[Holering]

I live in a 1990 Bounder motorhome. It uses a 30 AMP 125V 3 prong plug (looks like those ones that dryers use). All the outlets in the motorhome are 3 prong outlets but none of em have ground!!:huh: I tested using a surge protector with a ground light that turns on when it's properly grounded and sure enough it doesn't light up on any of the outlets! I know the surge protector works because I tested it inside a triple wide and the ground light lit up right away. The 30 amp plug on the motorhome seems properly wired but I'm not entirely sure how to check. I opened up the plug and it has a green, black, and white wire. I also used an adapter to plug the 30 amp plug into a standard house outlet and there's still no ground on any outlets inside the motorhome so I'm pretty sure it's a problem inside the breaker panel... :yes:

I currently use a somewhat high end computer (750 watt pc power and cooling power supply) with a quad core 9450 cpu @ 3.5ghz, 4 gigs of ram, X2 8800gts 512mb sli cards, 750i ftw motherboard, and a huge CRT 19" monitor (sony g400). Also I have logitech z680s turned up pretty loud while gaming or whatever. I would really hate to see my system blow up and throw me into hell while gaming... Currently I'm using two surge protectors just incase that are more recent (computer and everything plugged into 1st which plugs into the second one which then finally plugs into the ungrounded outlet :jester: )

The computer monitor actually gets slightly shaky and what looks like a RF interference that you'd see on an old tv with rabbit ears scrolling down the screen. This only goes away if I set the refresh rate to 60hz only (even then there is still a slight interference that scrolls down slowly but it's barely noticeable). If it's any other refresh rate it just gets shaky on the bottom corners like mad as previously mentioned. This all goes away of course If I use an extension cord going into the triple wide home...

Any suggestions

 

[AllanJ]

Choice 1. Take a long length of #14 bare wire and daisy chain it from one piece of electronic equipment to another, attaching it using a screw that goes through to the chassis of each piece of equipment. Connect the far end to a known ground.

Choice 2. (Requires 3 prong plugs on equipment) Use a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter (and also, if needed, an extension cord with ground) to connect each surge protector to the nearest wall receptacle. Connect a wire from the ground tab of each adapter to a known ground, you may use the method in choice 1.

Choice 3. Fix the grounding of the receptacles. If ground conductors are absent from the cabling inside the walls, then string new ground conductors among the receptacles. These may be run (exposed) on the surface if you don't wish to fish them.

 

[vsheetz]

service?

Is the ground from the power source good?
Is the electric service wired correctly?

Your 30 amp plug should supply 120VAC to the RV - via a hot, neutral and a ground.

Also make sure you are actually running from ground power directly, and not through your inverter.

Here's good info about RV power - http://www.myrv.us/electric/

 

[Bocolo]

The receptacle has a green, black and white? Where is the green going? Also, (don't quote me on this) but I thought I read somewhere that plugging a surge protector into another surge protector defies the purpose of it's intended use.

 

[hayewe farm]

You might as well throw the surge protectors away. Most of the filtering done by the surge protectors require ground and actually provide very little protection. Once the ground is fixed invest in a UPS.

 

[theatretch85]

I don't believe by code you can legally perform electrical work on a motorhome. I believe this work must be done by an electrician; I don't know the section of code off hand, but maybe someone else will chime in regarding this.