Power Consumption

This one I can't quite figure out.

Tied on to shore power here in Las Vegas. Kicked the three Cruisair units on. About a minute later, the breaker trips. I reset it and it trips again.

I go check to see what all is running. I turn the inverter battery charger off along with the AquaHot electric heater and any other potential power hogs. The fridge is still online since I can't really shut it down.

Get the AC's back on line and they run thru the night okay. Hey, its only 105 deg. here at 3pm. but when I look at the meters with all the stuff on, we are only consuming 40-45 amps (both legs added together). I would have thought 50am service would have handled that, but I swapped spots at the park and have the same problem.

Is this normal? I don't know if the AC units are pulling more power because of the high ambient temperature or what, but there won't be any battery charging unless I shut down one of the AC units or put the power share for the inverter at about 5 amps.

I shut down one of the units this morning in the interest of beauty so the blow dryer, etc. could be used, but I would have though you could push it closer to 50 amps before I shut down. However, my generator won't keep up with all the ACs and the old battery charger I had, so maybe that is just life.

That's strange. Had to happen in the oven.

What are the voltages reading on each leg? Do you see them drop when the AC condensors "kick in"? There should be very little drop with 30 to 40 amps draw per leg.

You should be able to pull 50 amps per leg. The big draw is the AC units starting up. My guess is you have two on one leg and one on the other. If two units try to start at the same time, "breaker trip time".

FYI, if you have a 17.5 KW gen set, you should be able to run all three AC's and your charger and other appliances at once. If its working right, it will handle 145 amps on the two legs. More than enough for your coach.

If this is a new problem, I'd guess low voltage in the park. My cruise airs will give a low voltage warning and shut down (at least two out of three will).


Good luck, especially where your at!!!

I, with the help of my friend, just finished installing an Electrical Management System from Progressive Industries in Cary NC, of which I had previously spoken of, and it gives all of the information you were wondering about. 1. Any incoming errors. 2. Controls any extra surges or any faults coming in. 3. Reads out what each leg is consuming. Many other bits of information you anals would like to know.

Well, I have a 17.5 generator and it will handle the three cruise airs but the land power will not carry the 3 airs with other ammenities going at the same time. I was told that when I bought the coach and never challenged that fact.

This EMS for 50 amps is the nuts. I never had the info available to me which that told me what was being used as I use a toaster, coffee maker, hairdryer, etc. You can tell when to cool the usage when each lege gets up to the max. I personally don't know a lot about electricity but I am learning. No smart ass comments needed. I understand that each leg can handle 50 amps, not a total of 50 but 100. correct me if I'm screwed up. No wise assed comments needed again.:D

Mon back, good buddies.

Lew

JDUB,

Open a window and stop whining. :)
Actually I get 50 amps per leg for a 100 total, more when I running the generator as I can run all 4 cruise airs at one time. I just wonder if it's not a campground issue where perhaps you have a 50 amp plug setup, but they're only providing you with 30 amp service.

Hope it works out as we all know how cranky Rae can get when the temp is outside the normal range.

MM

Well its 98 here at 12am, so I don't think opening the window will win me any favors with the chicks.

I thought it was 50 amps total, 25 per leg, but I guess I am wrong. And yes, two of the Cruisairs are on one leg and the damn inverter charger is on the same leg and that is a power consuming hog if you put the load share at 50 amps. So with the draw on that one leg at 25 amps, I thought it was about maxed out.

When we were in Colorado, I had all three units on plus the charger and water heater, but the OAT was quite reduced and the units would cycle some. They are cycling some now, but in this heat, that doesn't occur very often.

And Mike, the reason you could run 4 was because two of them didn't work. :eek:

When you get your new coach you won't have these problems, but here's a shot:

It seems as if your house batteries are hogging down the line voltage so as to not provide enough current for the Cruise Airs. If they are not charging well enough either down the road or you are using a lot of house current the inverters will suck up as much power as they can...same results.

Either that or all the LEDs are running off of your inverters.

There is a price for bling, even in Las Vegas.

Whatever happens there, stays there.

JDUB,

The inverters on the Liberty have dip switches in the back that control how much they draw to charge. I'm sure Jon will weigh in and further explain.

and I love that line about what happens in Vegas...

MM

Hoping you reach Beer Cold 30.