RE: Picture posting thread...anyone into it?
I made my annual trip to the Salmon River Falls today - the only waterfall in Oswego County. The falls wasn't all that wonderful, but I did get a couple of photos of the stream below it. Which crop of this do you prefer?
http://www.lakeshoreimages.com/images40/SUC_2850.jpg width=640
or this:
http://www.lakeshoreimages.com/images40/SUC_2851.jpg width=640
Another of the stream:
http://www.lakeshoreimages.com/images40/SUC_2826.jpg width=640
RE: Picture posting thread...anyone into it?
My guess, and it is only a guess is the hawk is a Juvenile Red-Shouldered Hawk, only because it looks like the flying hawk on one of my web pages that was identified by a biologist from our field station. I never saw a second leg, so I'm not sure whether there are two - it does look like a one legged bird. After he left the feeder he sat in a nearby tree waiting for a meal to come to the feeder, but finally gave up after about a half hour...
RE: Picture posting thread...anyone into it?
For some reason, I only have one bird at my bird feeder!
http://www.lakeshoreimages.com/images40/SUC_2764.jpg height=480
RE: NEED HELP WITH ELECTRICAL!!!! (kind of long)
If the house GFCI is tripping with all the RV's breakers off, you have a ground/neutral fault. Check any wiring that you may have moved, added, etc for a connection between the white & ground wire.
RE: Electrical question
I'd look for a bad ground in either the shorepower connection or your RV cord or breaker panel. If the ground was good, it would cause a circuit breaker to trip if there was a short between the hot & ground. If the ground is open, the chassis of the RV can become hot if there is a hot/ground fault, and the breaker will not trip. Using a volt meter, try shutting off the breakers one at a time to determine which circuit is causing the fault. If none of them stops the problem, it may be caused by a neutral/ground fault, which is a bit more difficult to find.
RE: Help-Electrical Question
I also thought that I may have a problem with the trailers power cord itself. But if this were true then wouldn't I have the same problem when I plug into the generator? Why doesn't the 30-amp breaker on the genny itself trip? Two possibilities - If there was an overload on the order of 25 - 30 amps, it would trip the house 15/20 amp breaker. Unlikely, because it still happens with the breakers off, so there isn't much that could cause a minor overload. More likely, you have a short between a hot & ground either in the cord, connector, or connection to the main breakers. If the generator is not bonded (connecting the ground to the neutral), the breaker would not trip because there is no connection between the generator neutral & ground. When plugged into the house, there is a bond between neutral & ground at the house service entrance. Although RV generators are usually bonded, if it is a 120V generator there is no requirement that it be.
Another way to determine where the short is happening is to unplug the trailer, pull the wires into the main breakers (Should be a red & black wire) cap them, and replug the cord into the shorepower. If it trips, the problem is in the cable, connector, or a too tight clamp on the power cord going into the breaker panel. If it doesn't, I'd look at the breakers & their connection to the AC panel, and any ground wire that may have vibrated its way into the buss bars in the panel.
I've pointed this out in a previous post - if a generator has 2 windings, 1 - 30 amp for the RV & 1 20 amp for the rear AC, unless a transfer switch removes the bonding, there will be a problem when plugged into shore power. Unless the 20 amp winding is completely isolated from the rest of the RV, a bond will appear as a ground/neutral fault when plugged into shorepower, tripping GFCIs & putting neutral current onto the ground wiring.
This is usually a problem with 30 amp RVs, I'd be interested in how your generator is wired in a 50 amp. I don't suspect this is the problem with your RV because the problem would have started with the installation of the generator.
RE: Help-Electrical Question
If we review poker5150's answers, it might help getting at a solution:
I have a built in genset so my 50 amp cord storage area has a female 50 amp receiver box that i plug the 50 amp cord directly into......so my cord is ok. It does not appear that he has a transfer switch.
Yes. Into a 20-amp NON-GFI outlet in the laundry room. as soon as I plugged in, the breaker at the panel popped. If the breaker is tripping, there is an overload. Since it holds when plugged into the generator, the problem must either be in the cords & adapters or a hot to ground short in the RV. Since he replaced the adapters & cords, I'd suspect the RV has a hot to ground short.
To prove it, take a ground lift adapter (the device used to connect a standard 15 amp grounded plug into a 2 wire receptacle) and temporarily use it to disconnect the ground. Be sure the wire or tab on the adapter is not touching anything. If the breaker holds, there is a hot to ground problem. This is a dangerous situation, so don't try to use the ground lift as a cure. You need to find the short.
This is where I have a problem - since you stated you still have the problem with all the breaker open & don't have a transfer switch, there are not many places for the fault. One possibility - if your trailer power cord does not run directly to your breaker panel, (a sign of this would be solid wire going into the main breakers) look for a box used to splice the trailer cord to the solid wire in the trailer. A short at this connection could cause the problem. Other possibilities would be a short in the male plug on the trailer power cord or although unlikely, in the cord itself.
RE: Picture posting thread...anyone into it?
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1620/1938339/4685314/337310800.jpg width=640 I think they must have had the same set of plans for the Brant Point Lighthouse on Nantucket:
http://www.lakeshoreimages.com/images9/brantpoint2.jpg width=640
RE: Help-Electrical Question
One question that might help in finding answers - Is the breaker tripping or is it a GFCI receptacle tripping? If it is the GFCI, I would suspect a ground/neutral fault since you have turned off the breakers inside the trailer.
