humblerb

Good advice and I will at least be sensitive to it in the near future. It does appear that the breakers have settled things down, at least for now.
As stated above, I did have a loose plug that has now been replaced (but not before the successful trip).
Nice to know that these breakers do not mind being flipped. As a layman, I thought that was unusual. But no experience to know either way.
I also now have a multimeter and have read several articles about how to use it to check the post as well as my trailer circuits.
I am very cautious about electricity, which is a good thing. But also have learned a lot about it over the years. The most important thing I have learned is how to turn it completely off.
I replaced with the same brand of breakers, just can't remember the name right off (Murray something maybe?).
I don't know the wire gauge, but the trailer is 2.5 years old and it is what came from the factory.
I did check all the wires in the box for tightness. Everything was tight.

RedOne

To the OP...did you say that the breakers would trip or not? If they didn't trip and you replaced them all you did was make a better connection on the bus stabs or tighten the screw down on the wiring. If the breaker tripped you would have had to reset them. My guess, and a big one at that, would be either loose wire on the screw (which you said was tight) or low voltage from the campsite and the AC compressor was saving itself.

blueovelboy

ya but it happened three times in different places. now low voltage is a bad thing but i don't think it will cause it to trip because the voltage never hit it's max capacity for it to heat it up to trip. my guess is condenser fan giving up the ghost, or a bad bearing something like that causing it to run harder and thus increase the load till it over draws and trips breaker. but hay i have seen some strange thing from electricity so who knows.

humblerb

Correct - It happened three times at three different locations. One location was the storage shed, while using a 20 amp plug.
The others were a 50 amp (with a 30 amp convertor plug) and a 30 amp.
While I was replacing the 30 amp breaker, I replaced them all.
I even separated the 30/20 dual and put in a single 30 and a single 20.
Again, I now have a multimeter and knowledge of how to use.
Will start checking CG posts upon arrival.
Just curious, what would you do if you pulled in to a camp site and found the 30 amp weak?
Would you use the 50 amp with adapter (after checking the 50 amp)?
I know you could look at changing sites if another was available.
But that is a big pain, especially if the next site had low output.
Ever run in to this before?

willieboy

The 50A service in US campgrounds is 230V, with 25A down each leg. The 30A service is 115V with a single leg @ 30A. The 30A adapter plugs into the 50A plug and uses a only a single leg of the 50A service (meaning in truth it is only 25A service at that point).

Since the power box you are plugging into use the same feed service for both the 30A and 50A, if the voltage is low on one, it should be low on the other. If the voltage does not read the same (per leg on the 50A compared to the 30A), I would ask for a different site. A reading like that means there is something going on in the Campground power box (there are other possible explanations, but that is the most likely).

If you notice the power is below 105volts, that means do not try to use the air conditioner. Everything else will likely be fine, as most everything else one would normally camp with will not need a full 115 volts to operate, a microwave being one possible exception. If possible, I would ask to go to a different loop/row in the campground/RV Park.

blueovelboy

a 2 pole 50 is 50 amps per leg and a 2 pole 30 is 30 amps per leg.
what is a pole one might ask. well a 2 pole single phase cerket is aether a 3 wire set up of two hot leads (fed out from the breaker) and aether a ground or a neutral. (like most electric dryers and some older stoves). a 2 pole 4 wire cricket has two hot leads (from breaker) with a ground and a neutral. but what ever the breaker is rated at 15a, 20a, 30a, all the way up is what you will get off each side of a two pole breaker. but they are all 125 volt in your home / camper its just the breakers amperage that changes. there is 120/240 household then theres 208/240 and 277/480 volt but thats only at a industrial or commercial levels.

if you go from hot to hot (with your new meter) at a camp site and you don't get 240v + or - 5 and 120v + or - 5 per leg to ground i would look for a better site. remember the closer you are to the main electrical (ie switch gear) the better the voltage is going to be. the more distance you have the more voltage drop you will have and then you will see more problems.

to the OP did buy chance did or have you noticed the lights dimming when you turn on your a/c or micro?

jcain

there's 120/208 and sometimes there is a residential single phase pull off that wye bank that'll give you single phase 208. But, there is no 208/240 configuration. some appliance will say 208/240 but that just means they can use 208-240.

journeyman lineman 396

willieboy

I stand corrected (not sure where my head was at on that one).

Anyway, US campground power is 2 pole 50A or single pole 30A. The 50-30 dogbone adapter available for most RVs taps one pole of the 50A and blanks the other pole.

humblerb

No problem with lights dimming.

humblerb

I wondered how that worked with just an adapter.
So if you use the 50 amp with a dogbone, you are actually at 25, correct?