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Rayford Road RV Resort (Roberts Resorts) Spring TX
Decided to park the Marathon H3 here for a few days enroute for a larger trip. This location should openly advertise that it does not have enough power to handle larger rigs with 4 AC’s on the roof. Apparently, the max pedestal power is right at 50A, meaning one can only run about 2, and perhaps very inefficiently, 3 AC’s on the hottest days. The power was well below what was required. We had to switch to generator power twice. Further complicating matters is the fact that Rayford Crossing openly told us after the fact that it simply can’t handle these larger rigs with 4 AC’s with heavier power requirements, but yet on the picture for the site we reserved, it clearly shows about 8 coaches our size (all Prevost conversions) as the example of what their pull-through sites can handle. This simply is not true, unless that picture was taken at a time of the year when there was a smaller power draw by the coaches due to cooler temperatures. Our multi-night stay turned into less than 8-hrs and we were out of there. They should take down that picture in their advertising. Yes, it looks good and it is likely to attract the larger coaches, but it is very misleading. Will also post a review other places to help others avoid this issue. to be fair, the Staff is good and helpful and it’s not their fault. It is surprising that a company the size of Roberts does not invest in sufficient power but yet added 50+ more new spots immediately without addressing the deficient power? The site should take down the picture of the Prevost’s below from its website that is being utilized to depicts a typical “Daily Standard Pull Through” site listing. It’s misleading and inconvenient. The access roads into and out of the Park require some tree trimming for larger rigs as well. Be careful or you will scratch the side of your coach!
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17 Replies
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I don’t think any of them were plugged in.
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Most Prevost conversion only have 3 airs and all 3 can easily be run on 50 amp service. You might have to keep an eye on what else is running but should only be a big concern on the very hottest of days (like recent TX weather). There is a great RV park just South of Spring but I doubt their 50 amp service would handle 4 A/C units plus all the other things going on in our coaches either. Check out Northlake RV Park.
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Thanks – I have also parked there and even on the hottest days here (last July/August/Sept), it only went down once with all 4 ACs running to keep up. You are correct in that some parks openly tell us when we come in that they are not necessarily set up to handle a 4 AC (++) coach operating on the hottest days. I have ahad some on here argue that it is an issue with our coach, but Marathon and Prevost have both checked it out and assured us that it is the park(s) that have the issues. I also had the Fairgrounds in Tulsa tell us that they only have certain rows that can handle the loads as well, despite all being 50A service.
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Ha ha, that might be true!!!!! One of the coaches there in the picture is actually our coach, but with the former original owner. Also, apparently, the time of the year is a HUGE factor.
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50amp 240v should be able to power 4 AC units. Each should be 15-20amps and you just need to worry about startup surge.
Victron inverters have power assist so you can use all 50amps plus batteries to boost as needed. I have 6 AC units on my coach
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4 roof top a/c’s should be about 7.2 kW. 240v at 40 amp (continuous, max for 50 amp circuit) would be 9.6 kW. I wonder what the problem actually is. I wonder if they just don’t have enough utility power for the site. Was the rv park crowded? FWIW we stayed a bit west at a new rv park, canopy rv resort in new braunfels, opened recently, super nice, and since it’s not well known yet, not crowded at all (we were the only class A and only one in a pull thru. We’re headed back there next week to have a place to stay as we get some final r&r done on our newly purchased house in Seguin.
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Even assuming it’s not 110 outside like it is here in Vegas, and depending upon roof air or cruisair, the 15-20 amps per A/C unit is going to put you at 60-80 amps before ANY of the other loads. Continuous loads at that level could cause breakers to trip around 80 amp (80% of rated capacity). A/C without some kind of soft start is also going to have short lived high amp surges which could also trip a fully loaded breaker. Of course, there is also the water heater, battery chargers, cooktop and fridge also fighting for a taste of that power. Overload either side and both breakers trip. It’s not really that hard to do in these coaches but trying to keep it all in balance AND run 4 A/C at the same time would appear to be a pretty daunting challenge.
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What you guys are trying to figure out is almost impossible trying to match 3 or 4 different converters and expecting same results.
What the park advertises does not have much say as to what happens at the pole. You can do your own diligence by verifying what’s coming in to the bus from the pole either thru Marathon Techlink or your surge protectors. If you have 118v coming in on both legs thats good power. In the summer with alot of coaches hooked up you could see 110v or less even under 100v and that can be an issue.
When you know these numbers it’s up to you how you manage your power and how your converter spread the big power items on each leg. You need to know what items in your bus are on each leg.
Also the only bus you will see with 5 roof airs is an entertainer and anything pre 2000 probably has 3 roof airs, all the rest usually have 4 after that.
There is an unwritten rule that got lost in this thread. Regardless if you have a 13.5 or 15k roof air only run 3 on the pole and do what you want on Generator.
Later
bv
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Agree with Bernie…10/4
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
Active Start makes a 50 amp plug-in that will monitor pole power, provide surge protection plus provide soft start to all your induction loads including A/Cs, refer, air compressors, etc. No wiring required, it is plug and play. If the park voltage stays up in the 110vac range on both legs this unit likely would help you start and run those four A/Cs plus some other loads if the power pole breakers are ok. We can start and run two roof A/Cs plus a few other ac loads on a 30 amp pole plug when using their Active Start unit. Highly recommended. I did an article for Bus Conversion magazine and for Vintage RVing magazine on this unit that will appear in the next edition or so of each.
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Is there a link available for the active start product?
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Sounds like something to try out in New Braunfels!
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL -
As always……thanks for the valuable input on the power distribution/management on a Marathon. On those hot days, do you advise running the generator to supplement the load requirements in addition to the pole?
Mike & Debra
2004 Marathon H3-45
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is this it?
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Most coaches are setup such that running the generator will disconnect shore power entirely.
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