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Shore Power – It can bite you on the ass
Arrived in south GA on Sunday at my brother-in-law’s, plugged into the 50 amp and got all settled, only 105 degree’s. That night about 11:00 the loss of power dash warning sounded and we were inverting. Marathons main breaker in the bay showed 4 green and the red light was on.
So started the trouble shooting, Progressive Industries showed no faults so I zeroed in on the 50 amp cord and plug. Took plug apart and all was good. Gave up and started gen for the night.
Next morning plugged the Progressive back in and now it shows open ground. Started at the 50 amp breaker (they wear out being used as a switch) changed it out then moved on to the power plug next to the garage. Took the plug apart, moved wires around and tighten connections, couldn’t see anything wrong. Plugged Progressive back in and all was well. So it must have been a loose connection or a little corrosion at the ground even though I didn’t get more than a half turn on the screw.
Thankfully, the Marathon power monitor at the main breaker was doing it’s job even though the Progressive initially wasn’t. So don’t rely totally on these Progressive Surge Protectors, you have to look beyond if you have a problem.
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5 Replies
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Probably just your brother in law having a little fun at your expense. Maybe he really does have some special power(s).
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I wish I had a light or buzzer to tell me when shore power kicks off. Since my coach is a Vantare conversion, every circuit is an inverter circuit and everything just keeps right on running on batteries if the shore power kicks. There is a slight hiccup and if we are awake, we know something has changed and get up and check it.
At night, we do not know the power has kicked until the generator kicks on. I forget what the threshold is set at, but 20-30 amps load over a period of a few minutes without shore power and generator comes online. That brings me up off my pillow in a hurry.
Davy
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Get a power failure alarm (Amazon… around $11) and plug it in to an outlet that is only powered when on shore power or generator. On our bus I’d use the outlet for the dishwasher or the insta-hot. Some of the alarms are quite loud….. you would know right away!!
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No missing a power failure in a Marathon, alarm and red button on dash for shore power and another for inverter loss.
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The Amazon alarm would work fine IF there were any outlets on a Vantare that only work with shore or generator power.
Davy
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