, the first of October, I would have him something gleaned from these forums to fit the bill.

Like I said this is my favorite park, and they really go out of there way to always accommodate our camping/geocaching groups. Many of the employees, including this one, will come eat with us at the cookouts...as we always invite them.
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Old 09-07-2015, 04:56 PM   #4
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REVERSED POLARITY; imagine that.
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
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Old 09-07-2015, 05:43 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by wmtire View Post
He also was fully aware that those rv'ers with EMS , wouldn't be able to connect to a 30 amp outlet with miswired hot/neutral.

Anyhow, this is another good example of testing all outlets, and reading the good information that Mike Sokol has on the "no shock zone.org " site.
I'm Mike Sokol from The No~Shock~Zone. Thanks for posting links to my RV Electrical Safety articles above. FYI: I'm beginning a series of new videos about RV electrical hookups and safety. Here's one I just made about testing portable generators for a floating neutral and an easy way to correct it so a Progressive Industries EMS Surge Protector will operate properly. This has been vetted by the engineering staff at Progressive, and they now sell a pre-wired G-N bonding plug if you don't want to wire your own.



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Old 09-07-2015, 07:12 PM   #6
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Mike
Thanks for your expertise; greatly appreciated.
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Old 09-07-2015, 07:20 PM   #7
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wmtire, which is your favorite state park? Curious since yall are in the north part.
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Old 09-07-2015, 07:55 PM   #8
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Mike
Thanks for your expertise; greatly appreciated.
You're all very welcome. I'm staring a new semester and teaching basic electronics this year. You should see some of the electrical experiments I do with my college level students. Too much fun....

I'm currently talking to Forest River management about having me do a training tour at FROG rallies. I would love to bring my No~Shock~Zone clinic to you guys.
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Old 09-08-2015, 07:49 AM   #9
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He even told me a story of where one lady had aluminum siding put on her house and they had screwed into a wire (like we hear happening in the rv industry) along with something with her air-conditioner....and she couldn't get back into her house as the door frame was electrified.
Reverse polarity is one of many layers of protector for humans. It does nothing harmful to appliances. If reverse polarity caused that lady to be shocked, then many other protection layers (to make that not happen) were also compromised. She needed more fixed than just reversed polarity.
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Old 09-08-2015, 08:37 AM   #10
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wmtire, which is your favorite state park? Curious since yall are in the north part.
Lake D'arbonne State Park

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Reverse polarity is one of many layers of protector for humans. It does nothing harmful to appliances. If reverse polarity caused that lady to be shocked, then many other protection layers (to make that not happen) were also compromised. She needed more fixed than just reversed polarity.
I wouldn't say you have to have MANY other layers, just one in the grounding can do it. As stated, she had a problem in the grounding with her window air-conditioner.
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Old 09-08-2015, 09:24 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wmtire View Post
When the state park guy and I were talking about electrical things in general, he stated that one of the biggest things he get's called out on, is people overloading their 30 amp RV's and thus tripping the breakers.

He says he get's argued with a bunch, especially with newer RV'ers who don't understand the limited power they have. He was laughing, when he said there sure must be a lot of lying RV salesmen somewhere, cause of the sheer amount of people who argue with him that the salesman said they could use everything at the same time.

He said he wished he had some kind of handout to explain it all. I told him that when I came back up there, the first of October, I would have him something gleaned from these forums to fit the bill.

Like I said this is my favorite park, and they really go out of there way to always accommodate our camping/geocaching groups. Many of the employees, including this one, will come eat with us at the cookouts...as we always invite them.
This would be very handy for him.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...aws-17300.html

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Old 09-09-2015, 05:44 AM   #12
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This would be very handy for him.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...aws-17300.html

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Thank you Turbs! We have struggled with limited electrical service this summer. Your AMP guide is very useful. We have gone to one appliance at a time with the ac on. That seems to be working. Thankfully, we can use the coffee pot with the ac on!
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Old 09-09-2015, 06:27 AM   #13
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Thank you Turbs! We have struggled with limited electrical service this summer. Your AMP guide is very useful. We have gone to one appliance at a time with the ac on. That seems to be working. Thankfully, we can use the coffee pot with the ac on!
Your welcome!
It's not exact but a great guideline.
Have fun!

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Old 09-09-2015, 03:51 PM   #14
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He said he wished he had some kind of handout to explain it all. I told him that when I came back up there, the first of October, I would have him something gleaned from these forums to fit the bill.
This is a great idea... which is why for the last several years I've offered to create an official No~Shock~Zone handout to numerous RV manufacturers, RV parks, and state campgrounds, but with no traction as of yet. I've been pitching the idea of a one-page, waterproof handout that would cover pedestal outlet measurement, calculating power needed for your RV, hot skin testing, etc...

Of course, I can do this legally since I create my own graphics and own the copyrights. But please remember that compiling a handout for duplication using graphics from my No~Shock~Zone site would be a copyright violation. Of course, you all can copy and compile anything from my articles for your own use. But these parks really should be contacting me directly about creating this sort of handout for the public. Can you please put me in contact with them? Maybe this time they'll be interested.

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Old 09-09-2015, 05:24 PM   #15
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This is a great idea... which is why for the last several years I've offered to create an official No~Shock~Zone handout to numerous RV manufacturers, RV parks, and state campgrounds, but with no traction as of yet. I've been pitching the idea of a one-page, waterproof handout that would cover pedestal outlet measurement, calculating power needed for your RV, hot skin testing, etc...

Of course, I can do this legally since I create my own graphics and own the copyrights. But please remember that compiling a handout for duplication using graphics from my No~Shock~Zone site would be a copyright violation. Of course, you all can copy and compile anything from my articles for your own use. But these parks really should be contacting me directly about creating this sort of handout for the public. Can you please put me in contact with them? Maybe this time they'll be interested.

Mike Sokol
mike@noshockzone.org
No worries, Mike. What I was referring to was more like the amp draw chart that Turbs posted and overloading 30 amp power supplies.

However, your idea is even better and would be more beneficial.
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Old 10-27-2015, 12:06 AM   #16
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I'm Mike Sokol from The No~Shock~Zone. Thanks for posting links to my RV Electrical Safety articles above. FYI: I'm beginning a series of new videos about RV electrical hookups and safety. Here's one I just made about testing portable generators for a floating neutral and an easy way to correct it so a Progressive Industries EMS Surge Protector will operate properly. This has been vetted by the engineering staff at Progressive, and they now sell a pre-wired G-N bonding plug if you don't want to wire your own.



Mike Sokol
The No~Shock~Zone
Mike, If you could clarify for me. If I am running two Yamaha's in parallel, will it require a separate bonding plug for each generator? I'm doing my research before purchasing and installing a Progressive Industries EMS and have only just now become aware of this issue.
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