Low voltage and power going off constantly

nander

Texas North Chapter Leaders-retired
We are in an rv park and have already moved once. The power keeps going off and the ems says low voltage. The rv park says there's nothing they can do. What causes the low voltage and is there anything we can tell them to try? We are supposed to be here until Monday and they said they cannot move us again because they are full.

any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
 

jayc

Texas-South Chapter Leaders
If the park is full and everyone has their a/c turned to high because of the Texas heat, there's probably little you can do beside the obvious, turn your fridge to propane, water heater also and only use one air conditioner. Any other heavy electricity users should be cut back or not used at all. Good luck!
 

Speedy

Well-known member
Here is a perfect example of why you don't want a residential fridge and induction cooktop. As mentioned in a thread on the girls only page these mostly electric coaches are really nice but without power they are very expensive basic campers.
 

nander

Texas North Chapter Leaders-retired
Would it make any difference if we plugged into the 30 amp? We are only able to run the bedroom AC and it's getting hot. :)
 

olcoon

Well-known member
No expert by any means, but I'd think it'd be the same, or about so. We only have 1 AC, and when plugged in to 30 Amp, with the AC, & electric HW side on, & TV, when we use the microwave on it'll blow a breaker.
 

nander

Texas North Chapter Leaders-retired
Thanks Roy! I guess we'll have to suffer but I'm not a happy camper. I did not know if maybe the parks breaker might be bad.


Thanks,

Nancy Anderson
North Texas Chapter Leader

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Lynn1130

Well-known member
Is this a regional issue and if not is it possible to move? By move I mean to a whole different park.
 

nander

Texas North Chapter Leaders-retired
Is this a regional issue and if not is it possible to move? By move I mean to a whole different park.

It is hot, but I have turned off everything electrical except one AC (bedroom) and the power is off again. The ems is cutting the power because of low voltage. It is hard wired into the trailer so we can't just take it off. We are at a Jellystone park and our grandson is not keen on leaving!
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Nancy,

Is running both A/C units tripping your EMS or are you just trying to reduce power consumption to help everyone?


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brianharrison

Well-known member
Would it make any difference if we plugged into the 30 amp? We are only able to run the bedroom AC and it's getting hot. :)

Depends how the pedestal and park are wired. If the 50A are separate circuits back to the transformer then the 30A may not have as big a load on the circuit as the 50A. I highly doubt this is the scenario but you could try...

Voltage drop is caused by long runs of wire and high amperage draws. If you are at the end of the circuit - ie far end of the park from the transformer, you may get low voltage. Being closer to the source is better.

Brian
 

nander

Texas North Chapter Leaders-retired
Nancy,

Is running both A/C units tripping your EMS or are you just trying to reduce power consumption to help everyone?


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We had two running, but now only have one running bedroom and the power still cuts off. The voltage on the ems gets below 104 and it shuts down the trailer. It's also happening on some other trailers on the next row. The maintenance man just left and said we have 230 volts at the meter. Ugghhh! It just kicked off again.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
It's uncomfortable, but better than damaging your compressors by running on low voltage.

Could be the local utility running a brownout.


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nander

Texas North Chapter Leaders-retired
It's uncomfortable, but better than damaging your compressors by running on low voltage.

Could be the local utility running a brownout.


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who knows! I guess that's possible, but we didn't have a problem until the park filled up. Only thing I know to do us leave and give a very poor rating!

thanks for your help and if you think if anything please let me know!
 

brianharrison

Well-known member
We had two running, but now only have one running bedroom and the power still cuts off. The voltage on the ems gets below 104 and it shuts down the trailer. It's also happening on some other trailers on the next row. The maintenance man just left and said we have 230 volts at the meter. Ugghhh! It just kicked off again.

Here is a stretch thought - Is the cord in your power cord reel mostly rolled up? Check to see if it is hot to the touch. Sometimes a rolled cord will overheat at higher amp draws and cause excess voltage drop at the higher wire temperatures. If it is hot roll it all out on the ground. Thinking outside the box here, but i think the whole park the undervoltage due to the large loads.
 

nander

Texas North Chapter Leaders-retired
Here is a stretch thought - Is the cord in your power cord reel mostly rolled up? Check to see if it is hot to the touch. Sometimes a rolled cord will overheat at higher amp draws and cause excess voltage drop at the higher wire temperatures. If it is hot roll it all out on the ground. Thinking outside the box here, but i think the whole park the undervoltage due to the large loads.

Our cord is unrolled and on the ground. It is not hot.
thanks!
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Here's another longshot - probably not the problem since others also are experiencing failures.

If you have a transfer switch and your EMS is after the transfer switch, you could have a little additional drop at the transfer switch caused by a pitted contact or slightly loose connection. If the voltage is already marginal, a 1 or 2 volt drop at the transfer switch would be enough to trigger an error on the EMS.

But if the EMS is before the transfer switch, that's not the problem. And maybe you don't even have a transfer switch. It's included in the generator prep option and possibly the full-timer option, if that's available on your rig.
 

nander

Texas North Chapter Leaders-retired
We don't have a transfer switch. I think it's the parks issue, but that doesn't help us any!
 

scottyb

Well-known member
Sounds like line loss due to full capacity. If he is showing normal voltage at the meter but the pedestals have low voltage, the wiring may be undersized.
 

kakampers

Past Heartland Ambassador
This is why we carry a Hughes autoformer...it boosts the voltage when the pedestal is at low voltage, and therefore allows the EMS to let the power in. You are probably near the end of a run in the pedestals from the source of the power, and it will drop little by little from the first hookup to the last, especially when the power is being taxed, as it appears it is where you are. We had this situation while we were in DC for close to a month and finally had to move to another campground with more adequate power.

There is effectively nothing else you can do...the EMS is doing it's job....
 
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