Questions Regarding Max Amp Usage

[kevinpo]

Hi Steve,
Gene posted a link a while back to this meter (so of course I had to have one ) I just got it late last week so I haven't had much time to play with it but it looks like it will do the job and at a good price.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Regards,
Kevin

[ncitro]

Based on what you have said I would run far far away from that campground. Or at the very least unplug and run off of batteries. Its clear their maintenance guy knows nothing about electricity, and there is something very wrong with that power post.

[Steve7]

Steve, I did a quick estimation of the current that the devices you list as being on and came up with about 55-56 amp. You didn't list the Converter, which was probably on and if at full charge mode, could be pulling approx 5-6 amps.....which would put you in the 60-62 amps of current draw when you total L1 and L2. Again, this was an estimation because I do not know exactly what each one of those devices are pulling.....but it seems very close to what the EMS was indicating was happening. That being the case, the 30A breaker at the pedestal should certainly have tripped.

And as a secondary "problem" the guy that has been working on the Electrical stuff at the park (I refuse to call him an Electrician....HE'S NOT) is certainly NOT capable of doing any Electrical work, especially when you stated that he tried to use the Amp Clamp around the entire 6/4 cord instead of the individual wires ...L1 and then L2. Be very careful of allowing him near your stuff.....he is most likely a hazard to both himself and to others around him. Is there any possibility you can move to a different spot? There is still something very wrong with a situation where a 30A breaker is not tripping with that amount of current running through it.

I agree. I’ll be checking the post outlet tomorrow with the clamp one wire to see if it matches, but I’m sure it will. Trying to figure out why the heck the circuit breaker doesn’t trip. Moving sites is not something I want to do, as this is a very desirable spot. If I don’t show up for a season the spot will also be gone. Thanks for the information. I’ll post anything new I learn.

[Steve7]

Based on what you have said I would run far far away from that campground. Or at the very least unplug and run off of batteries. Its clear their maintenance guy knows nothing about electricity, and there is something very wrong with that power post.

Yeah, but what? What would cause the circuit breaker not to break when past limits?

[Steve7]

Hi Steve,
Gene posted a link a while back to this meter (so of course I had to have one ) I just got it late last week so I haven't had much time to play with it but it looks like it will do the job and at a good price.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Regards,
Kevin

Thanks Kevin. That looks like a good choice. Some others are very expensive.

[ncitro]

Yeah, but what? What would cause the circuit breaker not to break when past limits?

If I had to guess I would say the outlet you are plugged into is not protected by the circuit breaker he was looking at and changed. Either its protected further upstream or the breaker is bypassed somewhere. Hard to say without being there, but given the loads you listed I am inclined to believe the amp reading you are seeing in the EMS. I would not trust another site either, I would seriously get as far away from there as possible, or not plug in. At best you are at risk of melting your 30 amp adapter.

[Cate&Rob]

Yeah, but what? What would cause the circuit breaker not to break when past limits?

Does your power go on/of when you flip this breaker? Breakers usually flip early when they are failing . . . they don’t stay on to higher current . I assume that if the voltage was dropping low, your EMS would have indicated this?

Rob

[Richter]

Does your power go on/of when you flip this breaker?

Rob

Best test that I can think of for checking this out. If the power doesn't go off, it's not coming through that breaker.

[Steve7]

Does your power go on/of when you flip this breaker? Breakers usually flip early when they are failing . . . they don’t stay on to higher current . I assume that if the voltage was dropping low, your EMS would have indicated this?

Rob

Rob, The power does go on and off when the breaker is flipped, so the power is going through that.

I don’t know if this means anything, but when I first plugged in when we got here, the EMS gave me an error code for “Reverse Polarity”. The plug was changed and the code went away. I had to leave for a few days and returned to a prior code message of “low voltage”, indicating that the EMS had shut everything down at least once. This has occurred before at different parks on occasion. We haven’t had any electrical problems during use and our electricity has not been interrupted.

[LV Naturist]

Rob, The power does go on and off when the breaker is flipped, so the power is going through that.

I don’t know if this means anything, but when I first plugged in when we got here, the EMS gave me an error code for “Reverse Polarity”. The plug was changed and the code went away. I had to leave for a few days and returned to a prior code message of “low voltage”, indicating that the EMS had shut everything down at least once. This has occurred before at different parks on occasion. We haven’t had any electrical problems during use and our electricity has not been interrupted.

I've been following this out of curiosity, but that statement got me thinking. Is it possible to have reverse polarity at the breaker? If the breaker is wired backwards, and he just switched the wires at the plug, then the breaker could still be wired backwards. I'm not an electrician by any stretch, but I do work with 12V breakers. It is very important that these breakers are wired in the correct direction or they may not trip properly. Just wondering if the same is true for AC breakers.

John

Edited. Maybe I didn't think that through... That would mean the reverse polarity would have to be upstream, and the breaker would be wired to the neutral side and not the hot side? Maybe I should leave this to the electricians and bow out...