[VAC] Re: Water & electric

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim,
 You have it mostly right:

In my case, my Green light will glow if AC is connected and of proper
polarity. The Red light will glow if AC is connected, but reversed. As
there is probably a certain amount of "leakage" from the trailer body to
ground, the lights would probably glow normally even if the ground wire
isn't connected at all. As I usually leave the safety chains laying on
the ground, the trailer is more or less grounded anyway.

I think you'd want the neutral in your generator connected to ground;
that's probably the way it is now. Just make sure that you use 3-prong
plugs and 3-wire cords that are properly wired for all connections.

All of your receptacles in the trailer should be of the 3-prong variety
and the Ground pin should be connected back to the panel ground with a
3rd wire, usually green or bare.

Many RV'ers carry an outlet tester to check the polarity of the C.G.
receptacle before plugging in. It also lets you know if there's power;
that isn't always a given. Checking the voltage should be done from
inside your rig, using some sort of meter. The most-useful kind is one
of those expanded-scale meters that reads from about 90 -> 140 volts.
This is very important if you are running your A/C. As we use nearly no
120VAC appliances in our trailer, I'm not too concerned if we're not
using the A/C. Plug that meter into an outlet where you can easily
monitor it, and do so, especially during the hot part of the day when
everyone else in the C.G. is running their A/C also.

Although there's not much you can do about the voltage other than shut
off your A/C to protect it, you can request another site if the polarity
is reversed. Some folks carry one of those "cheaters"; the 2-prong to
3-prong adaptor things. They put a pigtail with an alligator clip on it
so they can reverse the polarity by themselves and still maintain the
ground connection. This assumes that you're plugging into the house-hold
style 20 or 15-amp receptacle instead of the 30-amp RV style.

                                    <<Jim>>