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The cord stays paired to the surge suppressor so it's not like it gets plugged in and unplugged. Also been plugged in at the house for a couple of months.
We did have a power outage the other day for under 5 minutes. Do not know if this was related.
I noticed when running the jacks the other day the voltage dropped by a lot (down into the 11's). Thought nothing of it. Fast forward to this afternoon, I ran the slides out to check things and see what needed to be moved for the annual inspection trip so I can go get the registration. When running the slides all out at once (yes I do this from the manual panel on purpose) I checked the battery level on the panel and it was E. Looked up to notice the voltage gauges were all dark.
Start checking, Main power breaker on, so go around to the house panel and its tripped (note I still have a 30A 2 pole breaker for the camper but this has never been an issue). I flip it back on and it holds. Back around to the camper and everything is on and normal. A while goes by and I go to check the battery charge gauge in the hold and note it's discharging. Back inside, the voltage gauges are dark again. back to the house panel and it's tripped.
Flip house breaker on again, and she thought she heard it trip. So I walk back over to see, and it's still on, but as I walk away I hear it trip.
So, I walk around to the camper with the intention of unplugging the cord from the wall to determine if it's camper or wiring related. As I walk up, I notice the rocks under the cord are black and then as I unplug the surge protector, I notice some scraps of string on the ground burnt. Originally they were in the rocks but I picked them up to see what they were and dropped them back on the driveway.
I did not get a picture before I cut the insulation back, but this is what I found at the edge of the strain protector inside the cord.
And After I stripped back the strain protector a bit:
Looks like the insulation between the black hot and ground became compromised some how (strings were wet and main cord black insulation was cracked). We did have some freezing conditions over the past few weeks and some rain this week.
The bright shiny green and other insulation colors are where I nicked them with the razor knife.
MORAL: Check the cord ends. Don't know how it got damaged or how long it was off, but thankfully the breaker caught it. Surge protector pre cord showed no signs or indications of anything wrong with wiring. I don't even think a hard wired one would have caught it b/c it was a direct short vs broke wire. the wires you see are all still in tact with a few melted conductors.
We did have a power outage the other day for under 5 minutes. Do not know if this was related.
I noticed when running the jacks the other day the voltage dropped by a lot (down into the 11's). Thought nothing of it. Fast forward to this afternoon, I ran the slides out to check things and see what needed to be moved for the annual inspection trip so I can go get the registration. When running the slides all out at once (yes I do this from the manual panel on purpose) I checked the battery level on the panel and it was E. Looked up to notice the voltage gauges were all dark.
Start checking, Main power breaker on, so go around to the house panel and its tripped (note I still have a 30A 2 pole breaker for the camper but this has never been an issue). I flip it back on and it holds. Back around to the camper and everything is on and normal. A while goes by and I go to check the battery charge gauge in the hold and note it's discharging. Back inside, the voltage gauges are dark again. back to the house panel and it's tripped.
Flip house breaker on again, and she thought she heard it trip. So I walk back over to see, and it's still on, but as I walk away I hear it trip.
So, I walk around to the camper with the intention of unplugging the cord from the wall to determine if it's camper or wiring related. As I walk up, I notice the rocks under the cord are black and then as I unplug the surge protector, I notice some scraps of string on the ground burnt. Originally they were in the rocks but I picked them up to see what they were and dropped them back on the driveway.I did not get a picture before I cut the insulation back, but this is what I found at the edge of the strain protector inside the cord.
And After I stripped back the strain protector a bit:
Looks like the insulation between the black hot and ground became compromised some how (strings were wet and main cord black insulation was cracked). We did have some freezing conditions over the past few weeks and some rain this week.
The bright shiny green and other insulation colors are where I nicked them with the razor knife.
MORAL: Check the cord ends. Don't know how it got damaged or how long it was off, but thankfully the breaker caught it. Surge protector pre cord showed no signs or indications of anything wrong with wiring. I don't even think a hard wired one would have caught it b/c it was a direct short vs broke wire. the wires you see are all still in tact with a few melted conductors.
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