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?

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%2.../Surgepg1.html

Picture 4.jpg


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. 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