Noob - First trip preparation!

[ebaeder]

As I was preparing the trailer for the first trip. I plugged the trailer into the house outlet (15A) and was checking everything out. TV was on, AC was running, everything was working great. Made a few trips out with groceries, went to turn on the refrigerator. Turned the switch on, and got the AC and gas light flashing. Hmmm, I thought, let me see what that means. Break out the owners manual to troubleshoot fridge. Lack of AC power and gas. OK, gas not on turn on gas, and fridge starts working!

Notice TV and AC not on any more. Hmmm, must have tripped a breaker turning on fridge. Go in the house, and check breakers. All on. Check all GFIs in house, learned that one the hard way before, long story! All GFIs in house good. Check circuit breakers and fuses in trailer. All good. Look for GFIs in trailer, all goood. Hmmm, start scratching my head. Get another extension cord from house, plug in to a different outlet in house and run it straight to TV to plug in. TV works. Check connections on trailer. Good. Check all adapters, Good. Follow extension cord back to house. Not plugged in anymore! ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH! Plug it back in and discover there is a blue light on on the trailer cable and trailer that comes on when the power is on!

[kevinmiles]

Good story ..... sounds like something that would happen to me! On a more serious note, when plugged into only a 15-amp outlet, I wouldn't turn on much more than the fridge and the lights. I'm surprised you even got the AC to start up.

[Nana & Poppy]

Originally Posted by kevinmiles

Good story ..... sounds like something that would happen to me! On a more serious note, when plugged into only a 15-amp outlet, I wouldn't turn on much more than the fridge and the lights. I'm surprised you even got the AC to start up.

X2 - what trailer do you have?????

[ebaeder]

I have a 2014 Denali 287 RE. I was trying to see how much I could turn on before I tripped a circuit breaker. That's why I started troubleshooting in the house. I did start turning stuff on incrementally. I turned on the AC for a bit, then the TV. It wasn't until I messed with the fridge that I noticed the others weren't on.

So I guess I don't know if I was able to run all 3 without tripping the breaker. AC and TV are no problem. Fridge and TV are no problem.

[hddecker]

Kevin is right on, when he says only turn on the minimum.

Also if you are hooking up to the house using an extension cord you should be using a 12 gauge if your running the AC. The voltage drop on light duty extensions can kill your AC.

I recommending using a Kill-a-volt, when I'm hooking up a camp grounds. I have found times when the voltage being provided by the camp ground supply was as low as 98 volts. When I find this happening, i start checking some of the other sites. On more than one occasion I have gone back to the office and asked to be moved to a site that is providing 120V.

I learned the hard way about 30 years ago when I burnt out a table saw motor that light extension cords kill electric motors and other assorted electrics. The first thing I did after buying a new table saw was get rid of all of my 14 & 16 gauge extension cords and replaced them with 12 gauge.