Brand new RV AC issues - help please?

[PharmaDoc]

[QUOTE=too long a cord run from the pedestal[/QUOTE]

Cord is standard 50Amp cord, 25' long - is that too long?

[xrated]

You are definitely bordering on low. Standards say 114 is officially low voltage, but around 110 things start acting weird.

I would try a different electrical source and see if you get the same voltages.

Not sure of your setup or how far from the plug, but if it is far you may be facing line loss due to distance, but it’s just a guess without more to go on.

Definitely low voltage situation, in my opinion.

Actually, 114 is NOT officially low voltage. The standard is 120 volts....plus or minus 10%. So 120 volt minus 10% of that takes it down to 108 volts. The typical EMS that you would put in a trailer will take you off line at voltages less than 108 volts on the hot leg to neutral.

[Redapple63]

Actually, 114 is NOT officially low voltage. The standard is 120 volts....plus or minus 10%. So 120 volt minus 10% of that takes it down to 108 volts. The typical EMS that you would put in a trailer will take you off line at voltages less than 108 volts on the hot leg to neutral.

He is going as low as 109. Something isn’t right. Could be a whole host of things, and running off a known good source will speak volumes.

[SolarPoweredRV]

New 2021 Reflection 150 295RL. Just brought it home from the dealer. Have 2 Coleman-Mach 48000 Rooftop AC units. No Easy-Starts yet.
Had it professionally inspected - on 50A shore power both AC's worked fine, cooled rapidly no issues.

At my house I did not install 50A service as the electrician said it would be very expensive due to wire run costs - he is an RV 5er owner himself and assured me that 30A service would be fine to run one AC unit without problems. Pedestal reads 116V on voltmeter, no polarity issues.

Have connected pedestal to the RV with both a 50A cord with a 30A dogbone adapter and also with only a 30A cord with a locking plug adapter. Same issues occur with each.

When I turn on the main AC, it starts fine, seems to start cooling, and after 60 - 90 seconds starts making a "grunting" sound or possibly some sort of cycling. I have to turn it off to make it stop, and it trips no breakers.
The bedroom AC starts fine (main AC is off), seems to start to cool, and after 30 - 45 seconds it trips the breaker at the panel.

Nothing else is running - microwave is plugged in showing a time. Lights off. Refrigerator off. No other loads I can think of except possibly the converter.

Would renting a 50A generator be of benefit to prove they both still work?

I am out of ideas at this point, any ideas or direction where to look would be extremely appreciated.

Do you have a Plug-in Surge protector that can tell you if you have a Ground Fault or Reversed Polarity on your new 30 amp outlet?

You need to get a TT-30 Wiring design to determine if your new outlet was wired properly (i.e.: 120v between the two legs and 120v between only one leg and Ground).

If your outlet is wired properly, I would tear apart the outlet (after ensuring the power is completely off) and ensure that the proper wire gauge was used for the outlet, be sure to measure the distance from the breaker box to the outlet (allowing extra length for wire routing) and find a wire gauge loss calculator to ensure your Electrician did not undersize the wires going to your new outlet.

Also, ensure that you have a 30 amp breaker in your breaker box.

You might also check that you have a good quality Dog-Bone adapter for your 30 amp to 50 amp connection.

Bottom line: you are not getting enough amperage/adequate voltage to your camper.

PS: your 25 foot 50 amp power cord is not part of your power loss.

[gbkims]

Cord is standard 50Amp cord, 25' long - is that too long?

I wouldn't think a 25' 50A cord would be a problem even using the dogbone.

I do wonder if the A/C's have the Start Device Pkg. (includes start capacitor and PTCR device) installed.
The Mach 8 15K had this, a PTCR & a capacitor, it's a simpler version of a 5-2-1 hard start kit.
This gets removed when the EasyStart is installed.

