Could use some electrical help!

[RCCFleetwood]

Hi all,

1997 Fleetwood Pace Arrow, 34ft, gas.
(EDIT #2: I was corrected on another site, that it's not an INverter, but a CONverter)

Yesterday, I was working on my radio, just attaching a bluetooth phone adapter. I noticed that I was only getting 9 volts to the hot wire on the radio, which seemed odd.

So I decided to start the engine to see what would happen, but could not.

Checked all batteries, and of course, they were at about 9 volts!

What was odd, was that it's on shore power. I had found one LED bedroom light on, so I thought MAYBE it drained the batteries (though I doubted that)...

Today, batteries are below 9v, so I started looking at converter. It was reading the same as the batteries. I thought "Hmmm, this is less than a year old, and it's already dead?"

Checked the 115v outlet that the converter is plugged into, NO POWER there!

I've checked ALL the circuit breakers, and they all read 115v.

The ONLY outlet that I can find that has no power, is that one to the 12v converter.

I ran my shore power extension cord to the converter, plugged it in and it shows 14+ volts output.

During my tests, I also found that I have NO rear A/C right now... usually would on shore power.

(EDIT: One more thing, my dash cigarette lighter outlet, which was working early yesterday, is no longer working, either, and I've checked the fuse for that, it looks OK... radio is working, and I removed everything I plugged in yesterday, too)

So my converter AND my rear A/C have no 115v power. I cannot find, nor think of anything that would be causing it... could there be a relay that I don't know about, that could be stuck?

Is it safe for me to power the converter directly, as I tested it, to recharge my batteries, or do I need to dig out my charger?

Any suggestions on what might be causing this power outage, would be GREATLY appreciated! We are leaving on Thursday for a long weekend.

Thanks!

[Mr_D]

Is there a GFCI somewhere in the circuit that needs resetting?

[RCCFleetwood]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Is there a GFCI somewhere in the circuit that needs resetting?

I reset any/all I could find. I think there were only two.

I've checked all outlets that I can find, and they all work, including the only one I know about, in one of the storage compartments underneath, and it has power...

The only things that are not working (that I know of) are the dash lighter receptacle (which I use for my TPMS and phone, the Rear A/C, and the inverter outlet.

[pcurt23]

My inverter will pop whenever we forget to turn off the toaster oven and then run a hair dryer. There is a breaker on the side of the inverter that pops.

I have also replaced my gfi's with ones that have an led on them so I know they are on. Seems that I always get confused on how to reset them because it is so infrequent. I also had a gfi that went bad and would not reset.

[Skip426]

The rear A/C unit SHOULD have it's own dedicated circuit breaker in the main power panel, and it wouldn't be wired through a GFIC, if manually shutting off that breaker and re-setting it , doesn't get the A/C working , time to pull the panel cover and carefully check for power through the circuit breaker , possible loose connection or defective breaker.
For now powering the inverter ? from another plug is ok.
Lighter socket fuse " looks ok ! " test with a 12 volt test light , looks can be deceiving .

I put the question mark on inverter , because most inverters are hard wired into their 120 volt supply line while converter/chargers have plug ins.

[Spk64]

I know you checked all the circuit breakers. So this may be already addressed.
Do you have a main 120v circuit breaker panel and a 120v inverter circuit panel?
On our setup the inverter is fed from the main panel and has a dedicated circuit breaker. Assuming this has been looked at.
Also you are saying inverter but is it an inverter/charger?
One last item is the store button, if it is in store mode you may not be getting a charge to the batteries if connected to shore power.

[RCCFleetwood]

Originally Posted by Skip426

The rear A/C unit SHOULD have it's own dedicated circuit breaker in the main power panel, and it wouldn't be wired through a GFIC, if manually shutting off that breaker and re-setting it , doesn't get the A/C working , time to pull the panel cover and carefully check for power through the circuit breaker , possible loose connection or defective breaker.
For now powering the inverter ? from another plug is ok.
Lighter socket fuse " looks ok ! " test with a 12 volt test light , looks can be deceiving .

I put the question mark on inverter , because most inverters are hard wired into their 120 volt supply line while converter/chargers have plug ins.

Thanks for all this info. I did 'correct' my post from 'inverter' to 'converter', so that should clear up my confusion on the terminology of the two.

I did remove the covers and check all of the circuit breakers (C/B) at the box with my multi-meter (M/M), red lead of M/M to bottom of each C/B, black lead of M/M to white common bar, based on some research online. They all tested OK at 115v when "on". I checked all the 12v fuses there, too.

Because my electronic climate control "test" works on Front but not Rear, I am questioning if there is a fuse or relay somewhere that I'm missing or don't know about, that flips that on for shore, or for the generator when running. I cannot seem to find anything that makes sense.

The air conditioners have one C/B for both. I've attached an image of my electronic climate control and circuit box, with 12v fuse box next to it.

Of course, there are also fuses under the dash, which I'm about to look at, but none "appear" to be related, and then there's a power distribution box up front under the hood. Looking at the diagram so far, nothing looks related there either.

[RCCFleetwood]

Originally Posted by Spk64

I know you checked all the circuit breakers. So this may be already addressed.
Do you have a main 120v circuit breaker panel and a 120v inverter circuit panel?
On our setup the inverter is fed from the main panel and has a dedicated circuit breaker. Assuming this has been looked at.
Also you are saying inverter but is it an inverter/charger?
One last item is the store button, if it is in store mode you may not be getting a charge to the batteries if connected to shore power.

My mistake on terminology, it's a "converter", not "inverter"...

No panel C/B to converter that I know of. posted pics of circuit box on another post. Store button is not in store mode.

Converter is working... batteries showing 12.8v when it's plugged into extension cord, <9v when not.

[aether_one]

Since you have a rear AC I assume you have a 50 Amp connection to shore power? Check to make sure both hot legs from shore power are hot. Maybe one of two breakers popped upstream?


Once you get your batteries charge sufficiently start the generator and see if the rear AC and Converter plug work. If not, you have a connection problem internally.


I think the cigarette lighter is a separate issue.

[Spk64]

Is this a 30 or 50amp setup?
If 50amp, might want to take a look at transfer switch. Could have one leg not transferring.
If you have a generator fire it up and see if you have same results.

[RCCFleetwood]

Originally Posted by tfryman

Since you have a rear AC I assume you have a 50 Amp connection to shore power? Check to make sure both hot legs from shore power are hot. Maybe one of two breakers popped upstream?


Once you get your batteries charge sufficiently start the generator and see if the rear AC and Converter plug work. If not, you have a connection problem internally.


I think the cigarette lighter is a separate issue.

Nope, it's a 30amp system. I have an adapter/dogbone to plug into my house 20amp service.

It's always worked fine as long as we run only one A/C at a time, by itself, nothing else running, including the refrigerator (or fridge on propane is OK).

However, I've got nothing running at all right now, and this scenario has never presented itself before.

I have not yet fired up the generator, because the batteries were too low. Once they are charged up enough, I'll try that and see what happens.

Thanks.

[mrt_1111]

On your lighter, the center post wire has probably come off. Pull the fuse before before pushing it back on to avoid blowing the fuse.

It is somebody good idea to run the converter off a different receptacle. This will charge the the batteries.

[RCCFleetwood]

So I found the problem... Turned out to be a double-edge sword.

One side, had I found the CORRECT "Fuse #1" in the correct fuse box, and replaced it (it was burned out), I would NOT have learned what I learned, and the problem would have been solved.

Turns out, I was looking in the wrong fuse box originally, and "Fuse #1" which is 15amp, and is supposed to be the cigarette lighter fuse, was fine. HOWEVER, after I looked more carefully at the only fuse diagram I have, I realized that I was looking in the wrong box. I then looked in the PDB (power distribution box) on the firewall (2 feet from original box), and I found that "Fuse #1" was ALSO 15amp, and was burned out.

That 15 amp fuse controls the dash lighter receptacle, the rear A/C control, the refrigerator AND apparently the relay that turns on the 120v power outlet for the 120v to 12v converter!

Is it me, or does that seem to be kind of whacky? You blow a cigarette lighter outlet, and take out ALL that stuff?

I thought I'd share this, in case anyone else has this setup and needs to find it one day.

Thanks everyone for the input!

[aether_one]

So you didn't have an AC input problem, you had a DC control problem.
Glad you got it figured out!