[Archived]

Thanks for clarifying Al!

You mention something that many people new to RV’ing aren’t necessarily aware of:

Many circuit breakers are NOT designed to be switches, but in RV parks they are used as switches all the time.

This causes wear on the breakers and they prematurely wear out. Additionally they are in often a harsh environment. Couple with that huge 50 amp plugs being tugged and pulled every which way to get them out, we have a perfect storm for power pedestal problems.

I’ve been told by a few master sparkies that some circuit breakers (like certain Square D models) are rated for “switch duty” (SWD) use. Not sure what’s in most RV pedestals.

A well run campground/park/resort should have a regular maintenance program on its electrical system to ensure we get full, reliable volts, amps, and Hz.

[Shelly]

One thing everyone should understand is even new breakers are not going to provide reliable power at greater than 80% of their rated capacity with any degree of reliability. Add to that loose connections, and then add the huge inrush of current when an A/C cycles on and it is a wonder they hold up as long as they do, especially when some people who use them turn them on and off under load.

[joel]

50 amp park breakers.. we’ve all been there . Most all larger coaches are equipped with 2 large 4000 watt inverters . Figure out how to set shorepower amps . I always drop ours to 45 per leg or even lower depending on the looks of the pedestal / breakers . You can still run 3 airs and whatever necessary . These inverters will start pulling a small amount of battery power as loads rise and fall. The batteries get recharged at night as loads diminish . Has always worked for us rarely tripping a park breaker.

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1999 XLV X-6872,  liberty #440