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Old 07-05-2012, 06:37 AM   #1
cvizgo
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Circuit breaker

Currently in Nashville camping at Two Rivers campground. When we first checked in it was about 101 and it felt like that in the trailer too. I had the air started and wife had a few lights on, fridge had jumped to shore power as well and the breaker popped. Reset it and we've been fine since. I assume due to the weather and the all the things using power that is why it popped. Last night about 2am, nothing on but fridge and air it popped again... Is this just a safety thing in the camper that maybe there was a surge in the area or something I should be concerned with. It's worked fine the entire time, just a random pop last night. With the coffee pot on this morning I could tell air was working hard, but once it brewed I turned pot off and we are back to normal.
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Old 07-05-2012, 07:01 AM   #2
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Are you talking about the circuit breaker in the camper and if so, which one popped?

Or do you mean the campground circuit breaker on their power post?

Kinda makes a difference in figuring out what happened.
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Old 07-05-2012, 07:08 AM   #3
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Inside the camper. The first time it was the whole camper. Second time (last night) it was the ac breaker.
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Old 07-05-2012, 07:09 AM   #4
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You didn't say what breaker was tripping .... your main or the CG pedestal. You were most likely getting low voltage from the CG causing the A/C to draw more amps than the breaker could handle. (not good for the A/C) Best not to use it, but if you must turn everything else off and put the fridge and water heater on gas. If the water heater was on electric that was your culprit. JM2˘, Hank
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Old 07-05-2012, 07:14 AM   #5
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Hi there what you are most likely experiancing is low power supply from the camp ground too hot too many a/c running this will cause your a/c to draw more amps which will pop the breaker. lower the total load to run the a/c also give the a/c a break as to much current drw can damage the unit. many have to go sit in a lake or a river up to your chin to cool off. good luck
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Old 07-05-2012, 07:19 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cvizgo View Post
Currently in Nashville camping at Two Rivers campground. When we first checked in it was about 101 and it felt like that in the trailer too. I had the air started and wife had a few lights on, fridge had jumped to shore power as well and the breaker popped. Reset it and we've been fine since. I assume due to the weather and the all the things using power that is why it popped. Last night about 2am, nothing on but fridge and air it popped again... Is this just a safety thing in the camper that maybe there was a surge in the area or something I should be concerned with. It's worked fine the entire time, just a random pop last night. With the coffee pot on this morning I could tell air was working hard, but once it brewed I turned pot off and we are back to normal.
I keep forgetting about the water heater being on elec.
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Old 07-05-2012, 07:28 AM   #7
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Thanks guys for the quick reply's. I put fridge and water heater on gas, and went out and disconnected the battery so the trickle charger isn't working either. Seems like air is running smooth now.

Btw... Battery/trickle charger. I've read the manual about the charger and it says that if the battery isn't at 100% that the camper will devote power to charging battery till it gets to 100%. During that time camper will not be running at full bore because of the draw to the battery. Any experience with this? Thoughts on 2 batteries instead of 1, or one very good battery? I currently have the interstate battery that came with the TT I'm sure it could be upgraded or do better with a partner next to it... Thoughts?
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Old 07-05-2012, 07:33 AM   #8
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Unless you do a fair amount of dry camping, there may not be a need for having 2 batteries. However, if you spend quite a bit of your time boondocking, then I would suggest getting 2 6v "golf cart" batteries as opposed to 2-12v. For 6v's, Trojan or Optima might be worth looking into.

There are numerous posts/threads already on the forum about this topic, so you might want to do a forum search of this topic.
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Old 07-05-2012, 07:39 AM   #9
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You should be fine with the battery charging from the converter("trickle charger") . The only thing I find that cannot be used with the A/C is the water heater. (My experience .... many run both on 30amp but I have never been able to with my trailers) You may damage your converter without the battery and you still need 12v dc for lights and control boards.
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Old 07-05-2012, 07:51 AM   #10
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If the campground is providing low voltage, you are going to continue to have problems no matter what you do in the trailer. That is why many of us carry multimeters or other voltage testers.

