50 Amp cable female end at trailer: what's going on?

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Absent a problem in the trailer, supply wiring issues won’t cause current to flow in the grounding conductor.

You would be surprised what incorrect wiring or faulted wiring can do. Electricity is a strange animal. Start with the supply. Verify. Move on down the line

It's what I do anyway. Too many times in the past I skipped the verifying supply step only to eventually get back there to find the original issue

 

[mwdilday]

How long is your extension cord? What size wire does the extension cord have? What amperage breaker is protecting the outlet you are plugged into? Someone needs to test the outlet with a meter to ensure proper wiring?

 

[jkwilson]

You would be surprised what incorrect wiring or faulted wiring can do. Electricity is a strange animal. Start with the supply. Verify. Move on down the line

It's what I do anyway. Too many times in the past I skipped the verifying supply step only to eventually get back there to find the original issue

Any wiring problem at the pedestal that could cause current in the ground would be instantly obvious. The ECG in the trailer has no load except in a fault condition within the trailer, so current can’t flow.

 

[ardvark16]

Invest in a power Watchdog surge protector. He didn’t mention any surge or electrical protection at all. Progressive makes nice stuff too. This won’t happen with either of those because they will shut down. I also see you have a ton of lithium batteries which means inverter was wired and probably a charger upgrade. Check everything because something is going to ground. Maybe could be loose wires but there is leakage somewhere. Perhaps the dog bone is bad or something else is crossed or loose or touching.

 

[Dave woz]

If your unit is good when plugged into a 50 amp plug. I would check the outlet out of you panel. The neutral could be on the ground terminal and the ground on the neutral terminal

 

[Jimibooks]

Thanks to everyone for the help on what to check; I have an electrician friend who will come by in the near future (exact date uncertain as I write this). And I presume he'll be able to help diagnose what's happening. I'll update here when we find out what's wrong.

 

[ardvark16]

Thanks to everyone for the help on what to check; I have an electrician friend who will come by in the near future (exact date uncertain as I write this). And I presume he'll be able to help diagnose what's happening. I'll update here when we find out what's wrong.

Good luck. I hope it works out and is an easy fix.

 

[more tired since retired]

I'm considering getting the SmartPlug system from etrailer:

https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Power-Inlets/SmartPlug/SM76FR.html

Anyone familiar with how good this is (it should be very very good for the price!!).

!

We converted to Smartplug several years ago. Never have had an issue. Old screw type was always loose and had water in it once. A suggestion is to make sure you make a second cable with a spare plug. What we did was take a 3 ft 30ft leash and swap out the female (trailer end) with a second Smartplug end. That way if you do have a problem with your cable, you can still hook up with an extension cable. Did that after having the factory male going bad due to bad pedestal ( built in EMS protected the trailer). Had to hunt down a male end to replace the burnt plug. The new leash gives us a backup without having to haul a third cable.

 

[ardvark16]

Really does seem like the smartplug is a very expensive solution searching for a problem. You now spend 250.00 and can’t get any cords anywhere if something breaks. I think the stock 50 amp furrion plug is fine. I did buy a 90° adapter so it doesn’t put the stress on it. I am not a fan of switching to a proprietary plug for that kind of money.

 

[ForBruce]

JKWILSON: you likely have something going on with the ground and neutral in your trailer since you don’t mention tripping breakers. If ground and neutral are bonded inside the trailer, the ground wire could end up carrying 25A, and that contact isn’t designed for that kind of continuous current.

i amend my post and fully agree with JKWilson

 

[Tom Traveler]

it look like you lost the white neutral return wire going back to the house and the ground substituted which do not carry a heavy amperage electrical contact..

Losing the neutral wire going back to the house somewhere still wouldn't put current through the ground contact at the RV input plug. Assuming all the other wiring is OK, this would simply open the circuit - no power at the RV.

There are only two ways I can think of that current would flow through the ground connection of the trailer input plug. The first would be a "hot" ground wire at the supply plug-in point for the RV cord. (See Post #14 ). This is unlikely and should be easy to determine and eliminate which it looks like the OP did in post #17 .

That leaves the second way which is a neutral/ground bond somewhere on the RV side of the RV input plug.