Sometime ago I was working on the coach when the power went out,hm,check breaker at house,OK,check breaker in main coach panel,OK next comes the power cord,I could not remove the male plug from the female connector in the water bay, after a struggle it came out and what did I find, a burnt neutral on the male and female connectors, I had done the check on the wiring on the male in my yearly check all was tight ,but never thought of looking at the female, I removed the 4 screws that hold the connector in the panel and it pulled out about a foot, the white cover on the back was melted to the connector, I had to cut it off with a die grinder, normally you remove 2 screws inside the cover and it comes whit the cover off you can check the wires and make sure they are tight. this is now on my check list.
P.S. the parts to repair this are about a 100 bucks each, so if you have this setup you might want to pull it and have a good look.
I had the same problem several years ago. Had to get a new female receptical. The old plug the the new rec. don't fit too well but it works. I'm too cheap to buy a new plug.
I check and keep clean, all of the male ends on all my power cords. I have seen melted 30 amp connectors also. I use about 400 grit sand paper to shine these connectors. The reason that the neutral connector will melt first is that it carries all the current of both hot connectors unless the shore supply is 220 volts between hots.
Wyatt, mine burnt off in the back of the female plug because I never thought to check it to make sure that the wires where tight, I doubt that many owners have thought to pull and check the female connector.
Dave, it is 50 amp.
My mistake, I thought it looked like the 30 amp 120 volt, still a great time to go with the modern day 4 wire 50 amp like is used to day and get away from that issue.
Cheers
dave M
Actually it is modern day 4 wire 50 amp, Black- load (125 Volt), Red - Load (125 Volt), White - Neutral,
Green - Equipment Ground. Still made and used today, but found more in marine installations than RV installations. Home Page | Marinco (http://www.marinco.com/)
Great PatC, where are they hiding the 4th conductor in the pictures ?
Dave M
Surely you know that the ground is on the side.
I surely do now :o
And here is the instructions for wiring the connectors: http://www.marinco.com/files/support/products/manuals/101992.pdf (http://www.marinco.com/files/support/products/manuals/101992.pdf)
Thanks, I was about to go looking for wiring instructions, this will be a project when it stops raining in ATL.
Gary B