The fix for this lies in the campground office.
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Old 07-05-2012, 07:59 AM   #11
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You should be fine with the battery charging from the converter("trickle charger") . The only thing I find that cannot be used with the A/C is the water heater. (My experience .... many run both on 30amp but I have never been able to with my trailers) You may damage your converter without the battery and you still need 12v dc for lights and control boards.
Are you saying I should leave the battery connected?
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Old 07-05-2012, 08:26 AM   #12
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GOOD LUCK steve is right about the campground. and yes you can damage your converter with out a bttery. if you are going to dry cam then 2 6 volt battery's are the best way to go and add titan to your list. if not one good 12 volt should be fine. your interstate is a deep cyclye? and how old is it there is a date code molded into the side near the top of thatinterstate battery my be surprized as to how old it realy is.dealer fault not interstate. good luck
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Old 07-05-2012, 09:09 AM   #13
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Battery says December 2011. Should be plenty good. Water is full across all the cells. When I do look for 12V any suggestions?
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Old 07-05-2012, 10:29 AM   #14
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OK THAT SHOULD BE a good battery if you have a volt meter put i across the pos and neg terminals. what is the voltage reading? 13.2 would be great. if you want to and you won't get heat stroke. put the battery from your tv in place of the one in the camper. just remember that in the camper the black wire is pos white is ground look before removing. if everything works well after you swap batteries the you have a bad cell in the interstate. i have seen that often enough and age hasnothing to do with it it could have been dropped before you ver got it and weaken the conection in the cells.
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Old 07-05-2012, 01:30 PM   #15
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Great thread! Ran into same issue. We are in Gatlinburg. Ac on.....hot water on elect. Toaster oven would be on and ac breaker would go off. Finally tried putting hot water on gas and all has been fine since!
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Old 07-06-2012, 10:50 AM   #16
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Yup, You can't run the a/c on a hot day when the camper 110 degrees inside and 100 degrees outside at first startup with the water heater on electric at the same time. Been there, done that. I just changed my camping habits so that when I am having to run the a/c, I use the water heater on gas. If I am camping the early spring and late fall with the furnace, the I use the water heater on electric. As I mentioned in another post, the Kill a Watt meter will help you know exactly how much power each appliance in your camper is using so you can add up the amps to determine what all you can run at the same time without popping your 30 amp breaker. An a/c at initital startup on a really hot day can draw 18-20 amps (if I remember correctly). A water heater can pull about 8 or so(again if I remember correctly). Right there you are pulling 26-28 amps. So if you have your refrigerator on electric, or anything else is on.............POP. Obviously you don't want to turn off the a/c, so you can switch the water heater to gas to free up some amps for other things. Just gotta learn to ration your electric like you do water to make you camping trip enjoyable. Once you understand the 30 amp max limit, and know the amout each appliance uses, it's easy to compensate to keep from popping your breaker and blowing a gasket like I did when I thought there was something wrong with my camper's electrical circuits
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Old 07-13-2012, 06:49 PM   #17
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Thanks guys for all the help. I really think I may have a bad battery. The camper plugged into the 30 amp service, a/c and fridge on electric. Water is on gas. I've been this way for 2 days and my battery is sitting right at 1/2 and once in a while 3/4's. Never full. That's with nothing else on. I need to get a new battery and add a second I think just for piece of mind.
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Old 07-13-2012, 07:01 PM   #18
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Another question: what if I use a 50amp adapter, can that hurt? Or does it give me 50 amps to play with?
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Old 07-13-2012, 08:09 PM   #19
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Another question: what if I use a 50amp adapter, can that hurt? Or does it give me 50 amps to play with?
Viz -
Does your TT have a 30A converter or 50A converter? If it is 30A, using a 50A adapter won't make any difference.
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Old 07-14-2012, 04:53 AM   #20
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Another question: what if I use a 50amp adapter, can that hurt? Or does it give me 50 amps to play with?
Are you referring to the 30 vs 50 outlet on the shore power pedestal?

If you have a 30 amp RV, it does not matter if you plug into a 30 amp outlet or a 50 amp outlet (with adaptor)...

Your RV 'main' breaker will only allow you to draw 30 amp from the shore power.

Unless the 30 amp outlet is damaged/contacts charred/etc... Without going into total load use on the L1/L2 across the campground, there's no real advantage to one or the other for a 30 amp RV.
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