Lost one leg of 50 amp but came back on

[farside291]

I lost one leg of AC power but it returned by itself.
pedestal power was good. Progressive surge
protector showed no errors. I reset all the breakers, reset the pedestal nothing came back on, decided well I guess I'll have to wait for someone to come out tomorrow. While watching TV in the bedroom, after about 10 minutes, all the power just came back on by itself. I know i lost a leg because Air conditioner down stairs did not turn on. I still have a issue not being able to disconnect the 90 degree adapter from the input power receptacle. I have one coming in Friday and will change it just in case it overheated and melted together. Other than that any ideas? Converter maybe loosing a leg? Does it have a reset function? The power flickered on and off a couple of times before shutting off completely. I had a toaster oven and an icemaker running at the same time. Never had issues in the past though.

 

[farside291]

Been 20 minutes or so, everything still on. Weird, and now that i think about it, Tuesday morning. Coffea maker and fireplace was off when i got up to go to work. While checking GFCI in downstairs bathroom everything came on by itself.

 

[danemayer]

First, I assume when you say "Progressive Surge Protector", that you mean "EMS" with protection against low voltage, open neutral, etc.

Second, where is your Progressive EMS located? I'm guessing it's a portable unit located at the pedestal. If that's correct, I'd think the primary things to look at are the shore power connection to the trailer, and the back side of the main circuit breaker panel inside.

If you have generator prep, shore power also goes through an automatic transfer switch and that could be a point of failure.

The Power Converter changes 120V AC into 12V DC and wouldn't explain a loss of 1 leg of AC power.

Our owner-written Electrical User Guide has photos, drawings, and explanations of how things go together. You may find it helpful in running down the problem.

 

[farside291]

Yes, EMS. Everything looked good at the EMS. After verifying no faults. I plugged directly into the pedestal, same thing. Crazy thing is, why did it come on by itself? At fist i thought it was the GFCI outlet. But when it wouldn't trip or reset I pulled it and found no power at the wires to the outlet. Thats when i tried to turn on the downstairs AC. Nothing, would not turn on. If the power inlet looks good. I will have to pull the main panel. Also, EMS is a portable unit and no generator prep.

 

[mlpeloquin]

Connection is loose and may cause a fire do to high resistance. Make contact and then not and then does is a big safety problem. This is a must track down and find root cause ASAP fault.

 

[farside291]

I will leave down stairs AC off. And all other items drawing power from that leg until tomorrow. But, the big question is why did it come back on by itself?

 

[danemayer]

I will leave down stairs AC off. And all other items drawing power from that leg until tomorrow. But, the big question is why did it come back on by itself?

As Marc said, there's a loose wire. Sometimes it makes contact enough to run things. Sometime the contact breaks. It is a high priority to get it corrected.

 

[hoefler]

I lost one leg of AC power but it returned by itself.
pedestal power was good. Progressive surge
protector showed no errors. I reset all the breakers, reset the pedestal nothing came back on, decided well I guess I'll have to wait for someone to come out tomorrow. While watching TV in the bedroom, after about 10 minutes, all the power just came back on by itself. I know i lost a leg because Air conditioner down stairs did not turn on. I still have a issue not being able to disconnect the 90 degree adapter from the input power receptacle. I have one coming in Friday and will change it just in case it overheated and melted together. Other than that any ideas? Converter maybe loosing a leg? Does it have a reset function? The power flickered on and off a couple of times before shutting off completely. I had a toaster oven and an icemaker running at the same time. Never had issues in the past though.

I think you have your answer already

 

[carl.swoyer]

At the earliest opportunity I would disconnect all power and tighten everything in the distribution panel and your transfer switch. Power cord reel if you have one.
a couple of years ago I had a similar problem and I found my hot 1 going into my transfer switch was actually bouncing on the outer edge of the terminal. I had to tighten everything up since then no problems and I did find loose wires in the distribution panel.

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[farside291]

I think you have your answer already

Fixed it! 90 degree Camco adapter. Thank you everone for your help.

 

[carl.swoyer]

Fixed it! 90 degree Camco adapter. Thank you everone for your help.View attachment 63237

Had that happen before as well. However it always good to check for loose wires and connections.

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[carl.swoyer]

Fixed it! 90 degree Camco adapter. Thank you everone for your help.View attachment 63237

Saw a guy in Key West plug in and then the thing started and the fire department said the pig tail was defective.
His camper was fine the pedestal not so good.
Glad you are safe

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[danemayer]

You should inspect the connections and wires it plugged into to see if there's heat damage.

 

[sengli]

I roasted a couple of adapters myself. Kinda scary to think this gets that the connections get that hot.

 

[farside291]

I had the panel apart. Saw a bare spot on the wire going to the ceiling fan breaker. Taped that one. I will hit all the breaker screws and make sure all is tight. No generator prep, so no transfer switch correct??

 

[danemayer]

No generator prep, so no transfer switch correct??

That's correct. But where the damaged connector plugged in, the heat that damaged your connector may have caused damage to the wires behind the receptacle.

 

[farside291]

I have a new input receptacle coming in tomorrow. I will be changing it then. It definitely shows signs of overheating on the one leg. The adapter overheated in August under normal usage. This is the first trip since. Its been cold this week and using the fireplace and the toaster oven together increased the amount of current draw on the kitchen slide which uses that leg.

 

[MCTalley]

I didn't have any power drop-outs, but check out my thread. You'll probably find something similar when you replace your trailer-side power connector:

https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/76318-Check-Your-Shore-Connections

 

[Oregon_Camper]

Fixed it! 90 degree Camco adapter. Thank you everone for your help.View attachment 63237

Title says 50amp...but that is a 30amp plug. Is it converting 30amp service to your normal 50amp plug?

Wonder if your RV was trying to pull more power than that 30amp plug could provide...???

 

[danemayer]

Marinco 50 amp receptacle. Ground is on the perimeter.