eric@babin.com Report post Posted July 20, 2019 Coach: 2014 Itasca (Winnebago) Ellipse (Tour) 42qd Everything is working fine.... but.... The 50amp shore power plug is very hot to the touch. Just the plastic part where the prongs come out and plug into the outlet. We are plugged into a surge protector Progressive EMS PT50X and all readings are good. All reading are good inside on the EMS. This is our home plug. I'll be plugged into a park pedestal next week and will see if it has the same issue. 50amp cable doesn't feel that hot. No signs of heat damage / melting anywhere.... Outside temperature is about 100F. Wondering if I should be concerned? Also wondering if I should get one of those temperature reading laser gun thingys so I can monitor heat on things such as this. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfe10 Report post Posted July 20, 2019 Short answer is BE CONCERNED. Resistance with current flow= heat. The more the heat, the more the wire/connection degrades producing more resistance. Repeat until something fails. And on 50 amp power, if the neutral fails, voltage has no "reference point" and can vary from extremely low to extremely high. This can easily damage 120 VAC appliances and the inverter/charger in your coach. Replace whatever has failed. Even if the root cause was a bad outlet, if the shore power cord has degraded, replace it/or at least the bad end. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eric@babin.com Report post Posted July 20, 2019 18 minutes ago, wolfe10 said: Short answer is BE CONCERNED. Resistance with current flow= heat. The more the heat, the more the wire/connection degrades producing more resistance. Repeat until something fails. And on 50 amp power, if the neutral fails, voltage has no "reference point" and can vary from extremely low to extremely high. This can easily damage 120 VAC appliances and the inverter/charger in your coach. Replace whatever has failed. Even if the root cause was a bad outlet, if the shore power cord has degraded, replace it/or at least the bad end. How might I go about testing to see the root cause of the issue? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hermanmullins Report post Posted July 20, 2019 Clean or replace your power cable's make plug and check your house receptacle (with the power of) for arc burns. Do you always turn of the power when plugging on your coach? Some of the main reasons for a hot power cable are dirty or arc burned plugs, a loose or bad connection and/or under size power cable. I have seen many power cable's where the pins are loose due to overheating. Good luck and let us know what you find. Herman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eric@babin.com Report post Posted July 20, 2019 2 minutes ago, hermanmullins said: Clean or replace your power cable's make plug and check your house receptacle (with the power of) for arc burns. Do you always turn of the power when plugging on your coach? Some of the main reasons for a hot power cable are dirty or arc burned plugs, a loose or bad connection and/or under size power cable. I have seen many power cable's where the pins are loose due to overheating. Good luck and let us know what you find. Herman ok.... I can tell you I always have breaker off when I plug in, and turn it off before unplugging. (although the power doesn't come on for about 5 minutes with the Progressing Surge Protector anyway. The plug prongs are not dirty. Common problem is loose connections from cable to ATS. I had my ATS replaced last year because of this... maybe it's time to check the connections? Maybe they are coming loose. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfe10 Report post Posted July 20, 2019 Sometimes difficult to determine the root cause. Could have been started by loose prongs on a CG outlet you plugged into months ago. Once electrical connections start to degrade they can progress reasonably quickly, particularly if your current demand is high (resistance times amps= lots of watts of heating). If this is an outlet you use often (like at home), when you plug in, is the connection TIGHT (not easy to put in/pull out)? That is what you want. DeOxit can also be applied to the shore power prongs and pushed in/out/in out 5-6 times to "clean the contacts". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
richard5933 Report post Posted July 20, 2019 Is the plug on the end of the cord one which was molded on at the factory or one which you can open and look inside? If you can open it, then you can easily check the connections inside it. I've had those get loose over time. If it's a molded plug, you'll have to examine thoroughly to see if there are any signs of water getting in and causing corrosion. I cut one off earlier this year on an older shore power cord I had, and when I went to install a new plug on the end of the wires I had to cut back about 8" to get to copper which was not discolored from corrosion. Apparently water had gotten in that cord. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
obedb Report post Posted July 20, 2019 Our surge protector also takes it's time checking things out. It is also a Progress Industries unit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
richard5933 Report post Posted July 20, 2019 48 minutes ago, obedb said: Our surge protector also takes it's time checking things out. It is also a Progress Industries unit. I believe that's a feature of the unit - ours does it too. Probably to make sure that the power is stable before connecting anything. Ours actually protected us last week while plugged into a campground pedestal. Suddenly everything went dark outside of the 12v lighting. I figured we'd tripped a breaker since we were plugged into 30 amp only, so I set out in the rain to check the pedestal. No sooner did I get out there and start to investigate when the power protector made it's usual loud clank and then turned the power back on. Looked like the power dropped for a moment, and the unit did its job of shutting things off. Nice to know they work as they should. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kaypsmith Report post Posted July 20, 2019 Another thing to think about is, what gauge wire at the home hookup, and how far away from the main home breaker source. As mentioned above be sure to check the home receptacle for loose connections. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wayne77590 Report post Posted July 20, 2019 Unfortunately if have had very warm connector at the box from time to time. Not burning hot, but still hot. I think it is a fault of the pedestal. This thread piqued my curiosity so I went outside with the thermal thing-a-ma-jig and took a reading. The outside ambient temperature is 88 degrees. The box is in the Sun but the box cover is down over the plug. The reading was 95 degrees. With 3 air conditioners running I think that is extremely reasonable. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hermanmullins Report post Posted July 21, 2019 Wayne, What brand "Thing-a-ma-jig" do you have? I got mime at Harbor Freight but it was called a "what-ja-ma-call-it. Sorry the devil made me do it. Herman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wayne77590 Report post Posted July 21, 2019 It is a Progressive PT-50(Alphabet) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eric@babin.com Report post Posted July 31, 2019 OK.... just got back from a trip where I was plugged into another pedestal. Plug was hot there too. It's a molded plug (factory). No signs of damage, wear/tear, or water entry. I think I'll order a laser temp gun or whatever to measure the temperature of the plug. Everything continues to work fine... but...… you know..... I don't want to wait for a larger symptom than a "hot plug". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jleamont Report post Posted July 31, 2019 Eric, the factory molded plugs fail internally also. Happens on every coach we’ve owned so far. I’d start with a replacement plug. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elkhartjim Report post Posted August 1, 2019 Eric, are the prongs on the shore plug clean or is there any discoloration showing? If so, hit them with a little sandpaper to clean them up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