I was doing a EasyStart install today on a Mach 8 15K BTU at storage and wanted to get it setup.
I'm plugged into a 20A outlet with ~30' of 12 Awg extension cord to short 15A to 50A adapter.
This 20A outlet is maybe 100 to 150' from the CB panel and isn't the best source of power for setting up the EasyStart, but I wanted to see what it would do.

I had 120VAC w/o any load which dropped to 111VAC when I was running the A/C for the 5 learning starts.
I'd start the A/C and see ~3.7A when the blower fan started and then jump up to ~46.5A when the compressor started and then leveled out to ~12.5A.
After the learning starts were finished, the EasyStart Bluetooth app said 17.2A was the compressor start amps, and running amps ~12.5 again.

[jungleb0y]

The standard cord you have with the rv should be sufficient I assume it’s 6/4, you are getting the voltage drop because you don’t have a large enough hose somewhere in the run from the panel to your trailer and given you are using the standard 6/4 power cord that leads me to think the dog bone you have does not have a thick enough awg or the feed to the pedestal is not soft sufficient awg.

Do you know the length and what gauge he used from the panel to the pedestal?

[bjlakatos]

You should be able to run one unit on 30A but as noted above. However if your voltage is marginal it may not work or act strange.

I would not continue to attempt to restart the AC in this scenario as a low voltage situation will fry your AC or your progressive EMS (if you have one).

You can rule out the 30A outlet by verifying voltage in your home at other outlets. If you have below spec AC voltage in your home you can call the power company to come out and check it. I have had such a problem in my storage lot where my progressive EMS has cut power to my trailer since it got either too low (104v) or too high

(132v).https://www.rvsafety.net/Manuals/PT50C.pdf

[Malco1]

New 2021 Reflection 150 295RL. Just brought it home from the dealer. Have 2 Coleman-Mach 48000 Rooftop AC units. No Easy-Starts yet.
Had it professionally inspected - on 50A shore power both AC's worked fine, cooled rapidly no issues.

At my house I did not install 50A service as the electrician said it would be very expensive due to wire run costs - he is an RV 5er owner himself and assured me that 30A service would be fine to run one AC unit without problems. Pedestal reads 116V on voltmeter, no polarity issues.

Have connected pedestal to the RV with both a 50A cord with a 30A dogbone adapter and also with only a 30A cord with a locking plug adapter. Same issues occur with each.

When I turn on the main AC, it starts fine, seems to start cooling, and after 60 - 90 seconds starts making a "grunting" sound or possibly some sort of cycling. I have to turn it off to make it stop, and it trips no breakers.
The bedroom AC starts fine (main AC is off), seems to start to cool, and after 30 - 45 seconds it trips the breaker at the panel.

Nothing else is running - microwave is plugged in showing a time. Lights off. Refrigerator off. No other loads I can think of except possibly the converter.

Would renting a 50A generator be of benefit to prove they both still work?

I am out of ideas at this point, any ideas or direction where to look would be extremely appreciated.

I have 2 15000 btu air conditioners on my Solitude, they are stock. I have no problem running either AC with my Champion 3500 watt generator with a 30' 30A cord from the generator to the 50A input on my Solitude. The generator rides on a rack on the back of the rig.

it sounds to me like that receptacle is not wired properly. I would call that guy back.

[bjlakatos]

Just to double check--all the prongs/blades bright and clean on the power cord (50A male) and dogbone (30A male) ?

[Johnrb]

You are definitely bordering on low. Standards say 114 is officially low voltage, but around 110 things start acting weird.

I would try a different electrical source and see if you get the same voltages.

Not sure of your setup or how far from the plug, but if it is far you may be facing line loss due to distance, but it’s just a guess without more to go on.

Definitely low voltage situation, in my opinion.

Actually, motors for 120 VAC systems are namplated at 115 V, which means he motor will produce rated output with 115 V input. Between ANSI C84.1 and NEMA standards, a 115 V motor should operate from 109 V to 121 V optimally and from 104 V to 127 V satisfactorily, but not optimally.