I just returned home form a 30 day trip to Idhao. On the way home I stopped at an RV Park for the night and hooked my travel trailer up to 30 amp power. I normally un-plug my truck from the trailer when I hook onto shore power but I forgot. During the night while running A/C, Television and the water heater, something happened to the power and it went off. I re-set breakers and everything worked once again. The next day I loaded up and we hit the road but the radio in my Toyota Tundra didn't work. Evrything else did. Do you think some kind of a power surge blew a fuse in the truck? I'm going to the truck fuse box in the morning to check it out.
Also, while on my trip there the A/C quit. The Owner of the R/V Park looked at the 30 Amp sealed plug and it apperared to be lose and when plugged in it got hot. I shut it down and changed to a new stove type plastic 30 amp plug from Home Depot. Everything seemed to work fine but on the trip home I noticed signs of melting on one of the plug legs. Everything still worked and the plug only felt luke warm at times. I checked the wires and everything seemed tight. I'm thinking I had better solder the stranded wires and re-set the connections. Any other ideas?
30 amp plugs do seem to melt from time to time, I recommend carrying a spare. When you have to replace make sure all 3 wires are bright and shiny, if there is any black, cut back another six inches or so.
As for the radio in the Toy Truck.. Don't know But I seriously doubt any kind of power surge came from the trailer.
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One way to help out the camper after you is to always turn off the pedestal breaker before plugging and again before unplugging. The arc while plugging into a live socket ages the contacts prematurely.
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I believe that Toyota (newer ones anyway) are one of two companies who isolate the trucks electrical system from the trailer by using a relay in the line that is also fused. Unless you left the ignition switch turned on it's not likely that anything from the 120 volt side ever got to the truck.
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Thank you for all the good advice. I will follow it. My neighbor from down the road, and electrical engineer, stopped by and I showed him the plug. He said the first thing I should do is replace my plug with something of higher quality. He prefers the kind where a metal tab pushes down on the stranded wire rather than the screw alone smashing the wires. The breaker shut off prior to hooking and unhooking is another procedure I'll follow.
Wow.. over 24 hours and no one has told you to get a surge protector.. I really recommend one,, I am not sold that the $300 ones are so much better than then $150, but I figure any is better than none. Get your electrical engineer friend to help you make a decision on which one is best for you.
Mine has indicators to let me know if post is wired correctly and safe to plug in. I turn breaker off, plug my surge in, turn breaker on and check power, then turn break back off to plug trailer in and then turn on for use. An extra step, but I feel it is worth it.
beemerphile1 wrote: One way to help out the camper after you is to always turn off the pedestal breaker before plugging and again before unplugging. The arc while plugging into a live socket ages the contacts prematurely.
Just make sure everything in the trailer is OFF before inserting or removing the plug. If there is no high-amperage current draw, there will be minimal arcing, probably (but not certainly) not enough to cause severe damage to the contacts. It is also a good idea to insert or remove the plug as rapidly as possible. This will keep whatever arcing there is to a minimum.
(Edited in an attempt to pacify purists)
* This post was
edited 08/18/12 10:51am by mowermech *
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mowermech wrote: Just make sure everything in the trailer is OFF before inserting or removing the plug. If there is no high-amperage current draw, there will be no arc!
Not true. I've had arcing when plugging in my trailer with only the converter powering up. I can hear it and see it (20A extension cord has a translucent end cap). The converter is only 25A feeding a single Group 29 battery. No major loads either. Some level of arcing always happens when connecting or disconnecting under any load.
As another Elecrical engineer, I agree with the OP's friend that he should look for a plug end that uses the pressure plate and not just the screw for connection. The plate distributes the load across the strands and reduces the likelyhood of breaking strands when tightening the connection.
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