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Tripping 50 amp
#1

Coach is tripping 50 amp breaker at camp ground never happened before. Any suggestions.
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#2

You may have a bad breaker, or breakers at the pedestal.....there is usually a duplex breaker on a 50 amp circuit (one breaker for each 50 amp leg tied together with a bar), or you are drawing more than 100 amps (50 amps max per leg times 2 = 100 amps max), or you've got a short somewhere.....there may be more possibilities, but those are the ones that come to mind....


Clarke and Elaine Hockwald
1982 Newell Classic, 36', 6V92 TA
2001 VW Beetle Turbo
Cannondale Tandem
Cannondale Bad Boy
Haibike SDURO MTB
http://whatsnewell.blogspot.com
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#3

What current draw are you seeing on your AC ammeters in the coach? I try to keep them below 42 amps / leg if I can since an AC starting up can temporarily pull enough extra amps to cause a weak pole breaker to trip. I also have 60 amp main breakers in my coach so they will try to pass more current than the 50 amp breakers the parks use.

Sometimes the park will have a breaker that has tripped a number of times and weakened to the point that they won't sustain even 40 amps / leg without tripping. Of course they will always blame you, I have had them blame it on running more than 2 AC's at one time, which is silly. If you have an electric water heat, 4 airs running and the inverter/charger recharging the batteries OR a residential refrigerator and don't have a power management system you can exceed the 50 amps / leg.

My money is still on a weak breaker on the park side. I have stayed in parks that I had to leave one AC off to keep from tripping their breaker which was in a large central power panel rather than located at the site where I could go out and reset it myself.

Michael Day
1992 Newell 43.5' #281
NewellOwner.com
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#4

What are the voltages on each leg, L1 and L2 running?
If they are too low the amp draw will be higher and could trip the breaker. And low voltage is bad for any electric motors like your a/c and fridge.
But like Clarke said it might be the campgrounds breaker. If the campground is full and everybody is running a/c's the voltage could be dropping.
Another thought are the blades on your power cord showing any black spots? Or dirty? If the cover can be removed you could check the connections and make sure they are tight after you unplug it of course Smile

Forest & Cindy Olivier
1987 log cabin
2011 Roadtrek C210P
PO 1999 Foretravel 36'
1998 Newell 45' #486 

1993 Newell 39' #337 
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#5

Crank your generator and see what happens. I bet it is a weak breaker at the camp ground being it has never happened before.

Chappell and Mary
2004 Foretravel 36 foot
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#6

Good points Forest. Especially during busy, hot weather, many parks just can't keep the voltage up and it becomes a vicious downward spiral of breakers tripping until the load drops enough to support those remaining. I drove down to Temecula, CA during the a busy summer season and had to run my generator because the park was warning everyone not to use park power until it cooled down as it had dropped to 105 volts. Folks around me without generators were sitting outside sweating and we were running our generator and nice and cool.

The internal wiring in the power cord can work loose and the receptacles in some parks can open up enough that they aren't getting good connections.

Worst power situation I had was in Sault St. Marie, MI in August of 2001. The old park had only 30 amp service with low voltage and every time I turned on an AC, it blew their main fuse (yes FUSE rather than breaker) so they had to go into town and buy more of the old, expensive screw in glass 200 amp fuses to get power back on to the entire park. Neither the park owners nor I were happy campers as the temperature was in the 90's with high humidity and no one could use their air conditioning.

Michael Day
1992 Newell 43.5' #281
NewellOwner.com
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#7

Thanks guys it was on the park side. I had both ac's on plus fridge plus an aux ac I have in the coach for our exceptionally hot summer with kids in and out. I ran an extension cord straight to my aux air from the 110 receptical on the pole. No more problems. The generator has plenty capacity to run all ac's.
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#8

Easy solution. Glad you are back in cool air again!

Michael Day
1992 Newell 43.5' #281
NewellOwner.com
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