living on one leg

oldbird · 06-07-2018, 11:54 PM

Got to a campsite and only one ac came on? The other campsite beside me the pedestal was close so I plugged in there, same thing. My surge guard said volts & amps on one leg and the other leg said volts and zero amps. Zero amps on the one leg with 124 volts tells me its in the camper but what do I know? In the morning I'll check the power with a multimeter but right now I'm wondering if its OK, where do I start checking in the camper? Fuse box looked OK and the big plug and cord looks OK but looks I know don't mean anything.

porkchop · 06-08-2018, 08:48 AM

If it reads zero at the surge gard the problem is no voltage to that point. The problem is outside, not inside. Try and find the breaker that feeds the pedestals in your area and work backwards from there.

Bill

oldbird · 06-08-2018, 01:56 PM

Bill, it reads zero amps at the surge guard but it reads 124v at the same time. I took the surge guard out of the equation with no change, half the plugs and the one ac do not work. I just got done reading the 50 amp plug in and it all checked out so the problem is probably inside. Next I'll take the panel off the breaker box inside and see what I can see. I just might have a bad cord? IDK Thanks for the reply!

OCB · 06-08-2018, 03:09 PM

I had a similar problem a few years back in MN at a Casino. It was Hot day and the Electric was curtailed as the casino was running on their Generation. So I first thought it was somewhere on their system. When they switched back to the utility system, I had the same problem. The Electrician came out, Measured the open circuit voltage at the closed 50 amp breaker, 240 volt and 120, 120. They had a small load box and plugged into the pedestal and one side of the 240 was dead.

BAD BREAKER. I ohmed the the breaker connects and did get a resistance on the bad pole. I was surprised the breaker didn't really hot.
Clay

oldbird · 06-08-2018, 04:29 PM

Interesting Clay! Bill & Clay, I'm back in business.

I didn't find anything in the fuse box except for verifying one side was dead and the other side alive. Pulled the cord and started to do a continuity test and found one of the 50 amp leads dead. Pulled the plug apart and sure enough the black was disconnected. It was one of those replacement Cameo (sp) plugs, maybe I should just go get another molded new cord? Its nice to be cool again, lol. Thanks for the help!

Notanlines · 06-08-2018, 05:05 PM

Glenn, first I'm glad you found the problem and it will be inexpensive to fix. Secondly, thanks for reporting back. Half our posters leave us all hanging!

oldbird · 06-08-2018, 07:17 PM

I know what your saying. Its always nice to know what the problem was. This one sure had me scratching my head for awhile, lol.