120/240 50 amp issue

Ok, so I bought a 2009 Pinehurst from my business partner. I wired a 3 pole 4 wire 50 amp outlet to plug my main power into and when I switched on the breaker I heard a buzz/humm from behind the back of where the batteries are stored and heard a soft boof sound from inside the RV and had smoke in the living room area. I believe it was the fireplace. Iv unpluged and removed the fireplace. I tripped the breaker again and still hear buzz/humm from the same area as before. I do not wont to fry anything else in the RV so what to do?
Any ideas where I went wrong. Is there anything I have to switch over to run on the power cord? I was told it should switch itself automatically. My buddy I bought it from never had the issue but he had it plugged into a converted 30 amp plug, plugged into the dry outlet in his garage (which was a year or so ago).

Thank you in advance,
Charlie

Hi mdnangl,

It sounds like you know your way around power systems, but the obvious first place to start is with the new outlet. If somehow it got wired wrong, you could get exactly what you're experiencing.

Here's a link to a website that may help you verify the outlet.

Thank you Danemayer
From the link you posted, my issue might be the breaker im using. I have a triple pole breaker not a double... oops..
Any other ideas?? just in case??

Charlie

mdnangl said:

Thank you Danemayer
From the link you posted, my issue might be the breaker im using. I have a triple pole breaker not a double... oops..
Any other ideas?? just in case??

Charlie

Click to expand...

I'm not an electrician, but let me hazard a guess that you've run the 2 hot lines and the neutral through the 3 pole breaker. If so, perhaps the neutral connection isn't working correctly in that arrangement. If the neutral is compromised, it would fry things inside the coach by supplying up to 220V on a 110V circuit. I don't know enough theory to tell you why it wouldn't work, but I think the breakers typically only carry the hot lines.

Unfortunately, you may have stressed components in the path of the high voltage. For example, if L1 carried 220V, the control board on the automatic transfer switch might fail later due to the shot it took. Other devices too.

Yep, it was the 3 pole breaker. I put 3 phase to it. So far only the TV is fried !!! Im in the process of checking the other components. Luckly I knew better to not leave it plugged in for very long !! I might go ahead and replace the auto control board to be on the safe side.

Thanks again.....

I'm no electrician but I have this diagram to help

mdnangl said:

Yep, it was the 3 pole breaker. I put 3 phase to it. So far only the TV is fried !!! Im in the process of checking the other components. Luckly I knew better to not leave it plugged in for very long !! I might go ahead and replace the auto control board to be on the safe side.

Thanks again.....

Click to expand...

How did you wire the receptacle? Almost all houses only have two phases. Was the power supplied to an industrial building?

RX,
yes, power is from commercial building... Just got ahead of myself and didn't double check my power. Thank goodness I didnt fry everything.. ALLWAYS ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK !!!!!

Thanks for all the quick replies.. Great members here !!!
Now on to replacing the hot water heater....

cheers,
Charlie

Is your 3 phase power 120/208 Y or 120/240 Delta? If you have delta power you can get 208 volts between the wild (high) leg and neutral. If this makes no sense to you it would be best to hire a pro.

If you have three phase power, you only want one phase (two hot leads and neutral) for the trailer. The power in trailers is 110VAC throughout. Even though the 50A circuit has two hot leads, there is no 220VAC used. Try just using 2 hot leads and disregard the 3phase service. As I recall from my old electrician days, misapplying three phase can actually produce an undervoltage on a leg. I'm not certain I remember that correctly, but the symptoms you are reporting sound like low voltage.

Measure the voltage in reference to neutral on each leg. The 3 phase I had in my shop and 120 on two of them and the third had 277v. OUCH, Cost me a nice digital scale.

avvidclif said:

Measure the voltage in reference to neutral on each leg. The 3 phase I had in my shop and 120 on two of them and the third had 277v. OUCH, Cost me a nice digital scale.

Click to expand...

Avvidclif:
I believe the power source in your shop is what is referred to as "welder" power. I came across this when investigating setting up a 30 amp supply to the Bighorn while staying in a welder's shop yard while having frame damage repaired. I ended up just getting by on 15 amp power for a week.