07-20-2014, 11:14 AM
i know alot of us are very proud that we have a 15 or 17.5 or 20 kw generator. but....the fact is, if you have a 50a main breaker in your coach panel, you are still only going to get 50x2x120=12,000 watts of consistent power. a breaker has a tripping curve where it can sustain more than its rating for a few seconds, but they will trip if you go over the rating for very long.
on the all electric coaches of my vintage, newell put a safety relay that doesnt allow you to opererate the aircon if the electric hot water heater is on. they also distribute power needs amongst the 2 legs of the incoming 50a service. it is assumed you will never operate everything at once. a simple but not very scientific look at it is to go look at all the breakers in your panel. if you add them all up, they will go well over your incoming power. granted, not all of them are loaded to capacity and you will not operate all of them at once, but you get my point.
if you operated all 4 aircons. that is roughtly 50a or half of your avail power. now through in the dryer and cooktop and hot water heater, that will throw you quickly over the top and trip the breaker. add in other draws....the fridge when the icemaker is heating to release ice, or the defrost, and you are cranking your home theatre up, a fridge/freezer in the bay, a toaster, your gigawatts of computer gear (michael), your 120v air compressor (which draws between 5-10 amps) and running your charger for your house batteries,
it is very easy to trip the main breaker if you are not at least slightly managing your power.
and....like michael says, breakers can get weak. and when they do, what i believe typically happens is their ability to handle higher than rating loads or near for the rated trip curve is dimenished and it will trip much faster. or the breaker could just be totally failing. if people dont turn the breakers off at the pole and plug their coaches in, the arcing can wear the breaker down faster than treating it a bit more carefully.
or just tell your wife not to run 4 hair curlers and a couple of hair dryers at once.
thats my 2 cents worth and i am stickin to it. or most of it
tom
on the all electric coaches of my vintage, newell put a safety relay that doesnt allow you to opererate the aircon if the electric hot water heater is on. they also distribute power needs amongst the 2 legs of the incoming 50a service. it is assumed you will never operate everything at once. a simple but not very scientific look at it is to go look at all the breakers in your panel. if you add them all up, they will go well over your incoming power. granted, not all of them are loaded to capacity and you will not operate all of them at once, but you get my point.
if you operated all 4 aircons. that is roughtly 50a or half of your avail power. now through in the dryer and cooktop and hot water heater, that will throw you quickly over the top and trip the breaker. add in other draws....the fridge when the icemaker is heating to release ice, or the defrost, and you are cranking your home theatre up, a fridge/freezer in the bay, a toaster, your gigawatts of computer gear (michael), your 120v air compressor (which draws between 5-10 amps) and running your charger for your house batteries,
it is very easy to trip the main breaker if you are not at least slightly managing your power.
and....like michael says, breakers can get weak. and when they do, what i believe typically happens is their ability to handle higher than rating loads or near for the rated trip curve is dimenished and it will trip much faster. or the breaker could just be totally failing. if people dont turn the breakers off at the pole and plug their coaches in, the arcing can wear the breaker down faster than treating it a bit more carefully.
or just tell your wife not to run 4 hair curlers and a couple of hair dryers at once.
thats my 2 cents worth and i am stickin to it. or most of it
tom
2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608 Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH