50 Amp Pedestal Issue?

[davidaf]

Update: L2 is reading 80Volts, L1 is 120Volts and L1+L2 ~150Volts. So the pedestal is bad.

Came back to the Montana and found half of my electric dead. Went out and looked at the surge guard it shows missing L2 120. Unplugged power cord and L2 lights up. Grab volt meter both L1 and L2 => 110 volts but L1+L2 show 180 volts. Below is a link to the Surge Guard. Which will be replaced with a Progressive since It doesn't help with bad power.

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...s-50-amp/73995

I don't know enough about electricity to understand why I wouldn't get 220 or something close when I test L1 + L2?? I suspect loose connection but I won't be opening the thing up to check.

Will contact the park in the AM to check the pedestal. 30 Amp plug works fine but it'll be mid 90's tomorrow so I'd like to get back on 50amp.

[DQDick]

Good thing you caught it. Progressive has saved me a number of times, you'll be happy with one of those.

[jcurtis934]

I would suspect that line 2 had serious issues with the ped breaker. Probably was running hot for long time due to high resistance contacts or corrosion on line 2 feed. John

[davidaf]

Wasn't there when they came by but 3 other pedestals also having issues. Confirmed that with my neighbor this AM. She couldn't figure out why her breakers kept popping and stuff would just turn off.

According to DW they replaced the breaker then the socket and finally went farther down the line to fix the problem. She said it's fixed but until I get back to confirm I told her to stay on 30 amp.

[rohrmann]

This condition is quite common. They either had a bad connection in one of the pedestals upstream, or had a cable corroded in two. After over 30 years working with utility underground electric systems, this problem is actually a safe failure. Just be happy that you caught it and there was no damage. The dangerous problem is when you lose the neutral, and your leg voltage can exceed safe levels which will burn up everything connected to it. I've seen voltages on one leg that exceeded 180 volts on a 120 volt leg. That is the best reason to have an electrical management system to protect your rig, whether it be a portable or hardwired version.