What does 105 & 104 mean on the Aladdin measurement of inbound current?

[Stan Simpson]

Since mid-October I had the coach plugged in to the house current. It went out for installation of the stackable washer & dryer, and today when we got home, I plugged it in, and the Aladdin is showing Leg 1 105 and Leg 2 104, both numbers in red. I turned on the generator and everything changed to the normal 119 and 120.

What would cause the low voltage from the shore power? I'm using a 100 ft 12GA yellow cord. I'm really only using about 40 feet of it, so the rest is coiled next to the bay with the cord reel. Could that be a problem?

[Keith Moffett]

Stan
A 12 ga cord is only good for 20 amps.  That is diminished by the drop off over the length of the cord.  120 volt at 20 amp is minimal drop at 40 ft. But more noticable at 100. 
That said, it should drop the available amperage but the voltage should be close to 120V.  You might check the power outlet and the connections on the cord and the adapters to go from 50 amp cord to a 12 ga cord.  Make sure they are clean.
Lastly, the plug on your 50 amp cord can be an issue.  Ours was replaced with the Camco yellow plug and on one occasio  it came loose inside and the ground was dead short and began smoking.

Good luck

[Russ Mann]

Stan,

You may have something else wrong like a loose connection at either end of the cord. If you are pulling less than 5 amps and your house voltage is 115 volts you would only lose around 1.6 volts per the calculator at:
 
http://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html?material=copper&wiresize=5.211&voltage=115&phase=ac&noofconductor=1&distance=100&distanceunit=feet&amperes=5&x=0&y=0

I suspect the neutral wire may be the culprit but would check all connections. Especially check where the installers made the connection for the new appliance.
Also remember that if the voltage is lower than 115V the current will be higher with the same load.

[Stan Simpson]

Stan
A 12 ga cord is only good for 20 amps.  That is diminished by the drop off over the length of the cord.  120 volt at 20 amp is minimal drop at 40 ft. But more noticable at 100. 
That said, it should drop the available amperage but the voltage should be close to 120V.  You might check the power outlet and the connections on the cord and the adapters to go from 50 amp cord to a 12 ga cord.  Make sure they are clean.
Lastly, the plug on your 50 amp cord can be an issue.  Ours was replaced with the Camco yellow plug and on one occasio  it came loose inside and the ground was dead short and began smoking.

Good luck

I didn't make it clear, sorry. I'm plugged in to 20A..an outside outlet on the garage. Just using it to keep the batteries charged. Thanks for the reply.

[Stan Simpson]

Stan,

You may have something else wrong like a loose connection at either end of the cord. If you are pulling less than 5 amps and your house voltage is 115 volts you would only lose around 1.6 volts per the calculator at:
 
http://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html?material=copper&wiresize=5.211&voltage=115&phase=ac&noofconductor=1&distance=100&distanceunit=feet&amperes=5&x=0&y=0

Russ,
The new appliance is a stacked washer & dryer. There are not turned on. Drawing zero as far as I know.

I suspect the neutral wire may be the culprit but would check all connections. Especially check where the installers made the connection for the new appliance.
Also remember that if the voltage is lower than 115V the current will be higher with the same load.

[Stan Simpson]

I just went out to the coach. The Aladdin shows Leg 1 119, drawing 1.0, and Leg 2 120, drawing zero. Weird. I will keep an eye on it. Inverter/charger shows 16A in, batteries on float. All good.

[Bill Lampkin]

You are connected to a 15a wall receptacle, very few house receptacles are actually 20a or even wired with 12ga (20a) wire. Most are wired with 14ga (15a) wire. If you are using a 50A cord for the entire 100' length, its not unusual to see a voltage drop. If any piece in the run from your house to the MH is less than 50a wire, I would expect there to be a voltage drop. Blade-type connectors on RV power cords are the worst, I've replaced mine with twist-lock cord ends. Just run a load like your A/C or heat pump for an hour and feel the blade type connectors-heat means voltage drop. I don't know why the RV industry uses blade-type cord connectors, junk! Sorry 'bout the rant!

[Jim Nichols]

Stan, if you have a Xantrex inverter, you need to use the power share program. You need to set it at 15 or 20 amps depending on what you're plugged into. If you're plugged into a 20 amp circuit and have 100 foot of extension cord, program 15amps. The highest the program goes is 30 amp, whether you're plugged into a 30 or 50 amp pedestal. The power share program allows the inverter to lower the bulk charge system and shares the power needed with the batteries.

[Samuel Sperbeck]

Bill, I am curious. With the twist lock plugs you are using how do you plug into a 50 amp RV park receptacle?

Thanks, Sam

[Bill Lampkin]

I made up a pigtail, blade on one end, twist loc on the other.

[Stan Simpson]

Stan, if you have a Xantrex inverter, you need to use the power share program. You need to set it at 15 or 20 amps depending on what you're plugged into. If you're plugged into a 20 amp circuit and have 100 foot of extension cord, program 15amps. The highest the program goes is 30 amp, whether you're plugged into a 30 or 50 amp pedestal. The power share program allows the inverter to lower the bulk charge system and shares the power needed with the batteries.

I do have a Xantrex inverter/charger..a new 3000W PSW. I have no idea how to do what you describe. Can you help? Once I do it, do I have to set it back to 30 for shore power at a campground?

