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Power Pole Issue
Had a issue last night when we returned to the campground . We arrived to find our generator running . I figured the park must have lost power . So after resetting the breaker only one inverter was charging , the other was inverting . Well being late and tiered we restarted the genny and went to bed . We needed the power on the inverter without power .
Well after checking the power at the pole all was good . Turns out after repeated inserts at the receptacle one or both of the prongs for lack of proper terminology will loosen . This creates a gap where one or both of our prongs will have no contact . So after turning off the breaker I inserted a screw driver and bent the prong back tight . End of issue .
I was glad we have a very quiet generator and being a rather warm night the smell of deisel did not create any complaints . However this is bike week so maybe they were to hung over to complain 🙂 Hope this info help someone one day .
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18 Replies
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Campground needs to replace the receptacle. We should suspect there are other problems in the receptacle beyond the prongs that aren’t making contact with your plug.
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Dick , I do plan to inform the owners , however with all the goings on here I’m sure this will be low on there list . I think i will start carrying a spare so if needed i can just make the repair on my own .
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Constant problems at campgrounds with poor power and breakers. They never do any maintenance on the power pedestals and the constant off/on of the breakers causes them to fail. It’s always in the heat of the summer when power issues surface.
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Always remember, Murphy works 24/7.
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What do the rest of you do when you are at a sight that has old worn out breakers (like many do) and you can only get around 40 amps out of the breakers, and the outside temperature requires you to run most if not all of you air conditioners?
Chuck
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
Power receptacles need maintenance. As a campground ages if annual maintenance has not been a routine thing what typically happens is the torque required to keep the screw tight against the cables relaxes.
Steel is harder than copper so as a result a tight electrical connection loosens due to the ability of copper or aluminum cable to “cold flow”.
Loose connections generate heat and the result is low voltage or failed devices.
Checking electricity with a surge protector or voltage meter is not going to help because the problems only begin to show up under load. While Al may be capable of bringing his own breakers or receptacles to make repairs it is a dangerous practice and unless someone is highly qualified they should never open a shore power box.
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Well in the heat of the day the breaker tripped 2x s. So as the day cooled my friend and I replaced both receptacle and breaker . No more issues are expected . The campground did supply the parts , we did the labor .
I will add my friend is a retired Electrician and all I did was watch and learn . I would not have opened that box on my own . However after seeing how easy it was I just might if need be if the next park .
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Shore power boxes are connected in one of two ways.
Boxes that are “home runs” each have their own breaker at a main distribution panel and once their breaker is turned off they are safe to work on. The lack of power still needs to be confirmed, but those boxes are dead when their breaker at the distribution panel is off.
The other type of power feed to shore power boxes is called “loop feed”. That means the box is in line with several other boxes and the power supply to the box loops from the main distribution panel to box to box to box. To kill power to loop fed boxes a row or portion of a row is shut down. If the box that needs repair is loop fed a number of them are going to be shut down and other RVs on that circuit are going to be without power until it is restored.
My free advice is do not service a bad box unless you really know what you are doing and if not, don’t.
A professional will work on a box with power. All the power in a box goes through the circuit breakers via “stabs” or prongs that go into a breaker when it is inserted in position. Remove the breaker, either a single or double pole and the attached wires have no power to them. A breaker can be replaced with power on but inches away from where you are working is power to the copper “stabs” and once mistake or false move and bad stuff is going to happen.
You will make a real ash of yourself if you do not know what you are doing or not careful.
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Jon , Yes this box was live , not one I would touch . To disconnect power would require shutting down 9 additional coaches on the run . . Breaker and receptacle were removed as one unit after removing the neutral .
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NFPA 70E basically prohibits energized work. An Energized Work Permit is required before any energized work. There is no way to justify energized work at an RV park. In short, turn off the power, lock the breaker in the off position, verify the circuit is de-energized and then repair the pedestal.
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
I have grabbed the bottom of the prongs on the shore cord plug with vice grips to keep them from twisting then used a another pair of pliers to slightly twist the top end of the prongs. The small angle I created seams to make a better contact in the worn out receptacles at most parks. I realize this reduces the contact area of the prongs overall, but in a lot of cases it is at least making contact.
Chuck
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Mike, you are correct and I stated as much previously, but it seems like nobody is going to pay any attention to good advice.
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There are two things I won’t do:
1. Crawl under an unsupported coach.
2. Replace the camp ground receptacle in the power box.
I suppose I can add to that try to adjust the prongs on my shore power cord.
Its the campground/resort/park’s responsibility to provide us with consistent, reliable, 120VDC power at 60Hz, that won’t trip the breaker until the draw is over 50amps.
The park should “fix it”. If the manager isn’t capable of doing it (and I’ve watched a few do it), they should call in an electrician (even on nights or weekends). If there are are nine other RVs on the 500amp service, they need to make the rounds and tell their guests they have to bring the power down for 15 or 20 minutes to solve an electrical problem in the park and that its OK to fire up their generators.
In a small defense of the park, its hard for them to know when they have a soft or bad pedestal. They could annually go through and torque all the connections, but that won’t solve all the problems. Too many of their customers can’t pull a full 50 amp load like we can, and likely some that do and have a problem don’t say anything to management.
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Hopefully no one pays the ultimate price…
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I agree and in any other park we would never, I say never attempt to replace a bad breaker . However this is a Bikers Family campground and my friend and I were here earl before the rally fixing bad breakers so mine was just one more on the list .
The purpose of the post was breakers wear out and may look good but internally they are weak and if not replaced will create all kinds of issues . Sorry if some felt I was endorsing do it yourself electrical work at RV Parks , i was not .
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