AVION Travel Trailers

Edit: I guess I should have read the manual. It's registering voltage drop to below 104V under load so that's that....

So today I converted a landscape light into an outlet so that we can have some power to the trailer as we are doing some updates. Plugged it in using a 30/15A plug and a 100' extension cord. We have a Progressive Industries EMS-HW30C with a remove display which read 121V if I remember correctly when I first connected it.

Interestingly enough when I first connected it the AC fan ran until I shut it off when I got into the trailer. Didn't realize it was left on.

Fast forward a few hours later, I decided to plug in a little space heater. Set at 1300A it kept tripping the EMS with no other appliances running. All I had was 3 LED lights plus converter to keep batteries charging.

Seems like it should have been able to run off my 15A (I think?) household circuit but maybe not? Hope I don't have some other issue with the EMS itself...

How many amps is the breaker at your household box for the outlet you are plugging into?

You’re likely experience a good deal of voltage drop with that 100 foot cord. My guess is that is probably a 14 AWG extension cord. Unless you NEED to go 100ft, try a shorter AND fatter (at least 12 AWG) extension cord.

Also, a heater at 1500w is going to draw 12.5 amps at 120v. Voltage drop increases as circuit length gets longer, so the wire size needs increased. A breaker that is only 15 amps would likely trip if the wire size isn’t more than adequate, and my guess is that extension cord is too small for that 100 ft length. You also have to keep in mind that 100 ft is in addition to the distance from the household breaker to the household outlet.

I have no idea which breaker feeds that circuit. The one in the panel that reads "Driveway lights" ain't it. So I was assuming 15A.

I can swap another driveway light to an outlet which would be only about 10' away from the trailer. I didn't actually see that one, it was behind a bush and had a burned out light. But in all honesty, as long as I can have batteries charging, that's all I care about. The heater was just a nice to have but won't be needed for much longer anyway.

The outlet 10 feet will be much better. If running a heater and/or AC, I would use a minimum of a 12AWG cord in as short a length as possible.

AC still won't run off a 15amp circuit will it? Even if we had a soft start?

I imagine your household circuit is 20 amp, but it could be 15 amp like you said. In either case, you could try it and see what happens, but I wouldn’t use less than a 12awg extension cord.


https://www.amazon.com/Black-Resistant- ... 132&sr=8-9

Personally, I would go with a 10awg cord…

https://www.amazon.com/Foot-Lighted-Out ... th=1&psc=1