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RV-Dreams.com Home -> RV-Dreams Community Forum -> RV Maintenance and Technical Tips -> Check your Shore Power Plug & Power Center wiring connections regularly!
Post Info TOPIC: Check your Shore Power Plug & Power Center wiring connections regularly!
lb311


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Check your Shore Power Plug & Power Center wiring connections regularly!
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I've been RVing for 10 years and full-timing for almost 2, but last month I nearly started my rig on fire due to my RV's 110 electrical system going haywire.  

 

My problems started one night last month with circuit breakers flipping when I was running my ceramic heater.  I'd been running the heater fine for weeks and my RV is currently parked for the season, so nothing had changed from the day before.  Once I reset the breaker the 3rd time, things seemed to work o.k. again, but within a few days I started noticing a slight smokey smell whenever I was running a "high-demand" electrical appliance (i.e. space heater, microwave, hair dryer, etc).  The appliances continued to work so I didn't immediately investigate the problem.  But a few days later when I finally did, oh good heavens!

Opening the access panel of my power center/converter revealed some severely charred 110 wiring (all of my neutral buss wires were burnt to a crisp!).  I stopped using 110 electric immediately, and the next day, the park's electrician came to check my outside power pedestal for any miswiring or other problems.  It checked out fine, so the problem was deemed with my RV.  The electrician suggested I start troubleshooting from my surge protector all the way to my power center/converter to look for loose or faulty wires.

 

Long story short, I discovered that the wiring inside my shore power plug had become faulty due to one of the screw posts rubbing against the ground wire's insulation until it finally wore thru.  This created a "hot neutral" condition which then burned up the neutral buss wires in my power center as well as the neutral prong receptacle of my surge protector (that the shore power plug was plugged into).

 

So my tip to all fellow RVers is to inspect your shore power plug regularly (at least annually), and routinely double-check all your power center wiring (and any other RV wiring you can easily access) for any loose connections as well.

 

I thought my fancy $200+ surge protector would keep my rig safe from any and all electrical problems.  Nope!  It can't prevent the RV-side electrical problems, it only protects you from those lurking at the power pedestal!  I learned a valuable lesson...and dodged a major bullet by getting this fixed before a fire started!

If you're interested in further details and photos of my saga... check out my blog posts here and here.

 

Lynne

 

 

 



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Lynne (Winnie Views)
http://winnieviews.blogspot.com
'07 Winnebago View 23J
'03 Chevy Tracker ZR2
 
TRAILERKING


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It's also good to regularly check all connections within the panel for tightness. With all the bouncing down the roads connections can become loose. Pretty soon the loose connection can become a hot-spot and over time start a melt down.

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ticat900


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TRAILERKING wrote:

It's also good to regularly check all connections within the panel for tightness. With all the bouncing down the roads connections can become loose. Pretty soon the loose connection can become a hot-spot and over time start a melt down.

 

 

That is more than likely what the problem was,   been there and done that    I doubt a screw rubbing into the ground wire would do anything



-- Edited by ticat900 on Friday 11th of December 2015 10:48:19 AM

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Bill and Linda


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Lynne:

Thank you for sharing you experience.

As a point of safety information, “surge protectors” do not protect your rig from high or low voltage – just voltage “spikes” as you correctly indicated.  A true electrical monitoring system, like the Progressive Industries product HW50C or for 30 amp rigs the HW30C, may have alerted you to a low voltage condition which may have resulted from those loose connections.  While this isn’t a certainty, it is worth considering upgrading to a product that better monitors your electrical power and will shut down the power if a low voltage condition occurs which can come from loose connections.  That low voltage will cause higher amperage along with heat which is what will “fry” those connections and perhaps start a fire.

I am truly sorry to say true electrical monitoring systems cost more than $200.  But perhaps knowing this will be of some value.

Bill



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lb311


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Guess I should clarify-- I was not using a simple surge protector, but was indeed using an EMS. Mine was the TRC 30 amp portable unit that monitors both high and low voltage scenarios (like the Prog Ind model), so low voltage from the pedestal was likely not the cause here. Agree that if I'd had a hard-wired EMS, though, it would have protected the RV from loose/bad connections within the shore plug. I'll probably replace my now-crapped out TRC with a PI EMS unit.

I certainly do not rule out that my problem started in the power center rather than the shore plug. Even though I could find no loose wires on the neutral or ground buss bars, nor could I find anything loose on the circuit breakers, I did end up replacing the circuit breakers when I replaced the power center, so perhaps a bad CB or bad wire insulation somewhere was to blame, who knows.

The main thing is that all is fixed and running well again, and I now have learned to pay attention and check all electrical connections routinely every few months!

Lynne





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Lynne (Winnie Views)
http://winnieviews.blogspot.com
'07 Winnebago View 23J
'03 Chevy Tracker ZR2
 
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