[David T. Richelderfer]

Stan - I'll assume your inverter is the Xantrex Freedom 3000w PSW like mine and you have a remote panel.  On the remote panel, there are four buttons beneath the screen.  The right button says "FUNC".  When you push that button, you will see the bottom line on the screen change.  Push the "FUNC" button until you see that lower line near the screen's center says "PSnnA" where the nn is a number from 05 to 30 in increments of 5. That is your inverter's Power Share function.  You can change your Power Share designation by using the middle two buttons, the up and down arrows, such that your inverter will not pull more than nn amps from your shore power cord or generator.  In my case, I change my Power Share designation to 20 or 25 when I am dry-camping and using my Honda 3000w generator.  By making this Power Share change you are telling your inverter it can pull no more power from the generator or shore power than the amperage you have designated.  If you turn on an electrical device, such as an induction cooktop, microwave, hair dryer, etc., that is powered through an inverter circuit, then the inverter will supply its full power requirement by sharing the power demanded between the shore or generator and the house batteries.  For example, if you have your Power Sharing set on PS10A and turn on the microwave, then your inverter will pull up to 10 amps from the generator or shore power and the remainder of the microwave's demand, about 7 or 8 amps probably, will be drawn from the house batteries.  When your power demand, vis-a-vis, the microwave in this example, return to a lower demand when the microwave has shut off, then your inverter will recharge your house batteries at a slow rate by using the 10 amp limit from the generator or shore power.

Note that not all electrical devices are powered through your inverter.  Examples are the air conditioners and heat pumps.  Your inverter does not "see" such devices, so their power demand is not counted against the Power Share limitation.

[Stan Simpson]

Stan - I'll assume your inverter is the Xantrex Freedom 3000w PSW like mine and you have a remote panel.  On the remote panel, there are four buttons beneath the screen.  The right button says "FUNC".  When you push that button, you will see the bottom line on the screen change.  Push the "FUNC" button until you see that lower line near the screen's center says "PSnnA" where the nn is a number from 05 to 30 in increments of 5. That is your inverter's Power Share function.  You can change your Power Share designation by using the middle two buttons, the up and down arrows, such that your inverter will not pull more than nn amps from your shore power cord or generator.  In my case, I change my Power Share designation to 20 or 25 when I am dry-camping and using my Honda 3000w generator.  By making this Power Share change you are telling your inverter it can pull no more power from the generator or shore power than the amperage you have designated.  If you turn on an electrical device, such as an induction cooktop, microwave, hair dryer, etc., that is powered through an inverter circuit, then the inverter will supply its full power requirement by sharing the power demanded between the shore or generator and the house batteries.  For example, if you have your Power Sharing set on PS10A and turn on the microwave, then your inverter will pull up to 10 amps from the generator or shore power and the remainder of the microwave's demand, about 7 or 8 amps probably, will be drawn from the house batteries.  When your power demand, vis-a-vis, the microwave in this example, return to a lower demand when the microwave has shut off, then your inverter will recharge your house batteries at a slow rate by using the 10 amp limit from the generator or shore power.

Note that not all electrical devices are powered through your inverter.  Examples are the air conditioners and heat pumps.  Your inverter does not "see" such devices, so their power demand is not counted against the Power Share limitation.

David,
You and I have the exact Xantrex. If you recall, you walked me through the set up of the AGS. And some other settings that I am stupid about. This information is extremely helpful. Thank you.

Can I ask anyone out there another stupid question. What is the purpose of setting the Xantrex to 15A share? I know I can't draw more than 15A, so I would never use anything (such as microwave, hair dryer, or any other high draw application). I will check, and hope the current setting is on 30, which is the optimal per the previous replies above. When I go out to the coach, the first thing I do is check the battery status on the Xantrex, the second thing I do is turn on the Aladdin and see what the draw is on each leg of the shore power. Typically, it's 1.0 to 3.0.

[David T. Richelderfer]

Stan - As I indicated in the earlier post today, the Power Share function is there to prevent the Xantrex from over-drawing on the generator or shore power, and kicking out the shore power breaker.  If your coach is plugged into 15 amp shore power, for example, then the Xantrex Power Share needs to be set lower than 15 amps to prevent the coach from demanding more than 15 amps from shore power.  Remember, there are some devices that draw power which the Xantrex cannot see.  So, setting the Power Share to 10 amps, for example, will allow the Xantrex to pull only up to 10 amps for devices it can see.  Thus, the 10 amp setting will allow a 10 amp draw through the Xantrex PLUS a few extra amps for devices the Xantrex cannot see.

We run our 3000w Honda generator overnight when dry-camping to run the bedroom TV, a few lights, etc., plus keep the batteries at full charge.  Most of the time I will set the Power Share down to 10 amps or 15 amps when dry-camping so that the generator runs at a low RPM.  On this Power Share setting, the Honda's 3.6 gallon gas tank will last up to 20 hours on one fill.  When I get up early, which I do daily, then there is still enough Honda power coming through to run our living room TV and lights in addition to the bedroom TV.  If I want to heat up water to make tea with the induction cooktop, then I set the Power Share up to 20 amps or 25 amps.  Even if the Xantrex does need more power due to "too many" devices running, then the Xantrex is limited to the Power Share setting (PS5A up to PS30A) and the Xantrex pulls the extra demand from the House Batteries.  After those extra devices are shut off, the Xantrex will recharge the batteries to full charge at a slowed rate allowed by and depending upon the Power Share setting.

[Bill Lampkin]

As I understand it, Power Share simply limits the battery charge current put out by your inverter to your batteries, according to the parameters you set. If you are hooked up to a 15a home outlet, you are not going to charge your battery very fast. If you are plugged into 50a, then you will have the full charging current from your inverter to your batteries.