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Old 12-02-2006, 06:03 AM   #1
Gpa_Dick
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Poor Power?

We are at Seaside for 4 days and have a new heater that won't keep the coach warm through the night - drops down to 56 inside. It got down to 30 outside. I have the Arctic package too.

I have a volt meter that plugs into the plugin - it has a green zone between 112 to 126 volts. Before I turn the heater on the indicator shows 113. When I turn it on it drops down to less than 110 or less and doesn't feel as hot as it should be.

It is on a 15 amp circuit and is a 1500 watt ceramic heater. I am on the 50 amp circuit. I am not sure how to check the volts outside coming into the coach.

Thanks for your input.
-Dick

 
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Old 12-02-2006, 06:22 AM   #2
jrlepin
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Ideally the incoming voltage would be between 115 and 120 volts. But I have found that something less to be a bit common in RV parks. The 113 volts you had is not too low to safely operate your appliances. It dropped to 110 volts due to the load of the heater. At 110 volts, your heater is drawing 13.6 amps, which is pushing the limit of the circuit breaker, but should provide the full 1500 watts of heat. If the heater doesn't have a fan, my guess is that the heat is not moving adequatly throughout the unit. At 30 degrees outside, I believe it's time to turn on the furnace. :-)
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Old 12-02-2006, 06:26 AM   #3
ols1932
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Gpa_Dick

We are at Seaside for 4 days and have a new heater that won't keep the coach warm through the night - drops down to 56 inside. It got down to 30 outside. I have the Arctic package too.

I have a volt meter that plugs into the plugin - it has a green zone between 112 to 126 volts. Before I turn the heater on the indicator shows 113. When I turn it on it drops down to less than 110 or less and doesn't feel as hot as it should be.

It is on a 15 amp circuit and is a 1500 watt ceramic heater. I am on the 50 amp circuit. I am not sure how to check the volts outside coming into the coach.

Thanks for your input.
-Dick

Dick,
I know of no 1500 watt heater that will heat the coach to a comfortable temperature when the temps outside are low. For example, we have the little Cube Heater sold by CW which has been the best one we could find and even it doesn't keep up. During the day, when the sun is shining, the heater keeps the inside temp very comfortable. In fact we have to shut it down if the outside temp is over 60 °F. You are only showing about a 2% drop in voltage and that is pretty normal with this type of appliance plugged in and operating.

We have found that we need to run our furnace at night at a setting of about 55 °F in order to keep the stuff in the underbelly from freezing when we are in very cold weather. We have also found that the addition of a small propane heater such as a Wave 6 or 8 Catalytic Heater is nice to have as long as we don't run it at night. If we run it at night the furnace won't run and we run the risk of freezing in the under belly.

Hope this might help you. I'm sure there will be others who will be able to add their experiences.

Orv
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Old 12-02-2006, 07:43 AM   #4
Glenn and Lorraine
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Dick,
Get yourself an AutoFormer

Use it whenever the park power is less than 117 volts. The AutoFormer will automatically boost low voltage by 10%
Read about it HERE

YES, they are a bit pricey but a new air conditioner is a lot more pricey. Low voltage can burn out a compressor motor very quickly.
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Old 12-03-2006, 05:58 AM   #5
Gpa_Dick
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Thank you all for your replies. Much appreciated.

-Dick
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Old 12-03-2006, 08:02 AM   #6
CRUZIN 2
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Glenn

It sounds like something I could use here in Ok. the voltage is low here, but what does it do to your neighbors that don't have one?

Larry
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Old 12-03-2006, 09:43 AM   #7
harleyrider
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by CRUZIN 2


Glenn

It sounds like something I could use here in Ok. the voltage is low here, but what does it do to your neighbors that don't have one?

Larry
Larry I to use a autoformer.It does NOT effect other campers electric.This is a common misconception that people seem to think that using a Autoformer will effect others-It Doesn`t.
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Old 12-03-2006, 11:14 AM   #8
Glenn and Lorraine
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An AutoFormer is a miniture transformer that merely boosts the voltage coming into it and sends the additional voltage into your rig, It has no effect whatsoever on any other party using the same lines.
As harleyrider pointed out This is a common misconception with no basis on fact.

As far as the neighbor's that don't have one just hope they don't power up their AC
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Old 12-03-2006, 12:18 PM   #9
CRUZIN 2
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Thanks to all on the reply on the autoformer, that is what makes the MOC forum a great tool. I will be looking at one in the future.

Larry
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Old 12-03-2006, 03:30 PM   #10
stiles watson
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Glenn,

If I were to obtain an autoformer, I am sure instructions would come with it. However, I am curious about how it connects. Just looking at your picture, it appears that it is pluged into your rig's inlet and then the site service in pluged into the autoformer. If this is so, how do you protect your valuable autoformer from being stolen?

If it is internally mounted, where is it physically positioned? Obviously, it is a pass through device where the current flows into the "box", the "box" performs its magic and the enhanced current flows out the other side. How is it connected into the service?
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Old 12-03-2006, 04:25 PM   #11
sreigle
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Stiles, I have a chain and padlock on mine and chain it to the parks electric post if it's constructions makes that reasonable. Otherwise I find something else to chain it to.

Dick, I have to agree with the others. One 1500 watt heater at 30 degrees will not keep our rig any warmer than yours did. We have two of those in our downstairs and one (running on low) upstairs. And set the furnace at 60. At 30 degrees we'd probably have one on high and one on low, downstairs.

It got down to 12 last night and we had granddaughters staying with us so we kept it warmer overnight than usual. Both downstairs heaters were on high with furnace at 64 and the furnace ran enough to keep our water lines from freezing and the girls were very comfortable.
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Old 12-04-2006, 02:09 AM   #12
ols1932
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by stiles watson

Glenn,

If I were to obtain an autoformer, I am sure instructions would come with it. However, I am curious about how it connects. Just looking at your picture, it appears that it is pluged into your rig's inlet and then the site service in pluged into the autoformer. If this is so, how do you protect your valuable autoformer from being stolen?

If it is internally mounted, where is it physically positioned? Obviously, it is a pass through device where the current flows into the "box", the "box" performs its magic and the enhanced current flows out the other side. How is it connected into the service?
Stiles,
I'm not Glenn, but I'll give my reply here anyway. I just run a good cable (bicycle or other) throught the handle and lock it to a slideout bar or whatever is close. If nothing is close, I use an extra 30/50 amp cable and run it under the rig behind the wheels and lock it there.

Orv
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Old 12-04-2006, 02:36 AM   #13
Ozz
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I thibk Glenn wired in an inside connection, so that it is protected and out of sight.
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Old 12-04-2006, 02:45 AM   #14
Mrs. CountryGuy
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Suggest Glenn's pages on Members Improvements:

http://www.montanaowners.com/ShowandTell.html

At least one page on autoformers, my CountryGuy's install is there.

Oh, and fulltimedreamers!!
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Old 12-04-2006, 11:08 AM   #15
Ozzie
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I would personally have a hard time with a unit as valuable as those being out in plain site. I have been considering getting one, and if I do, it will be mounted inside away from prying eyes of all types...
I know it isn't intended to fix the shortcomings of the wiring in our rig, but at least I'll know what is available will be clean.
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