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Old 08-19-2021, 03:26 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmarako View Post
Do not try to bring logic and reason to this problem when there is plenty of time and money I can be wasting.

You make a valid point and believe it or not I actually never considered that. And I have considered moving a different load to the L2 side to better balance the two legs. Maybe I'm not too bright.

I'm actually not sure what to do now. Parts are on order. I stopped at HD to get some supplies. Everything (mostly) can be returned.... I have been complaining about spending too much $$$$ lately.. but I kinda want to go crazy and do this...... And what if L2 is the weaker leg for some reason......

hum.....
Jim M.

Hi Jim, I believe in the KISS principal (Keep It Simple Stupid)

Fast, easy ,cheap and if it works so much the better.

The more complicated it gets the more chance something goes haywire in my experience. In a previous life I must have been related to Rube Goldberg because Ive come up with some real doozies.

Besides, two minds are better than 1.

As for L2 being the weaker, the premise we began with is L1 is the most used, therefore the weaker.

If the opposite were true it would take mere minutes to swap the breaker in the Loadcenter if that were the case.

We are not engineering a Lunar Lander here just trying to solve am occasional low voltage issue. That 3 way switch will sit there NEVER moved from one pole to the other a waste of time and money. Just my .02
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Old 09-02-2021, 09:38 PM   #22
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I could see maybe a park being unbalanced if an electrician only wired Red to L1 in the entire park and ran it that way for every single breaker, but I feel that would also have to be the case for the cord and panel in every RV to also be wired the same of L1 being the main line and L2 only for a second AC unit. I doubt many if any worker on an RV knows that THIS cord Red has to be L2 and Black has to be L1 and then on top of that know that L2 is the Right or left side of the cords plug in and then wire EVERY camper the same way across EVERY brand.

BUT I feel a lot of parks are going to be more commercial 3 phase just to be able to supply that sort of load of 50 amp demands and that balancing would have been taken into account for the 240 only parks, ala issues would have presented them selves long ago. as the parks supply on 1 side would have melted not long after opening.

What I suspect happens is Green is ground, White is N and the rest is put on a breaker... with no real rhyme or reason

What I would suspect is you swap the lines and the voltage drop follows it and the issue is more related to the distance, overall loads of the park, distance of your pedestal and or condition of the outlet. Not sure how often you read the voltage on each line but it would be interesting to see some data points VS just the one.

Also what other loads did you have on? hot water heater, microwave, hairdryer.

Might be good to check your RV wiring as well to make sure you have proper wire size, proper TQ settings on connections, wire nuts seated, and if you have a generator transfer switch that it's in a good state.

Not saying maybe that day that park you and a few other campers weren't all on the same line utter possible but we need more data and I think your idea is solid just don't' be surprised if the outcome is less than what you expect. in all parks and situations.
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Old 09-03-2021, 07:32 AM   #23
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Originally Posted by jimmarako View Post
So here is the setup. I have a 30' travel trailer with a 50A feed. Its 50A only because there is an option for a second AC unit. We only have the one main unit, but thats not too important here.

On our last camping trip it was hot out so everyone had their AC's going. I noticed that L1 coming into the trailer was lower voltage than L2. I guess the way the campground is wired between the 30A trailers and 50A trailers L1 was taking a bigger hit. Maybe it was the pedestal, who knows. I was sitting there thinking it would be nice to be able to switch the AC to the L2 line coming in.... Hum......

After thinking about it for a while I said "hey, why not use a 3 way light switch to select between L1 and L2". I figure if I hook L1 to traveler 1 and L2 to traveler 2 then the AC can be feed from the common terminal. Neutral and ground are the same for either leg. I prefer to use "real" type switches and outlets for 120V work in the trailer (vs like panel mount switches) just because it feels better.

To me this seems like it will work fine, nor do I see any safety issues. I'm not sure if it would be up to code..... but since NEC code doesn't really apply to a trailer (yeah I know at the factory it does... sometimes) Thats not an issue. So is this crazy? I see 20A switches at Lowes so I'm at the breaker rating. Obviously the Air Con would have to be off before switching so it doesn't take a big hit.

Thoughts?
Jim M.
Light switches are rated for 15A max. You'll be pushing far more through those contacts and it will burn up. No doubt.

Get an Autoformer. That's their job, and it's safe.
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