SOLVED" I need help.....again (lost 1 leg of AC power)

Rodbuster

Well-known member
Hello,
My wife and I left this morning for a 3 month vacation in our RV. We've been planning this for 8 months. Everything went well on the road, put on about 325 miles.
Got to our first campground in northern Florida and started setting up. Everything was going good until I tried to start the main AC in the living room area. Nothing at all. The bedroom AC works fine. Both TVs will not work and most of the electrical plugs will not work. The plug in the bathroom is working, one of the plugs in the washer/dryer closet is working, the plug on one side of the bed is working (the one on the bathroom wall).

I checked the AC breaker as well as the AC fuse.....everything seemed fine.
I'm going to send this cry for help out now while I go check the "other" fuses and breakers
I have a 2012 Landmark Key Largo.

I'll be checking for replies often.
It sure is hot in here.

Thank you
Dick
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Re: I need help.....again

You may have one 50Amp leg not getting to the circuit breakers. 50A service uses two 110V 50Amp circuits. Some circuit breakers use one leg. Some use the other.

Check the campground pedestal first to make sure you have voltage on both legs. Here's a website that'll help.

Check all the circuit breakers again. Try flipping each one off and then on. You probably have 50 Amp breakers on the left side of the panel.

If you have generator prep, you have a transfer switch in the basement. It might have a bad connection on one side. If you have the generator, try running it to see if everything works. If it does, it signals either a pedestal or transfer switch problem.

If you have a 30Amp adapter plug, you might be able to get 30Amp service and run 1 A/C unit and a few other things until you figure out what's wrong.
 

Rodbuster

Well-known member
Re: I need help.....again

Everything is OK. WOOHOO
I went over to see the campground host,,,really nice guy. Told him about my problem and he came over to my site to see what was going on.
Long story short, he asked me if I would mind moving to another site. I asked him if he thought it was a pedestal issue and he said,'I think so". That was good enough for me. We moved to another 50 amp site and I tried a few of the plugs that were not working and now they are. Both ACs are working fine.

Dan, thank you so much for your response and the promptness of your reply. I'm going to keep that web site that you provided for future reference.

Thanks again very much
Dick
 

SJH

Past Washington Chapter Leaders
Re: I need help.....again

Awesome! All issues should be so easy to solve! Have a great trip!
 

DougS

Doug S
Re: I need help.....again

Dick,
You might want to invest in a test meter if you do not have one for future problems. You might also want to look into a surge protector, there are a lot of campground pedestals that are bad or questionable. I believe the a surge protector would have told you off that you had a problem with the campground electric.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Re: I need help.....again

Dick,
I would suggest you invest in a Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS). It is somewhat pricey at around $495 but it will tell you if your power has issues and turn off the power if there is an issue saving you from damage. Just one problem and it will pay for itself. I know, been there done that. Also before you park your rig you can check the pedestal for power issues. I have found several. Remember no matter how great the power and connections are at the park the park cannot control the power company that supplies their power. We have had our EMS kick out twice so far where we are with a high power issue. So it has saved us twice where we are now.
 

dave10a

Well-known member
Power monitoring, surge suppression and autoformers are are must and cheep compared to the the damage improper power can cause. Low power and surges/spikes will cause appliances to have a short life and loss of neutral in 50 amp connections can cause a catastrophe. I am surprised that manufacturers don't incorporate as a minimum monitoring for improper power. It would cost less than $50 to do so by adding phase and neutral detection and power metering. Seems like the manufacturers spend a lot of time and effort on fluff and a minimal time of real world engineering.
 

pegmikef

Well-known member
Re: I need help.....again

Everything is OK. WOOHOO
I went over to see the campground host,,,really nice guy. Told him about my problem and he came over to my site to see what was going on.
Long story short, he asked me if I would mind moving to another site. I asked him if he thought it was a pedestal issue and he said,'I think so". That was good enough for me. We moved to another 50 amp site and I tried a few of the plugs that were not working and now they are. Both ACs are working fine.

Dan, thank you so much for your response and the promptness of your reply. I'm going to keep that web site that you provided for future reference.

Thanks again very much
Dick

Saw the exact thing at the Spring, TX rally last year. One of the attendee's second A/C wouldn't run on a fairly new rig. There was an onsite tech provided by one of the rally sponsors (Ron Hoover) and after minimal testing a bad pedestal was identified as the villain. An electrician repaired it on the spot.
 
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