Tripping breakers at 20 and 30 AMPs

[erniecarpet@...]

Gary- i wonder if your dogbone, from 50 to 30 amps is bad?

Ernie Ekberg
83PT40
Livingston, Mt




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[erniecarpet@...]

Three years ago, I had to run my water well cable 150 feet. Only had a 30
amp circuit. Wonder how many volts it dropped till it got to me ? I could only
run 1 a/c at the time.

Ernie Ekberg
83PT40
Livingston, Mt




************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.


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[garyvant55439]

Earlier this year, I bought a 2004 Wanderlodge M380. So long as I was
plugged into 50 Amp shore power, everything worked fine. However,
plugging into 20 or 30 Amp circuits trips the circuit breaker on the
campground pedestal.

How can I avoid this from happening?

Best regards,

Gary Van Tassel
Rollinsville, CO
2004 Wanderlodge M380

[Rob Robinson]

Gary this happens to me sometimes. Especially if I only have 20amps. What I
do is go into my circuit breaker panel and make sure certain less necessary
circuits are shut down. Then I switch fridge to propane, turn off icemaker
etc until the breaker will stay on.

On 03/06/07, garyvant55439 wrote:
>
> Earlier this year, I bought a 2004 Wanderlodge M380. So long as I was
> plugged into 50 Amp shore power, everything worked fine. However,
> plugging into 20 or 30 Amp circuits trips the circuit breaker on the
> campground pedestal.
>
> How can I avoid this from happening?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Gary Van Tassel
> Rollinsville, CO
> 2004 Wanderlodge M380
>
>
>



--
Rob, Sue & Merlin Robinson
94 WLWB


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Don Bradner]

20 amps may always be a problem, and many park 30-amp circuits are pretty worn,
leading to easy tripping at less than 30 amps. The obvious answer is that you
have to reduce your power requirements so that they don't exceed the
limitations.

The first one, always a problem when you first hookup, is the battery charging
system. I would guess that a coach as new as an M380 would have power
management, where you can set it for a lower amperage. The trick is to set it
for way less than 30 amps, which would be the logical setting, but is often too
high.

The next obvious step is "no two big power draws at once." Means only one of any
of the following at a time: Air Conditioner, Microwave, Toaster, Coffee Pot,
Instant Hot, Washer/Dryer.

Hidden high-use possibilities include an electric water heater.

Don Bradner
90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
Eureka, CA

On 6/3/2007 at 5:32 PM garyvant55439 wrote:

>Earlier this year, I bought a 2004 Wanderlodge M380. So long as I was
>plugged into 50 Amp shore power, everything worked fine. However,
>plugging into 20 or 30 Amp circuits trips the circuit breaker on the
>campground pedestal.
>
>How can I avoid this from happening?

[Wilhelmus Schreurs]

Gary:
I do not know what your electrical knowledge is, but the 20 and 30 amp service
are based on 120 volts, (2400watts and 3600 watts), as the 50 amp service is
based on 240 volts (12000 watts).
For the size of your coach, and all the electric items included with it, you
will really require load management.

Bill 84 FC 35 SB "$quanderlodge"
Terrace, B.C. Canada




----- Original Message ----
From: garyvant55439
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 3, 2007 10:32:30 AM
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Tripping breakers at 20 and 30 AMPs

Earlier this year, I bought a 2004 Wanderlodge M380. So long as I was
plugged into 50 Amp shore power, everything worked fine. However,
plugging into 20 or 30 Amp circuits trips the circuit breaker on the
campground pedestal.

How can I avoid this from happening?

Best regards,

Gary Van Tassel
Rollinsville, CO
2004 Wanderlodge M380





Ask a question on any topic and get answers from real people. Go to Yahoo!
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Pete Masterson]

Don't turn anything on.

"50" amps is actually 50 amps at 240 volts so you have 100 amps of
service at 120 volts. The two "legs" of the circuit _each_ carry 50
amps.

So, when you plug into 20 or 30 amps, you only have 20% or 30% of the
normal available power. You must accommodate the lower power
availability accordingly. You have to turn stuff off.

