Don't Forget!!

[Mizmary]

Don't forget to check your connections often! Tonight I was outside dumping tanks in the damp drizzle and fog and noticed that the pigtail wasn't completely plugged in to the surge protector... I touched it a bit to see what was happening - and I heard a sizzle and saw a small amount of smoke. I flipped the breaker and replaced them quickly (luckily I have backup pigtails laying around!). Over time, connections wiggle loose and if water gets in to the electrical it will short!

Photo of the damage: WAAAAHHHH!!!

 

[danemayer]

Hi MizMary,

That looks like the neutral connection that's burned up. When you partially lose the neutral connection, voltage inside can increase dramatically. There's a technical explanation of that in the Lost Neutral Presentation located here.

If the voltage went up due to the bad neutral connection, it's possible (not necessarily likely) that you may have stressed electrical components in your appliances. The failures might show up over the coming weeks and months. I'd keep the damaged pigtail and pictures in case you need to file an insurance claim in the future.

One other thing I'd suggest would be to take voltage readings at some of the outlets in different areas of the trailer to make sure nothing else is going on.

If you have 120V at the pedestal, you should see 120V between HOT and NEUTRAL, and between HOT and GROUND on your outlets. And the voltage reading between NEUTRAL and GROUND should be very close to zero. If you see a drop, say 115V between HOT and NEUTRAL and 5V between NEUTRAL and GROUND, you may have something else contributing to the problem you found.

I don't mean to alarm you and I don't think you should worry. There's a good chance you caught this early enough that you won't experience any consequences from this problem. But if you do start experiencing multiple failures, you'll have some info that may help.

 

[Mizmary]

We had the pole checked - and it was fine. The problem was that plug wasn't sealing all the way when it plugged in, allowing water to get in.

I replaced both ends, obviously, but this is what it looked like plugged in. Just double check your power connections - especially if it's going to be wet.

 

[Willym]

A good timely reminder to check your plugs for proper fit and condition. I've seen these actually catch fire.

This is a 30 Amp connection. Unlike a 50 Amp set up, losing the neutral in this case will not cause any high voltage issues. The connection just looks bad, likely one of the pins was loose in the socket or corroded causing high resistance, and/or arcing. The the subsequent heat generated then burned the rubber/plastic. I don't think that water ingress was the issue.

 

[JohnD]

When I connect my trailer cord to an extension cord I always put the connection of the two cords under the trailer and off the ground so it is out of the weather.

Now, a couple of weeks ago when we were at the Grand Canyon (Camping Village RV Park), the pedistals were pretty beat up, and the one for our space wasn't solid in the ground.

And, when I plugged the trailer into the 30 amp outlet, the pedistal 30 amp plug was broken up around the edges to the point that the plug wouldn't stay plugged in, and when pushed all the way in, it actually didn't fit all the way in like it is supposed to.

I ended up getting out my 20 amp adapter and using the standard electrical outlet instead.

Got us through the two nights we stayed there . . .

 

[Nabo]

OUCH - Glad you didn't get zapped. Thanks for sharing about checking for safety.

 

[wdk450]

I think the BIGGEST electrical problem with shore power hookups that the average RVer encounters, is CAUSED by RVers themselves. This is the 30 or 50 amp outlet on the campsite pedestal having corroded, burned female contacts. These poor connections heat up under high current loads, and will burn/corrode your shore cable male contacts. The deterioration of the pedestal female contacts is caused by having an RV electrical load present when plugging/unplugging in the shore cable to the outlet WITH THE PEDESTAL CIRCUIT BREAKER TURNED ON. This causes an electrical arc between the mating prongs. Many parks have warnings to turn off the pedestal breaker before plugging/unplugging your shore power cord on their campground maps/handouts.

I routinely turn OFF the inside RV Mains breakers, THEN connect/disconnect the shore power cable (with the pedestal breaker OFF). This has the secondary effect of eliminating load contacting arcing on the contacts in the EMS and transfer switch relays, thus prolonging their life.

I also keep Cramolyn DeOxIt contact spray with my shore power cable storage (along with my non-contact AC voltage indicator). I routinely spray all outside electrical contacts including the park pedestal outlet.

 

[porthole]

The damage shown here is very typical in the marine world when using 30 amp shore power. I have "recycled" many 50' long 30 amp cord sets over the years.