Electric, polarity and surge protector frustration

[Redwahine]

I am so frustrated. So just venting. I will try to explain the problem. But it doesn't make sense.

RED is plugged into one of our CFI outdoor plugs that should have enough power for one A/C.
RED has a 50 amp cord. This 50 amp cord is plugged directly into my 50 amp SurgeGuard RV Power Protector.
SurgeGuard plugged into a 50 amp to 30 amp pigtail adapter. Then the 30 amp is plugged into a 15 amp adaptor and the heavy duty extension cord goes from the adapter to the house.
SurgeGuard does its test cycle and says everything is OK and turns the power on to the coach. All the power in the coach works. Except when I turn on the AC. The power stays on, however, SurgeGuard is flashing "reverse polarity". So I disconnected everything. Ran a cord out to another building. Same thing. I used one of those testers in each outlet and it says the polarity is OK. So put it back to the original outlet and hooked up and same thing. The outlet ready is OK. The SurgeGuard says all is AOKAY. Then turn on the AC and SurgeGuard says reverse polarity. Turn AC off and SurgeGuard says aokay.

Will call SurgeGuard today and see what they say. Electrician will be here Tuesday to hook up a 30 amp plug for RED.

[mitch5252]

..
I sent your post to my wiring/electrical genius friend, Blake, along with this explanation:

This is a Forum post from one of the ladies on the WomenRV Forum. "RED" is the name of her motorhome (yeah, we're women...we name inanimate objects!) SurgeGuard is an expensive piece of equipment that you plug into an outlet BEFORE you plug in your RV. It senses high voltage, low voltage, reverse polarity, and whatever else. IF it shuts down the power to your rig, it will wait 10 minutes to restart so as to not burn out your A/C if it was running. I always use mine, even here at the house.

Have any clue what her problem could be?



Here is his reply:

Yup.

When the Air Conditioner kicks on it's drawing more current than the 15amp outlet can supply. I'll bet that Air Conditioner unit draws 15amps just by itself! The surge thing doesn't know what to do so it reverts to saying "reverse polarity"... but the polarity hasn't changed. She has to turn off everything else in the motor home including the frig(which can also draw alot if it's running off AC power) except the Air Conditioner and even then that may not do it.....
ME

..

[Redwahine]

Thank you Mitch, Yup, I called SurgeGuard and they said pretty much the same thing. I only have one of the the ACs on. Everything else is off. They said it was ok to run it that way. The SurgeGuard will shut it down if things get too hot or over loaded. I'm only running AC in afternoon to keep RED from melting. I'll be glad when I have the 30 amp hook up.

[retiredhappy]

Its also my understanding that you lose some power each time you do a step down (50 to 30 to 15 to an extension cord).

[Deeann]

Goodness, ladies! A large rv needs 50 amps in order to run everything in the rv. Plugging a 50 amp rv into a house outlet is asking for serious trouble. Your house outlet is only designed to handle 15 amps. Yes, you can buy all kinds of adapters so that you can physically plug a 50 amp cable into a house outlet but it's not the thing to be doing. If you do this make sure that you have good fire insurance on your house and that it will cover your loss even if you do something foolish like plugging a 50 amp rv into a 15 amp house plug. If you need to have your 50 amp rv plugged in to a power source at your home, call an electrician and have a 50 amp service installed on the outside of your house. Installing a 30 amp outlet will cost you less money but you won't be able to supply your rv with 50 amps. If you try to power up lots of things under these conditions you'll be tripping your 30 amp breaker or possibly burning up your air conditioner.

[grammynmaggie]

I am plugged into my dads out side outlet...it is 10 gauge wire
and only thing on it is the rv...he put it there for a friend that
use to visit with his rv...I use an adapter ...do you think this is
ok...when A/C is on the only other thing on is TV...what do you
all think...donna my rv is 30 amp

[Irmi]

This is the reason we keep our motorhome plugged into a dedicated 30 amp outlet, just for the camper. There is no step down from 30 amp to 15 amp to the house. This way, we can run the a/c in the summer and the heaters in the winter without a problem. It is worth the peace of mind.

[Bethers]

I am plugged into my dads out side outlet...it is 10 gauge wire
and only thing on it is the rv...he put it there for a friend that
use to visit with his rv...I use an adapter ...do you think this is
ok...when A/C is on the only other thing on is TV...what do you
all think...donna my rv is 30 amp

I do that all the time when visiting people. Just don't try to use more than you have to - and, personally, I never use ac - but if it's the ONLY thing on - is it really? What about the fridge? And all the little things you don't tend to think of? You're probably ok, but the ac is powerful, as is the microwave, or a hair dryer - all things that need lots of power.

[grammynmaggie]

At dads I don't use the fridge...only the day before leaving for a GTG do
I turn it on to cool it down...then I don't use the A/C....I try to be very
carful of this...as I am not sure about breakers and fuses and don't want
to ruin anything in the house or RV...turn of A/C if I am going to use any
other appliance... and only use one at a time...some times I fix my breakfast
out in the RV ...but make my toast , coffee and oat meal..one at a time..
this is always in the back of my mind...lol...
donna