jleamont Report post Posted September 8, 2015 Just wanted to share a story that happened to us over the holiday weekend. At the NJ Shore for a long weekend, pull into the site in the dark. Usually I grab my volt meter and check the tower to make sure it’s working properly, well this night I am tired, it’s hot and muggy so I grab my surge protector that hangs from the tower (TRC brand) plug it in and flip the breakers up. I walk back over a few minutes later and the "Caution" light is blinking "L2 low voltage 60VAC" is on the display. I grab my meter and verify, L2 is at 60VAC. I pick up the phone and call the front to see if someone can come up and fix this. A maintenance guy shows up 10 minutes later with a volt meter and circular saw. I begin to look at him like he has two heads (what’s the saw for is running through my head), he plugs the saw into the 30amp plug with an adapter (I was connected to the 50amp plug) turns the saw on and says "all is working fine it must be your surge protector". “We had a guy in here last week with a Prevost in this site, he kept having voltage alarms going off inside, those gadgets can really give someone a headache when they don’t work right”. I asked him to check the 50amp plug with his meter, he flips the breakers off and then back on and there is now 123VAC on both lugs. I must have had an odd look on my face then he replies, told ya you surge protector is bad. Now I am thinking, there is no way I am connecting my coach to this tower. I flip the breaker again and now L2 has 90VAC, I show him and he response is classic..."wow you have a defective volt meter and surge protector". After dancing around with this for another 10 minutes I convince him to replace the breakers or find me another site. His Boss arrives, checks the tower and they replaced the outlet and breakers, no problems the rest of the weekend. His Boss was very apologetic and asked if there was anything else they could do to make our stay any better. In the end nice people but the circular saw test will always be my favorite. Moral of the story, be careful of the tower you plug into, this weekend could have gone horribly wrong. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jlandon13399 Report post Posted September 8, 2015 jlemont, I know the feeling. I was at Dakota Ridge RV Park in Golden, CO and got zapped with one leg of the 50 amp service. Melted the wires in the transfer switch etc. I did not have a surge /low voltage protector then but have one hard wired in now. The folks at Dakota Ridge did nothing to help or even apologize. It was like I was from Mars and created the problem myself. Last time I will ever stay there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huffypuff Report post Posted September 8, 2015 My tester detected a leaking ground at a resort that I was booked for two months. So the manager ask me why don't I try to plug in a see what happen. I told him only if he give a direct connection to his insurance adjuster otherwise no way I would risk it. He had it fixed in an hour while I ran the generator. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Walt2137 Report post Posted September 8, 2015 Guys this is a handy tester that you can make, I use it before I back into the site to check the electric pedestal. The only difference I used a 220 V LED instead of the one shown in instructions, one of the members of another forum posted these instructions. It does come in handy. Walt AC 50 Amp tester.doc Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfe10 Report post Posted September 8, 2015 And, if you want a good quality one pre-made (even talks-- tells you all OK or what the problem is):http://got50amps.com/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jleamont Report post Posted September 9, 2015 Thanks guy’s advice on the gadgets. I think we all have too much invested to take the risk. I almost lost our last coach due to a malfunctioning tower. Fortunately it only burned the wiring out of the ATS and buss bar in the breaker panel and we were in the unit when the problem surfaced. I was able to respond and get the situation under control. I had another one in Oklahoma catch fire and shock me when I threw the breakers up before I had a chance to test it with my meter that was a great night at 2am when we were looking for a place to bed down with hookups. This DP has a lot more electronics and would be very expensive to repair. It just amazes me there are so many problems with towers, it seems like they are a forgotten part of campground maintenance. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Walt2137 Report post Posted September 9, 2015 I have a Progressive EMS-HW50C installed in our coach for years , it's a coach saver. I started out with their earlier unit years ago EMS-HW50B . http://www.progressiveindustries.net/#!ems-hw50c/cjk6 Walt Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
