Popping breakers at the lake

[d2freak82]

shouldn't it be 120?

 

[redbaron]

shouldn't it be 120?

rarely. Good voltage will range 110-125. Depends on length of line, and how hot the power company has turned up the circuit. 117V with no load is a good reading, and is right in the middle of the range.

 

[d2freak82]

pretty sure the ac was running when I tested that. It was 116 at the other site, when we switched it was a little cooler outside so the ac didn't run quite as much but yesterday it was 100+ and popped the breaker again.

 

[redbaron]

The load for the park will drop as more campers turn on their air conditioner. So a 10 degree temp difference can drastically affect park load.

The grid is further impacted by the surrounding neighborhood, and other consumers of the electric.

We are in the Montana Flathead valley. A lot of RV's here. When the temps climb to 100, the grid starts to suffer until someone places a call to the coop. They then push more power to the grid, and we see our voltage climb. If they don't turn it down soon enough, we will see 130-140 coming from the same grid in the evening.

This year they are trying an automated method of increasing load. They have placed voltage testing equipment at various RV parks, located within the transformer hand off, that will now allow for faster response.

I have the Autoformer always running, so I never notice when this is happening. Last year, I did notice the over power as my equipment shut off due to high voltage. Was glad I had a good surge protector that could detect that situation. Several RV's where damaged by this.

 

[d2freak82]

I just ordered the autoformer - and I have the the power watch dog surge protector that hughes also sells. It'll be here thursday - hopefully that takes care of the issue

 

[d2freak82]

why are other campers (typically newer - my camper is a 96) not effected by this?

 

[Neal]

why are other campers (typically newer - my camper is a 96) not effected by this?

I don't think it's camper specific. It's more specific to the campground with an old electrical infrastructure and pedestals that need upkeep.

 

[redbaron]

The answer is in wiring.

The campground has a master breaker pedestal located near the sites. Each 200amp master circuit then runs in a path from one site to the next. Usually 6 or 7 sites are served by the single 200 amp feed.

Site 1 will have the best power
Site 7 will have the worst.
Site 8 will be a new circuit, and have the best (just like site 1) and so forth and so on.


No 2 campgrounds follow the same path, so actual park site numbers don't relate to how it's wired.

 

[FL-JOE]

Many times the underground wiring at a campground is either really old or in some cases could be simply not up to code. Redbaron's explanation is spot on how most run their wiring to sites.