50 amp electrical cord issues

[Racer]

Montana High Country trailer. The issue is that I am intermittingly losing power to my trailer. Everything including surge protector goes out. My 50 amp cord that goes into the trailer faces to the left when plugged into the RV outlet. The locker ring is striped from day 1 so that may be a reason the plug is a little loose but never had this issue until the past 2 weeks. I had to use a rope to tie from cord to ladder to apply pressure upward and so far no issues today but I work nights so I hope all is well at the trailer. It just seems with the cord facing to the left instead of downward that the weight is putting pressure on the male plug-in receptacle. Hope this makes sense? I did notice on the 50 amp female plug that there was a small amount of brown color stain from 1 of the openings as if maybe a short or not enough connector was there? Just seems odd that all of a sudden this issue pops up. If not too tried from working in AM maybe I will research some more. Thanks
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[tech740]

You can rotate the outlet by taking out the screws and realigning it. If you have brown staining and are loosing power you have a loose connection. I would pull the outlet on the camper and make sure the connections are tight and rotate it. See what that gets you.

[Racer]

Thanks, I hope I can check it out today.

[flybouy]

As was stated, remove the inner screws and rotate the receptacle so that cord hangs down. Clean all plug connectors with some fine grit emery paper and spray clean with contact cleaner. Don't use anything that will leave any sort of residue.

Replace the female receptacle. That "brown spot" is from arcing and excessive heat. IT WILL FAIL, POSSIBLY CAUSING A FIRE! A poor connection causes an erc from one point of contact to another. This coats the contacts creating high resistance. This resistance causes heat. The heat either breaks down the insulation causing the contacts to short out or smolders until flames break out.

If it were my unit I wouldn't go to sleep in it until it was fixe. I wouldn't gamble on someone seeing the smoke/ fire and calling 911 nor on the response time of the local (perhaps a non-manned volunteer FD how many miles away?) and they getting there in the very few minutes it takes for a camper to burn down to the frame.

[flybouy]

If you think I'm overreacting on the danger here's what can happen. This was my trailer about 3 weeks ago. Happened when I flipped the breaker on fortunately. I was standing about 10' away and was able to separate the smoldering mess. Thankfully, the carbon soot wiped off cleanly so the only damage was to the cord end and socket.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Racer

Montana High Country trailer. The issue is that I am intermittingly losing power to my trailer. Everything including surge protector goes out. My 50 amp cord that goes into the trailer faces to the left when plugged into the RV outlet. The locker ring is striped from day 1 so that may be a reason the plug is a little loose but never had this issue until the past 2 weeks. I had to use a rope to tie from cord to ladder to apply pressure upward and so far no issues today but I work nights so I hope all is well at the trailer. It just seems with the cord facing to the left instead of downward that the weight is putting pressure on the male plug-in receptacle. Hope this makes sense? I did notice on the 50 amp female plug that there was a small amount of brown color stain from 1 of the openings as if maybe a short or not enough connector was there? Just seems odd that all of a sudden this issue pops up. If not too tried from working in AM maybe I will research some more. Thanks

I see three separate reasons why you should replace the entire socket/receptacle on the back of your trailer. Additionally, carefully inspect the ends of your shore power cord for any evidence of arcing/sparking on the contacts. I always apply a light coat of dielectric grease to the contacts on my shore power cord and the trailer receptacle at the beginning of each camping season. I use a Q-tip and apply a "LIGHT" coat. Heavy coatings only attract dust/dirt and can cause more problems than it solves....