-
Greetings from Moab and a WARNING …
-
Joel,
On Liberty coaches of a certain vintage, microwave current draw is measured twice because of where the donut is located, but you are correct in that just 2 A/C’s and a microwave are close to pushing the limits on a leg.
-
Maybe it is registering twice, seems high. I can easily get close to 60 amps with 2 airs on and microwave. SOP for us while plugged in is to shut off the bedroom a/c while doing dinner if we’re nuking. I don’t worry if we’re on the gen…never had a problem.
-
Ron,
I have stayed there in the dead of summer twice. with 100 plus temps. First time no issues…second time we did loose power once… they all blamed it on the big bus (me) but it wasn’t me… They promptly swapped out a breaker in the main panel down the way from us and all was well for the rest of the week.
Our marathon has a power management system they call it aux reset I think that keeps things under 50 per leg on the inside of the coach… something crazy needs to happy for me to have to go outside and reset the connection. at the pedistal… most of the the aux reset engages and something shuts off inside so I don’t pop the breaker.
There is no way with my coach unless under geny power to run 4 ACs and all the other stuff outlined.
I don’t want to throw fire on the situation but in my opinion expecting to get 80 amps using both the 50 and the 30 when your technically only supposed to use one is asking for problems. Candidly I didn’t even thing the pedistals were wired that way… but I am not an electrician…
Hope things work out… we love Moab and had a very positive experience both times were have been there in the past. Please keep us posted on how the rest of your time there goes if you stay…
-
Just so everyone understands the power pedestals, Ron’s use of both the 50 and 30 amp breakers is possible. However, and this is very important to understand, the 50 amp breakers are set up to draw up to 50 amp per leg. A typical box may also have a 20 amp breaker on one of those legs and a 30 amp on the other leg.
Using full power on a 30 and 50 amp receptacle loads one leg at 80 amps and the second at 50 amps. If we assume neither breaker will trip at full rated capacity all seems OK, but the reality is that the power supply coming into the box is probably on #6 wire which is not rated for a load of that size.
The damage that will occur with that excessive loading is going to be between the pedestal and the panel supplying power to the pedestal.
I am amazed that if the campground knows of plugging into multiple receptacles in a power box that it would not put a stop to the practice because Bill was exactly right with his comments.
-
I am probably not helping myself much by reporting facts in spurts but would like to add the following for better understanding.
I am plugging the trailer into the 30A outlet because the trailer receptacle is the 30A kind and it was provided with that cable.
However, there is nothing in the trailer (other than the battery charger, maybe, that charges the hydraulic lift battery) that requires 30A or anything close. The battery charger would not be charging most of the time since this battery is receiving a charge while the trailer is connected to the bus and while underway.
I am plugging the trailer in for convenience to have working lights and power to standard 110V outlets. I do also keep a freezer/fridge box in the trailer for cooling adult beverages. The draw should be minimal.
So most of the time, there is no draw or very little.
I have at times used the converter plug to reduce the 30A plug to a standard 15/20A plug and that works just fine, too.
Therefore, I am not consuming 80 amps!
As for the current situation, all was well all day while nobody was here. Then this guy Roy arrives in his Royale and pulls into the adjacent pull-thru, along with his friend occupying the next one over. All power went to hell, then.
Just kidding.
Just to be safe, I switched-off 2 AC and I did not have any power issues overnight.
-
Lazy maintainance, they are usually quick to blame the bus. We routinely run into that problem at Everglades Isles and at the RV Park at Wisconsin State Fair Park in Milwaukee. Insisting on replacement of the breaker always does the trick. We set our shore cord power size on each leg at 42 amps and if I see amp draw rise abnormally along with a decrease in voltage I know there’s a problem. Usually you can’t even touch the breaker. It seems they will look for any excuse not to replace, but when explained to them that I know that there is nothing wrong with the bus and that I dial down the incoming power to 80% of the breaker rating and know about start up draw, the breaker gets replaced. There is nothing to be done about a facility with a screwed up system and when they get full when it’s hot and humid, we just run the genset during peak hrs. After all that’s what we got ’em for. Geo.
-
Ron, I made my post speaking about maximum loads to put a potential hazard or power issue in perspective.
Just keep in mind if you push the 50 amp service to its limits then any additional loads imposed on the 20 or 30 amp receptacles may exceed the current capacity of the wires feeding the pedestal.
I do not write the UL standards for temporary power outlets, nor control how the products are used so once a box or pedestal is shipped we presume these are installed in a fashion to protect not only the box but the system feeding power to the box. We have no control over the installations. The scenario I described is less likely if the RV park has installed the power outlets using “home runs” where each box gets its power from a main panel and each box has a 50 amp breaker at that main panel. If that is the case you cannot exceed the current carrying capacity of the wires.
But it is legal in some jurisdictions to “loop feed” power to the power outlets meaning the main panel has a large breaker, such as a 400 amp breaker, and then it feeds power to the first pedestal, then from that to the next, and to the next and so on. If your usage was 80 amps and you were at the last pedestal in the run the RV park could experience serious problems that would not even trip the breaker. I will hope Fred chimes in because he can elaborate if necessary.
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
Good example of what Jon said is while at the Prevost Show in West Palm I was at the very end of the power run and was on the generator half the time. Or, they put me there because of Jon.
-
The NEC allows breakers to be used as switches IF the manufacturer stated they are suitable and Square D breakers are. And everyone is correct that circuits are only designed for 80% of rated load
There are several factors that could be at work.
A loose connection of wire to the breaker will build up heat
Many folks use aluminum feeds and failure to use dielectric grease will build heat
a corroded receptacle will build heat
The wire gauge to the pole is very dependent on distance and must often be upsized to avoid voltage drop which would increase current
If multiple feeder cables are run in the same conduit, the circuit must be de-rated
I would agree the maintenance guy is an idiot if he can’t perform a simple inspection of the pole. Heat turns into fire!
-
Question for Admin: Is there a timer on the REPLY section with this IT upgrade? I had a rather large missive on NEC and RV Parks and it just vaporized. This is not the first time this has happened on a large response. I will admit that I was typing really slow because I know that Tom cannot read real fast.
-
There is a timer but it is based on inactivity. If you were working on a long post, unless you stepped away from the computer for a while it should not have timed out.
Having said that the same thing has happened to me and I know if i have to make a long response with time on another site to verify information or look something up I do the response in Word and then cut and paste.
Another way is to respond in shorter posts but with a couple or more, one after another.
-
Me too Fred, just happened to me, did you get an error code?
-
No Tom. It just went back to the page where I clicked the REPLY button.
Log in to reply.