You can check the adapters & cord by plugging them into the household GFCI without the trailer plugged. If it holds, the problem is in the trailer.
Although opening the ground connection to the frame of the trailer might stop the GFCI from tripping, it is not a safe solution since the fault still exists. Places to check - the hot water heater particularly if there is a chance it was run on electric without water, even for a few minutes. Also check for a ground/neutral fault in the refer heater & your converter. You might also look for moisture in any outlet that provides a connection between the ground and neutral. If you use your multimeter to measure resistance (ohms) between the ground & the neutral, it should be infinite or at least very high. The best way to determine which circuit is causing the problem is to unplug the trailer, open your breaker panel, lift each neutral one at a time, replugging between each lift. You will likely find a circuit that, when disconnected, lets the GFCI hold. Figure out what is on that circuit & fix it...
If it is the actual circuit breaker tripping, you most likely have a short somewhere. If you are sure your turned off every breaker including the main, and it works plugged into the generator, I would suspect a problem with the adapters or cord.
One last possibility - if your batteries are so far down that the converter draws more than 20 amps that would blow the breaker when plugged into the 15/20 amp household outlet - you might try charging them with a regular battery charger first.
RE: Picture posting thread...anyone into it?
I'm not posting this as a wonderful photograph, but only to ask - Has anyone ever had a Dahlia grow 9' tall? These same bulbs have only made it to 3' - 4' feet in previous years. Maybe the hummingbirds droppings? In any case, this is the biggest Dahila I've ever grown:
http://www.lakeshoreimages.com/images39/DSD_8294web.jpg height=480
RE: 220 volt from 110 vac?
what you do not understand is when you plug into a 50amp service that has 2--120 volt hot legs (A & B Phase)you are actually getting 240 volts 50 amps. But in an rv we do not use any equipment that uses both legs at the same time (240v 50a) cause when you use a 1 phase 30 amp cheater / reducer it allows you to run all your equipment on a single phase. You can not make a 240 volt machine run on the same phase / leg. It needs 2 different phases / legs. If you really need to have a 2 phase plug in your coach you would have to tap into the lines from the gen set before they hit any equipment in the rig. If this is clear as mud you can send me your tel number privately.
A 120/240V service is a single phase service. It does not have an A & B phase. It is properly called a split phase since it is a single phase that adds a center tap to produce two legs of 120v between each hot & the center tap (neutral) and 240v across both hots. A 240v motor is connected across the 2 hots which is a single phase.
There are 240v 3 phase motors that are more efficient, smaller, cheaper, and don't need a starting circuit, however it is almost impossible for a non commercial home to have 3 phase power installed.
RE: 220 volt from 110 vac?
Either a transformer or a motor/generator would do the trick, but they are heavy, expensive, and have limited applications. One use of a motor generator I still see used is to power a 3 phase motor from single phase power sources.
RE: Picture posting thread...anyone into it?
Jon, she is sooooo cute!! How old is she?
I'm hoping to see more of her...the family pics are my favorites.
Thanks! We think so too. She is 9 months in this photo. If you really want to see more of her, there are three pages of photos, starting at Valerie Photos. You can't stop a grandfather with a camera!
RE: How do I type a degree character
Get a Mac then it's option k.
I've always used option shift 8. They are different: 10° vs 10?. I noticed that after posting, the Option k turns into ?...
RE: HDTV.?...or is it DTV
Then you can get "Monster Cables" that are said to be able to carry many amps of power. Well a speaker works off of miliamps of power, not amps, so it does not require that large diameter wire. #8 wire will act like a capacitor, and will require a lot of power to charge it with a note, so instead of the speaker making a suttle change in vibrations with the slightest voltage adjustment, the wire will absorb those suttle changes in vibrations of the speakers.
Although I'd be the first to say the advertising produced by "Monster Cable" is a crock, there are lots of speaker installations that draw well over an amp of current. I've done many installations that required #12 wire or even larger, although these are high power commercial systems. If you do the math, an example - For the 8 ohm load, & a 100 watt amplifier: I = square root of (100/8) = 3.54A. Although you rarely use the full power of an amplifier in a normal home (or RV) low frequencies can use quite a bit of power. If your wire is too small, you are going to put too much of the amplifier's power into heating the wire.
As to the capacitance of speaker wiring, although the larger diameter wire may have a little more capacitance, unless you are running hundreds of feet it will have no effect at audio frequencies (<20,000hz) and normal speaker impedances.
RE: CPAP and OXYGEN
Just a point on the length of time bottles last - It makes a difference whether you are using a continuous or pulse regulator. The pulse gives you 3 - 4 times the user time of a continuous regulator from the same size bottle, however our oxygen therapist does not recommend pulse for sleeping.
RE: STUCK IN SAND @ CORPUS CHRISTI, PADRE ISLAND
I hit a soft section in a Nantucket, MA sand road just 10' from "good" sand. Worst part - Had to call my brother & his 4 wheel drive truck to pull me out. He insisted in a picture!
http://www.lakeshoreimages.com/images16/stuck1.jpg
