Why Do We Keep Tripping the Power?

This is our first post but hoping that a forum full of experienced RV'ers may be able to help us with a bit of a baffling problem

We have a 2019 22RBK North Trail (26'). We've been full-timing for 2 years (this August).

At our last 3 campgrounds, we've tripped the power several times. It doesn't happen right away. At the first campground, it tripped 5 days in. At the last campground, it tripped 4 days in. Today, at our new campground, it tripped 40 mins in and seems to be tripping a lot more frequently.

Each campground has checked the power pedestal - the first one said we were linked on the same circuit as our 50 amp neighbor, so they switched us to our own and ended up switching the breaker out - everything was fine after that.

The 2nd campground checked the pedestal, said everything was fine but their meter said we were putting out more than 30 amps(?). We only had the AC running. For whatever reason, it stopped tripping and was fine for the remaining 4 days.

This 3rd campground checked the voltage and said it's putting out what it should and recommended we remove our surge protector - that freaks me out, but so far it's stayed on now. I don't want to keep it that way so we're trying to figure out the real problem.

Obviously, we're the common denominator here. Nobody else is having power issues at these campgrounds.

Things that are helpful to know:

1. It's been between 95-104 degrees so our AC has been on pretty non-stop except early in the morning
2. We've never switched our surge protector (ordered a new one just now just in case)
3. We've had other weird electrical issues like a flickering light (just one) and our TV will randomly turn on in the middle of the night sometimes ‍♀️ none of this has happened around the times our power has tripped but thought I'd include it in case it's related.

Has anyone experienced this? Did you ever figure out what was happening?

Help?

 

I won't be surprised to hear that the new surge protector solves the problem. They can only survive so many low level hits. Surge protector/ems systems do a great job, but they are sacrificial by design.

 

Pay the Bill has described the way the surge protection system works, and if the post/park power has some variances, enough to trip the surge system, your power goes out. On my system i can see exactly the power we are drawing, and sometimes we are right at the limit, with everything we have drawing power on. I also don't think your doing things wrong, but would think the power in the.park is causing your issues. OH yea, welcome to the group...

 

Thanks, everybody! Really appreciate your input.

Update: we got our new surge protector (one that monitors the levels like yours @weighit ) and haven't had an issue since. We've come close to our limit a couple times (29.4 amps) so I can definitely see how we may have surpassed it before when not paying attention to our levels of output. Or maybe it was just the surge protector on its last leg.

Thanks again

 

Asking questions here is so easy, glad you were able to hopefully find the problem and can continue having a blast out on the road..

 

I always check my cables on everything a couple times per month. Mice & squirrels are drawn to wires (chewing on the insulation surrounding the wires) when that happens the bare wire gets wet or in high humidity , it can cause shorts thus causing a breaker to trip. 50% of all electrical problems are ‘ground’ related.

 

We have had the breaker trip from time to time. Generally I just flip it back and call it a day. Sometimes breakers get weak and just don’t take as much. Sometimes it is us. With the AC on and the toaster oven on we can’t make coffee. I have to run the water heater on gas when plugged into 30 amp. So we know what we can and can’t do. Over Labor Day weekend we had a big storm come in and either the rain or lightening caused us to lose power. I guessed it was the entire campground but when the storm was over I realized we were the only ones. Checked the box and it was sizzling. Campground had to change out the box. Glad our surge protector was working.

 

There are actually several causes for AC circuit breaker trips after 30 minutes. First are wire connections that are loose or heated. When it burns out, it trips the breaker. Consider replacing the circuit breaker, especially if it is worn out.

 

There are numerous reasons why your AC breaker keeps tripping. Before troubleshooting your breaker, you need to do these things: Turn the air conditioner off for 30 minutes. Turn on the AC circuit breaker in your electrical panel.