On this site some one posted the Low and normal voltage for a 13500 Coleman Air Conditioner, I can not find it again, BUT I have a 20 Amp breaker and 12 gage wire out 150 foot from the house, with a digital Meter, I do not get a voltage drop, its always 120 ,turn on air it drops to 111 then work's its way down to 107,3 are 4, would like to use the unit as a guest house in week but do not want to hurt the motor on my Air,
You are pushing your luck. If the converter or anything else is used you will be using low voltage for everything. Either get the unit nearer to the voltage source or use larger wire. Even then it's iffy. Good luck
The reason you don't get any voltage drop when you measure the end of the extension cord is because there is no load on it. A meter has very high resistance - it does not draw enough current to drop voltage. When you plug your RV into the cord it draws enough to cause the problem. Voltage drop measurements can only be made under load. The more current you push through the wire the more voltage is dropped getting it to you. Bigger or shorter wire has less resistance so you don't drop as much getting to the RV.
If you are running 107 volts on 12gauge wire I'd go to 10 gauge wire.This will put you over 108 volts which is considered to be minimum.Make sure the fridge and water heater are running on propane.JMO.
99 Coachmen 322QB, Ford V10,10 foot Haulmark trailer for dirt bikes, Ford Ranger toad, Gibson exhaust,Royal Purple lubricants.
So you are very very borderline.. I have a slightly shorter run of 12ga on my rig and thus slightly higher voltages (111 with it running)
My set up.. Main box has 20 amp breaker feeding about 70 feet of 12ga to 30 amp outlet this runs to a 30-50 dog bone and then to a 50-30 dog bone and then to a 30 - 50-marinco dog bone (1-foot cord) giveing a total RV cord length of around 3 feet (NOTE I I park just right I loose 2 dogs) This is a security issue, I'd rather replace 3 feet of cord than 30 feet don't you know.
Inside it feeds a Hughes autoformer, The voltage readings I gave you were pre-hughes
Voltage readings taken with a Kill-A-Watt
I've also added a 19 amp resistive load just to test.. I could not get it to kick in the hughes in testing.
Nothin adds excitment like something that is none of your business John is Near Kenwood TS-2000 housed in a 2005 Damon Intruder 377
107 is too low, #12 is too small for that length of wire. I would replace with nothing smaller than #8 and might as well replace the 20A brekaer with a 30 amp breaker while you are at it. That low voltage is rough on the compressor and will shorten the life of it.
Papa Bob
1* DW "Granny"
1* 2008 Brookside Sunnybrook 32'
1* 2002 F250 Super Duty 7.3L PSD
Husky 16K hitch, Tekonsha P3,
Firestone Ride Rite Air Springs, Trailair Equa-Flex, Champion C46540
"A bad day camping is better than a good day at work!"
I have run my air conditioner on 107 - it is only 3 volts below the nominal 110 volts that the motors are designed for. You will be OK with 105 volts. If you have a voltage booster, that would be a very good thing.
I ran my air conditioner in the pits at a race in Bowling Green KY a few years ago, with 50' of #14 wire, 25' of #12, my voltage booster and 30' #10 into my RV. With the booster set for 12 volts, I was getting 125 with no load and 112 with the A/C on. I left the refrigerator on propane. When the voltage went down to 105 volts, I switched the booster to +24 volts, and kept very cool.
A booster can help out a lot.
You could use #10 wire to have less voltage loss, but that is kinda expensive.
Fred.
Money can't buy happiness but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche or Country Coach!
I bought a 50' 10ga cord to run the AC at my house, which made it workable. As mentioned, consider a booster. I have a Hughes booster that performs as advertised, but they are not cheap.
As far as the voltage drop you are experiencing, I would not operate my AC at less than 110v. Using as a 'guest house' you should assume the occupant will turn on that microwave (or other high load) with the AC on and burn up the motor in a marginal voltage situation.
Question 1
What is the proper operating voltage for a domestic RV air conditioner?
Answer:
Proper operating voltage is 115.0 VAC. The unit may be run safely between 103.5 volts and 126.5 volts. Do not operate the air conditioner outside of these parameters, as serious component damage may result.
But note that this is the voltage at the air conditioner, which is likely a few volts lower than what you measure at the RV's power plug and/or service panel.
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