For some it's "Miller Time." That great moment when the rig is backed into the site, and the vacation has just about begun. You've hooked up to the park utilities and are headed inside to kick back. But as you reach for the door handle, your kick back turns into something like a sharp kick. A shooting pain rushes up your arm, tingling your body fibers. It's like a disgruntled horse -- you find yourself tossed back, rump first onto the ground. If things go right, you dust yourself off and try and figure out what happened.
Sometimes things don't go right. A miswired campground electrical box can turn your RV shell into a live wire, and touching the rig can make an RVer a part of the circuit. Some RVers don't live to tell about it. But you don't have to become a statistic. With caution and inexpensive equipment, you can protect yourself from the danger of miswired campground 'electrics.'
What Can Go Wrong
A little background helps explain the possible dangers of electrical shock around campground hookups. Let's talk first about the 120 volt, 15 and 30 amp receptacles, found in nearly all campground electric utility boxes. These outlets are typically served with three wires, a hot, a neutral, and a ground wire. The hot wire is as it sounds, the power carrying conductor. The neutral is the 'return path,' for the electricity. The ground wire is an all-important safety factor: It provides a path for electricity to flow to earth ground should a problem occur. Older installations may not contain a ground wire, as early laws ("electrical codes") didn't always require them.
If all three wires are present and correctly connected, electrical safety is pretty much assured. But when wires aren't correctly connected, problems can become more than just hair raising. Probably the most common wiring problem is that of reversed polarity, where the hot and neutral wires are reversed. Can anything dangerous come from this?
First, some appliances can be damaged by a reversed polarity condition, principally electronic devices. You'll notice that many electrical devices have "polarized" plugs -- having two blades, one of which is larger than the other, so it will only fit in an outlet box correctly. Fritzing your traveling computer or television due to a bad wiring situation can be frustrating at best.
A more serious situation could arise from reversed polarity situations. If for some reason the neutral side of your RV wiring came into contact with your rig chassis--say someone accidentally connected the ground wiring to the neutral, or a staple, screw, or nail penetrated the electrical wiring and allowed those two sides to make electrical contact, then a serious situation could arise. A reversed polarity connection could potentially allow electrical current to flow across your rig's metal skin, and if any hapless human (or animal) were to touch the rig while in contact with earth ground, a serious shock could result. We're talking mortality here, not a good way to come back from an RV outing.
A couple of other miswiring problems can also crop up. It's not uncommon to find an open ground — a ground that doesn't exist. Ground wires provide a safety factor, say if insulation inside an appliance should fail and allow voltage to come into contact with the case, the ground wire is there to conduct it away. While newer RVs are equipped with "GFIs" (Ground Fault Interrupters) that protect kitchen and bathroom circuits from most electrical shocks, even in the absence of a proper ground, it's always wise to have an effective ground. The last bad wiring problem is a reversal of the hot wire with the ground wire. This would most decidedly run current in all the wrong places. Similar situations can arise with 50 amp (240 volt) electrical outlet connections.
How do you protect yourself against these wiring mishaps? An inexpensive electrical tester ranks high as "insurance" against such problems.
Testing to Avoid the Fritz
Known as "circuit analyzers" or "power line monitors," these devices plug into an electrical outlet and immediately show the wiring condition of the hookup. More advanced testers also indicate the available line voltage, which if too low or high, can damage equipment. We'll come to that later.
Using the device is simple: Plug it in, and check the indicator lamps to verify the condition of the outlet. If you're testing a 30 amp (or 50 amp) outlet on a park box, first plug the analyzer into the appropriate adapter. But hang on a minute: If you had a reversed hot wire and ground, that would mean the box itself could be "hot." The simple act of lifting the lid on the box while standing on damp ground could spell your final act. Some RVers never touch an unknown box with bare hands--they put on neoprene gloves to insulate themselves from problems.
In our case, we plugged our circuit analyzer into an inside RV outlet, visible from a window. Just be careful not to touch the rig skin while analyzing your analyzer! In any event, if your circuit analyzer indicates anything other than a good, properly wired outlet, don't touch the rig! Carefully unplug the analyzer and get thee to another outlet after reporting the problem to park management.
While generally not hazardous to your health, improper line voltage can raise Cain with electrical equipment. A low voltage situation is not uncommon, particularly in older parks on hot summer days when it seems everyone wants their air conditioning. If the electrical system isn't up to it, low power is the result. Air conditioner compressors, subjected to voltages below 108 volts can be damaged. In rare cases, too, over-voltage conditions can occur, which can fry equipment.
We regularly use a circuit analyzer from Automated Engineering Company, which displays both voltage and wiring conditions. We leave it plugged in so we can keep an eye on changing voltage conditions. It costs less than $50 and is available at Camping World and other RV supply houses. Too much money? A simple analyzer to check out wiring conditions will set you back less than $10--shop any "big box" hardware store or most RV suppliers.
Water and electricity are a bad combination. When hooking up shore power connections in damp environments, wear neoprene rubber gloves. If your RV site has standing water around the electrical box, get another site.
When making electrical repairs on your RV shore power system, KNOW what you're doing, or hire the job out to a competent repairman. If you do it yourself, be careful to observe polarity, then test your circuits.
Don't whack off the ground pin on any electrical plug--you're simply cutting off your safety. Play it safe with shore power, invest in and use a circuit analyzer and neoprene gloves and you'll be investing in a longer RV lifestyle.
Russ and Tina Demaris are the authors of RV Boondocking Basics.
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