No Power Help Quick!! Please!!!!!

[Jeff H]

Of course we were getting ready to head out. We were still hooked up to land power. Wife plugs in vacuum cleaner, it fires and quits.
She comes out to complain and we both smell something burning in rt. front compartment where Xantrex is.
She hits battery disconnect and I open compartment, it's filled with smoke.
No fire.
I took my heat gun and tried to see if any one component etc was hotter than the rest. No.
Now there is no power to any of the outlets. Hit GFI on all of them. to no avail.
Coach runs and water pump works, so that battery appears OK.
Basement air works.
I don't know where to start.
4 Trojan batteries are 6 yrs old now.
Xantrex Freedom 458 has been trouble free.
Help!!!!

[Steve N Sal]

Did you check to see if you still have power coming from whever you were plugged in? Might have tripped the breaker or fuse at that location. Once the smoke clears, is there a fuse on the Xantrex unit? It's pretty much a process of elimination at this point. Also check the breakers in the rv to make sure they didn't trip. Sorry to hear this happens just when you want to leave but it might have been better to happen at home then on the road. Keep us informed.

[Jeff H]

OK, more poking around.
Switch off breaker inside, labeled Sub Panel (inv. opt). Now we have power to outlets.
Unplug coach with breaker still off and there is power to outlets.
Switch breaker on and no power.

[Batman_777]

The smoke is what tells me there's more going on than just a breaker tripped. However, check the GFCI breakers on the inverter if you have them. Inverters don't like motors (vacuum cleaners, compressors, etc). They spike and induce a lot of noise on the line. As you know, you'll need to start checking and testing everything. Start with the basics. Unplug everything,, start from scratch. You don't want to do more damage.

[wa8yxm]

You said she hit the 12 volt disconnect. I assume vacuum is a 120 volt device.

Questions:
1: Do the air conditioners still work? Specificlly them (Just try fan mode) nothing else. (there may be other things that work but I don't want to know about them)

2: Do you have an inverter?

also you said "I opened the compartment and it was full of smoke" You did not say what compartment. Which one.

If it was the electrical box. you need to fully open it (Remove the cover) you will find that there are some burned wires inside.. This is fairly common on RV's you will need to address this, you may be able to trim the wires and re-connect them, you may need to replace a breaker or two, the burned wires will be obvious by the way (Discolored insulation or missing insulation)

If it was the battery compartment and the inverter is next door. The smoke may have come from the connections area of the inverter (You hope) same thing, open the connections cover and check the wires... I did it to mine, more or less the same way.

[JJH3rd]

In my 05 Dolphin I've discovered two sets of 120v circuits - due to a near hit by lightning: the shore system that is distributed through the mini 120v panel with the circuit breakers; the other comes from the Xantrex Freedom 458 and powers the TVs & the entertainment/distribution center and a 120v outlet in the front of the coach on the riders' side. Was that the AC outlet into which the vacuum was plugged? The inverter/charger also provides power for the 12v lighting and the pilot lights for the hot water & refrigerator in LP mode.

Also there are a set of lights on the Xnatrex and a table of what they indicate on page 31 of the attached PDF.

Xantrex support 800-670-0707


Hope this helps.

JJ

[TXiceman]

Just to clarify a technical point, once you let the smoke out of any electrical device, it will stop working. All electrical devices run on smoke.....

I do hope you track down the problem.

Ken

[Jeff H]

OK, front board of the inverter was burned up.
Took it to Frank at Biobenefit Energy in Costa Mesa.
What a nice man, easy to deal with and didn't have to buy a new inverter.

At the same time, removed the 4 T105 batteries to clean up and repaint tray etc. Back 2 batteries were bulging, so we bought 4 new batteries too. Went with the Trojans, because these lasted 6 years.

Could've done Interstate,(right down the street), but frankly, not a single one from Interstate that we have used has lasted as long as it should have. SeaDoos, motorcycles, cars, Suburban has had 4 in 9 years...I couldn't do it .
DW has another cancer diagnosis and surgery looming, so we're off to the beach for a few days.
Thanks for all your posts!

[JRNOLL]

I'm happy you found the problem with the electricity. Will say prayers for your wife. Joe