New to using Shore Power

[Tully]

Will be going to Oklahoma on Wednesday to a concert for four days. I might have access to shore power.

I have only owned coach for a couple of months and have not used shore power.

Questions:

1) Do I simply plug in the 50 amp on side of bus and plug into available shore power?

2) What do I need to turn off or on when using shore power?

Not very familiar with the process. Any help would be appreciated.

Tully Lee Garrett
1990 Country Coach

[garyde]

Tully, if you don't have a manual for your Coach, call Country Coach and get a copy. The simple answear is yes, you just plug it in. The long version has to do with Surge protection at the source, correct voltage and polarity, confirmation your auto transfer switch is working correctly, Load managment with your on board display, circuit breaker check, etc.

[0533]

Tully, if you don't have a manual for your Coach, call Country Coach and get a copy. The simple answear is yes, you just plug it in. The long version has to do with Surge protection at the source, correct voltage and polarity, confirmation your auto transfer switch is working correctly, Load managment with your on board display, circuit breaker check, etc.
Hello Tully,

As Garyde said there is much more to this question and it will important to find your CC owners manual.

You however asked 2 questions and lets start there. But first I must ask how you are storing the bus now when you are not on the road, how to you supply power to the bus when its stored???


1. 50 amp shore power: Are you sure that you will have access to a 50 amp source of power? If so great, if not then you must be prepared to manage with less, 30 or even 20 amps. This of course brings us to the next 2 questions. 1A. Inverters, and 1B. Transfer of clean source of shore power.
On my bus,(Marathon conversion) when I connect to shore power I first can inspect the power source at my bus to insure that the polarity is correct before I flip the breaker at the bus and allow a source of power to flow through my inverters. Check to see if this is the case with your CC. (maybe another CC owner can advise on this) Next is your inverters. If you have 2 like ours, one for each leg, "MAIN" and "AUX" then you will need to address the inverter remote panels for the correct settings, especially when you are using shore power that is less than 50 amps and are powering up lots of heavy use items in the bus, like all of your airconditioners etc. If you have less than 50 amps, lets say 30 amps (shore power) you need to adjust your inverters to a max of 14 amps per side at the panel so that you do not overload the system. You then will want to be careful with your usage of power inside the bus, fewer air conditioners etc.

You can of course run the genset to overcome this if more power is needed, (this will require resettings the inverter amperage back to 50 amps per side) but lets start with understanding the basics to make your first outing more fun.

When you get to a your final destination or when you are at the bus and have access to the internet and have shore power it might be a good idea to practice before you hit he road. This way one of us can walk you through the process.

Good luck, and have a great time at the concert.

[dalej]

Tully,

On certain models of coachs, Country Coach put a switch back by where you plug the cable into the bus. If your going to use 30 amp cable, turn switch to 30. If you are using the 50 amp cable, turn the switch to 50. You hook your cable up to the bus then to the shore, flip the breaker to on and you are ready to enjoy.

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Tully, I would just like to add to what the guys have previously said:

Verify the quality of power at the pole.

Turn off power at pole before plugging in bus 50 amp cord.

Verify you have some sort of A/C power protection from the pole to the bus. You may have this built in your CC?

Turn off major Power draws in bus,( A/C units ) before plugging into pole. Then once power is turned on at pole, and bus has registered proper input voltage and stabilized, turn on loads ( A/C's) one at a time over an extended period of time.

In the last two months at two different campgrounds, we have had to have breakers and 50amp plugs replaced in the campground poles to provide proper power to our bus, for the weekend. True Story

I told Peg, no more Espresso machines while traveling? :D

Gary S.

[MangoMike]

Tully,

You may want to invest in one of these surge protectors.

More info over at Prevoman.com

http://www.prevoman.com/Pages/Cool%20Toos/surge/Surgepg1.html

2973


Mango

[grantracy]

I can attest to the value of the surge protector. While in Savannah we experienced a lightning strike to a tree right next to us. The bolt went down the tree( Kim and the dogs were within about 10 feet ) jumped to an adjoining power pedestal. Cooked our surge protector and cooked the guys electrics who was on other side of pedestal. By the way this was around 20 minutes after a storm and the skys were mostly clear and blue.

[nrhareiner]

I will add to the statement that this product works. We do a lot of camping at state fairgrounds during horse shows. Twice in the past year the surge protector has committed suicide while saving the electronics in coach. Both times many of my fellow campers had thousands of dollars of repairs due to the electrical surge. Needless to say I never plug into electricity without this unit.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

So Kim, is that when you started to have cruise control problems. :confused: After the lightning, I mean!

[Judi Brown]

1991 Liberty, Hooked to shore power and power only showing on 1 guage
up front on dash. Have in past seen both showing 110. Is there a breaker or something tripped.Checked to make sure 110 on each leg of plug.
ThanksJB

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Judi

Are you implying you also have no power on that leg or just the meter is dead? I am assuming you have no power on that leg.

Our coach is very simple in those terms so I do not know how much help I can be but next I would check to see if you had power at both legs on the end of the the cord at the bus.

The terminals on the backside of that female plug on the bus may be hard to access so next see if you have both legs going both into and out of your transfer switch for shore and generator, if you've got one.

I would start the Generator and see if there is any change.

Next I would check if you have both legs at the fuse box, I suspect you will only have one side there.

Could be an inverter but I can not suggest anything that would help there besides looking for power in and out of both assuming you have 2. Our Heart had a breaker on the inverter itself.

I had your same symptoms once and it was my transfer switch for shore or generator.

2978
This is what ours looks like.
Was not a loose connection either, it was burnt. I found it by going through the steps I just described.

[garyde]

If you have tested the shore pedestal for 240 volt and 120 volt to ground, then check out your manual switch (if you have one) to make sure it is switched all the way to the on position for your cord. After that, your transfer switch, after that, your inverters, and then your breaker panel.
If you have 120 volt to each side when your generator is running then its either your cord, shore or transfer switch.

[nrhareiner]

Hello Jim,

No the cruise control problems have been present since before the lightening and electrical pedestal problems. They seem to come and go. At one time I replaced the two relays in the front run bay and the problem seemed to go away for months. I have tried same "trick" again with no improvement.

[0533]

Tully,

You may want to invest in one of these surge protectors.

More info over at Prevoman.com

http://www.prevoman.com/Pages/Cool%20Toos/surge/Surgepg1.html

2973


Mango
I saw the light today, ordered one of these at 6:15am with overnight shipping.

Thanks for the tip.

PS>The Tweety cost $333.77

[Judi Brown]

Hi Gary,
I have check input cable and showing 120 on each side and 220 on with both hots.
I am going to check guage as don't seem to be short power in bus.There are 3 guages, Line 1, line 2 and house battery. Line 2 is not showing any power and did before. Husband moved:confused: cable to other side of bus and showed no power. But that has happened before and just took a little time to register.
Thanks JB

[jello_jeep]

I did too, mango should be getting a kickback from this guy!

Or, maybe that is why the price went up ??:confused: :D



I saw the light today, ordered one of these at 6:15am with overnight shipping.

Thanks for the tip.

PS>The Tweety cost $333.77