For example, we spent 2 days (in semi-hellish Texas heat/humidity) in
a 30 Amp camp site in a Texas state park. We could only run 1 AC --
and had to turn it off to run the (electric) stove. The AC draws 15
amps while running and jumps up to 25 amps (or so) during start up. I
have a home-type refrigerator and there's always some other draw
(including the battery chargers) so 30 amps simply can't handle two ACs.

I've camped for a couple of weeks with 30 amps -- and no problems --
when we were parked on the California coast in January. We were using
heat from the AquaHot system -- no AC.

Since almost all RV parks offer at least 30 amp service, you should
use that to the maximum extent possible.

There are "cheater boxes" that claim to plug into both the 20 and 30
amp receptacles to give you 50 amps (but not the true 50 amps at
240v) of power. Unfortunately, due to the way that most power
pedestals are wired, the cheater box rarely, if ever, works. (The one
I got has never worked at an RV park. I was able to get 40 amps at a
friend's home where he had two independent 20 amp circuits
available.) You probably won't want to bother with a cheater box.

Pete Masterson
aeonix1@...
'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42'
El Sobrante, CA




On Jun 3, 2007, at 12:32 PM, garyvant55439 wrote:

> Earlier this year, I bought a 2004 Wanderlodge M380. So long as I was
> plugged into 50 Amp shore power, everything worked fine. However,
> plugging into 20 or 30 Amp circuits trips the circuit breaker on the
> campground pedestal.
>
> How can I avoid this from happening?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Gary Van Tassel
> Rollinsville, CO
> 2004 Wanderlodge M380
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

[Marv & Jean]

Gary:

I also have a 2004 M380 and the one thing that comes to mind is one
of the settings on the load control panel next to the leveling jack
control. You can set the available amount of current to the
charger. If it is set at 30 amp and your batteries are low you could
be drawing enough current to trip the breaker. You might want to
make sure that the setting is less than 30 (about 15 amp is normally
what I use if I am hooked up to 30 amps.

I hope this helps.

Marv
2004 M380
Ocean Shres, WA

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "garyvant55439"
wrote:
>
> Earlier this year, I bought a 2004 Wanderlodge M380. So long as I
was
> plugged into 50 Amp shore power, everything worked fine. However,
> plugging into 20 or 30 Amp circuits trips the circuit breaker on
the
> campground pedestal.
>
> How can I avoid this from happening?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Gary Van Tassel
> Rollinsville, CO
> 2004 Wanderlodge M380
>

[Gregory OConnor]

Gary, I would flip all the Breakers off in the coach, flip off the
pedistal breaker, plug in the bus cord, then turn on the pedistal. Then
flip on one braker at a time to see the amp load of that circuit. I
woud then manage the low supply of provided power by limiting the hot
water and chargers from day time use. run the chargers at night and
heat water prior to need and without any other circuits running.
(Chargers and hotwater heaters click on without warning or control)

Circuit breakers do not provide a fixed amount of amp supply, they
limit a fixed amount of amp draw. In other words, you are drawing more
than that which the braker will allow to pass. The Idea of tripping a
breaker is to give warning to the user that there is a larger draw than
the design. That is why it is best to protect an appliance with a
breaker or fuse which is rated at the actaul amp draw of the working
appliance. If an appliance draws more amps than rated, that appliance
may overheat and cause a fire. In your situation tripped breakers
within the coach would prove appliance problems and the tripped
pedistal proves ;'you demand more than the pedistal is designed to
supply'. Your repair is to limit and manage the amp demand.

GregoryO'Connor
94ptRomolandCa

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "garyvant55439"
wrote:
>
> Earlier this year, I bought a 2004 Wanderlodge M380. So long as I
was
> plugged into 50 Amp shore power, everything worked fine. However,
> plugging into 20 or 30 Amp circuits trips the circuit breaker on the
> campground pedestal.
>
> How can I avoid this from happening?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Gary Van Tassel
> Rollinsville, CO
> 2004 Wanderlodge M380
>

[Gary Van Tassel]

Wow! What a helpful group!



Thank you for all your advice. I'll try your ideas and let you know what
works.



Also great to know there's at least one other 2004 M380 owner out there
(Marv in Ocean Shores, WA) with whom to exchange information.



Best regards,



Gary Van Tassel

Rollinsville, CO

2004 Wanderlodge M380





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