Camper electrical issues. Help!!!!

[Deeredude64]

Hey guys we have an 05 cardinal 5th wheel trailer. When we are at home I plug the camper into the house via a regular extension cord. It’s a 50 amp camper so we reduce it down to the 115v plug just to run the lights and charge the batteries. Every time you touch metal on the out side and your standing on the ground you get a slight shock from the camper. I plug the surge protector inline with this and it tells me that l1 or l2 and neutral are reversed. I have an older house so I figured there was something in the house that was giving me the issue. So I put in a whole new box outside and ran straight to the breaker box. This new box has my 50 amp plug plus a 120v gfci plug. When I plug the camper into 120 outlet it immediately trips the gfci part of the outlet. Do I have an issue with the camper some where or is this a common issue since it’s a 50amp service camper. We are using the 50 amp plug now since I have it installed but I just want to make sure I don’t have an issue in my wiring in the camper

[CatFan]

You are describing what is known as “hot skin” in the RV world.

It can be dangerous, so be careful.

Usually it’s caused by reversed polarity in the power source or the shore power cable.

Do you ever have the issue when camping?

Step one would be to measure AC voltage from something metal on the 5th wheel to something grounded at your house. Kingpin to a screw on the electrical box would be a good place to start.

[Deeredude64]

I don’t have any issues at all when camping. And I don’t have any issues when plugged into 50 amp service. It’s only when I’m plugged into the 120v extension cord

[Deeredude64]

My only issue with being able to measure the voltage is the camper is 75’ from the house.

[CatFan]

My only issue with being able to measure the voltage is the camper is 75’ from the house.

Is that 75ft from the electrical box?

[Deeredude64]

Yes maybe more like 60’ but I have a 50’ 50 amp extension cord plus my 36’ shore power cord. If I use the 120v extension cord it’s 50’ as well then it goes to a 120-30 amp adapter then I use a 30a to 50a adapter to get to the camper cord

[Deeredude64]

Why would I only feel the shock when plugged into the 120v extension cord and not the 50 amp cord?

[CatFan]

I’d suspect the cord, one of the adapters or the outlet isn’t passing ground through properly or is reversed polarity. The 50A adapter would be my first guess since it has to rotate to make the connection.

With a missing ground, your frame may be getting leakage from something else like your converter.

[Deeredude64]

Which makes sense. Since the 50 amp cord uses 2 hots a neutral and a ground the 30 amp adapter might be putting that hot on a neutral side. I’m not using the 120v cord any more since I put the 50 amp plug in. But is it something I should be concerned about?

[CatFan]

Which makes sense. Since the 50 amp cord uses 2 hots a neutral and a ground the 30 amp adapter might be putting that hot on a neutral side. I’m not using the 120v cord any more since I put the 50 amp plug in. But is it something I should be concerned about?

I’d want to know what was bad so you can either get it fixed or trash it. Pretty easy to check with a meter or outlet tester.

[375VTROCKET]

Find a polarity tester--it just plugs into the receptacle just like a cord and lights up telling you its right or wrong.