Warning: potential fire hazard in Newmar power reels

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by Steve Ownby

The "winder" that you refer to is still built. It's superior in every respect but it takes more room. Mine has been trouble free for 12 years now.
Steve Ownby
Full time since '07

We also have that system in our rig. I've had the cord get twisted coming out, popped the fuse. Replaced the fuse but still had to release the mechanism and unkink the cord. I cleaned the cord with 303 as I was retracting it today. So they aren't always trouble free!

[Larslink]

I have the same issue. Initially I lost power for about 30 minutes. I thought it was the transfer box. It worked a couple of times and then I lost power again. I opened the bay door for my power reel, and I must have bumped the power cable enough to turn the reel slightly. It made contact. There was a loud pop. Smoke came out of the reel. I immediately disconnected everything and took apart the reel to find that the contacts were damaged as you can see in the pictures. I’ve hardwired the cable direct to the transfer box for now, just to restore power. I’ll need to replace the reel.

[Poohbear7278]

Originally Posted by Larslink

I have the same issue. Initially I lost power for about 30 minutes. I thought it was the transfer box. It worked a couple of times and then I lost power again. I opened the bay door for my power reel, and I must have bumped the power cable enough to turn the reel slightly. It made contact. There was a loud pop. Smoke came out of the reel. I immediately disconnected everything and took apart the reel to find that the contacts were damaged as you can see in the pictures. I’ve hardwired the cable direct to the transfer box for now, just to restore power. I’ll need to replace the reel.

Totally unexceptable

[pasdad1]

Originally Posted by Larslink

I have the same issue. Initially I lost power for about 30 minutes. I thought it was the transfer box. It worked a couple of times and then I lost power again. I opened the bay door for my power reel, and I must have bumped the power cable enough to turn the reel slightly. It made contact. There was a loud pop. Smoke came out of the reel. I immediately disconnected everything and took apart the reel to find that the contacts were damaged as you can see in the pictures. I’ve hardwired the cable direct to the transfer box for now, just to restore power. I’ll need to replace the reel.

How old was this reel? Have you ever moved the reel while it was connected to power intentionally in the past? I was aware of the issues doing that, so have avoided it while I have owned the coach….not sure how the previous owner treated it.

Keeping my fingers crossed so far…..

[LWBAZ]

Similar questions for "Larslink"...

Year, brand and model of your coach?

Original owner or...?

Attached is a photo of the Glendinning cord reel in my 2022 Newmar Super Star and a photo of the identifying label on the device. Is yours the same or similar?

[palehorse89]

2 Year's ago, 5am, my power reel burned up........filled the basement with smoke, tripped the pedestal breaker........tore the fire hazard out, wasn't interested in a new one.......after that morning, my inexpensive solution.......for those that have this reel, advise putting a smoke alarm in the ceiling in the power bay! Mine went off.......

[ptw]

I see many people hook to shore power by stretching out their cord, plugging into the outlet, turning on the power, then adjusting the cable length and closing the compartment door.

I suggest never turning these cable reels while under load.

We have hundreds of power cable reels at work that retract and extend under full load. Each one I have seen either has carbon or metallic brushes that contact the slip rings.

These cable reels use some type of spring metal to contact the reels (as shown above in pictures). When the cable reel is turned while there is current flowing, there will be arcing on the slip rings. Over time the arcing may damage the slip rings causing higher resistance connections, heating and then failure.

[UMXHAULER]

Thank you for the heads up guys. This will be one of the first things on my list to check when I get back in a few days from a little 4000 mile jaunt. Our rig is now a little over a year old with about 18K miles on it and that real has gone in and out at least 50-100 times. I'm worried as to what I might see!

[redbaron73]

I do not see the thread where I posted the resolution to this discovery, so i thought I would post an excerpt from my another post regarding the final outcome:

I posted about some of the original problems I disovered with mine. I worked with the engineers, eventually having one fly out to my home and work with me onsite to determine the problem. The resolution is multi-part.

1) Fix the way newmar installed the reel. It cannot have any flex/movement. This required a rear bracket/lip to hold the tray, and 2 fasteners on the front that were secured through the frame with bolt/washer.
2) Adjust the specs of the contacts to use the wider ones you are showing.

The new design was installed in my coach on 3/18/2016. I know that prior to this date, based on 2 of my returned units, the design had been modified, and one of the new designs is what failed on mine, which led to the discovery of the install problem.

The engineer told me that installed originally, the old design would not have been a problem. I can confirm that I have had no problems since then, and I have used it a lot.

See thread:https://www.irv2.com/forums/f103/gle...ed-391995.html

[Clemson]

Glendinning is a highly respected power equipment engineering company. As you know, they stand behind what the design and sell. I have their products on our boat and currently have a 100 foot auto retractable system in use for over 8 years without any issues in a salt water environment. We have owned two coaches with their power reel and haven’t had any issues. Hopefully your issue is a one off failure. Good luck

[lrwinddancer]

I too thank you all for this information. My surge guard at the post the other day showed a faulty natural connection at the coach. I turned the breaker off and went to the auto switch only to find everything tight and secure. I did have to stretch the power cord out a bit. When I switched the breaker back on everything was fine. I am now wondering if it is the cord reel contacts. I will be taking a look at that before my next trip. Again Thanks

[tom chelbana]

In July of 2018 we had our power cord reel burn up in the cabinet on or 18 LA. It damaged the compartment interior and the unit was burned all over when our coach was 6 months old. We were told it happened because we would sometimes retract the cord some when we were connected to shore power. Didn't know we weren't to move the cord in or out once connected. DO NOT MOVE THE POWER CORD ONCE YOU ARE CONNECTED.
Newmar Man

[LWBAZ]

Tom, I heard the same advice years ago and have endeavored to follow it.

On the other hand, I can't believe it's impossible to design a power cord reel that can be safely rotated while connected to shore power. If I'm wrong about that, the least the power cord manufacturers could do would be to have a warning on the cord reel saying something like...

TO AVOID DAMAGE & POTENTIAL FIRE HAZARD, DO NOT OPERATE THIS DEVICE WHILE CONNECTED TO SHORE POWER!

[Larslink]

Originally Posted by LWBAZ

Similar questions for "Larslink"...

Year, brand and model of your coach?

Original owner or...?

Attached is a photo of the Glendinning cord reel in my 2022 Newmar Super Star and a photo of the identifying label on the device. Is yours the same or similar?

I have an older version of that same model. Mine is 2014. The coach has 14,000 miles on it, I am the second owner.