Community Forums

dsbike · 11-08-2015, 11:42 AM

I hesitate to even ask this , but I am trying to help my parents from 500 miles away & not very good description of the issue.

They have a 2007 Inspire 36 foot I do believe. From what I am told; they are hooked up to 50 amp & it is good power & has happened at more than one campground. With coffee maker & a small space heater or microwave on sometimes the power will kick off for apprx 3 minutes then come back on without my parents resetting any breakers. It does not trip the GFI breaker or any other breaker, they never hear a relay click off or back on. My Dad seems to think this is a transfer switch that is weak.

Does anyone have any idea what could cause this? Any idea where the transfer switch or relay is located? Any help would be appreciated.

I have asked why they are even using a small space heater with the aqua heat setup. I have also suggested moving the coffee maker to a different outlet on the other half of the 50 amp circuit. I don't get a very good reply from them on these suggestion. This MH is new to them within the past year. They had several Winnebago Journey's over the past several years & the Inspire has many new to them features they are still learning about.

CarlAda · 11-08-2015, 11:57 AM

One thing that comes to mind based simply on the 3 minute delay is that the surge protector may be tripping off for some reason. It takes about 2 minutes to pass power on to the coach when it first receives power, so if it's tripping and then resetting, that could explain the time delay. I doubt that it's the transfer switch, but it's entirely possible that there is a loose connection to the surge guard or the transfer switch causing issues. The surge protector and the transfer switch is located in the same compartment that the power cord is located. They could try bypassing the surge guard with the installed bypass key to see it the issue still exists. With intermittent electrical problems it's very difficult to track it down. If they have a voltage meter, they could test the various connecting points for power when the issue occurs.

srh · 11-08-2015, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarlAda

One thing that comes to mind based simply on the 3 minute delay is that the surge protector may be tripping off for some reason. It takes about 2 minutes to pass power on to the coach when it first receives power, so if it's tripping and then resetting, that could explain the time delay. I doubt that it's the transfer switch, but it's entirely possible that there is a loose connection to the surge guard or the transfer switch causing issues. The surge protector and the transfer switch is located in the same compartment that the power cord is located. They could try bypassing the surge guard with the installed bypass key to see it the issue still exists. With intermittent electrical problems it's very difficult to track it down. If they have a voltage meter, they could test the various connecting points for power when the issue occurs.

Looking at my CC Manual, it does seem like a surge protector as it states "Any voltage above or below the acceptable operating range (102 - 132 VAC) for a duration of nine seconds will activate the Surge Guard over/under voltage protection, preventing any AC power from entering the coach. This condition will last until voltage to the normal operating range."

Where is the bypass, do you know?

CarlAda · 11-08-2015, 04:32 PM

On mine, there's a key on the surge protector that will bypass the circuitry.

srh · 11-08-2015, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarlAda

On mine, there's a key on the surge protector that will bypass the circuitry.

How do you get to the surge protector? I haven't looked inside the closet where the electrical reel probably is. The manual doesn't say anything about it. Thanks,

CarlAda · 11-08-2015, 05:46 PM

Perhaps you don't have one. If you follow the power cord to where it connects, it will either go to your power transfer switch or to the surge protector (if installed). I have an 06 Inspire, so it may differ from yours, but the principle will be the same -- if you have a surge protector, it should be the first thing in line from your power supply line.

BarneyM · 11-08-2015, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsbike

I hesitate to even ask this , but I am trying to help my parents from 500 miles away & not very good description of the issue.

They have a 2007 Inspire 36 foot I do believe. From what I am told; they are hooked up to 50 amp & it is good power & has happened at more than one campground. With coffee maker & a small space heater or microwave on sometimes the power will kick off for apprx 3 minutes then come back on without my parents resetting any breakers. It does not trip the GFI breaker or any other breaker, they never hear a relay click off or back on. My Dad seems to think this is a transfer switch that is weak.

Does anyone have any idea what could cause this? Any idea where the transfer switch or relay is located? Any help would be appreciated.

I have asked why they are even using a small space heater with the aqua heat setup. I have also suggested moving the coffee maker to a different outlet on the other half of the 50 amp circuit. I don't get a very good reply from them on these suggestion. This MH is new to them within the past year. They had several Winnebago Journey's over the past several years & the Inspire has many new to them features they are still learning about.

They probably have a 2000 watt inverter/charger. Even though they are plugged into shore power all the outlets and the microwave power still passes through the inverter. If you add up the space heater, could be up to 1,500 watts and the coffee pot, could be as much as 1,500 watts it's easy to see the inverter circuit is very much overloaded. It's probably disconnecting itself to avoid internal damage then it tries to reconnect only to disconnect again when it sees the heavy load is still there. They need to make sure they keep track of how much load they are connecting so it doesn't go over the rating of the inverter. Also there is only one 120 volt circuit in the Inspire so moving to another outlet will not help.

I added another outlet next to the GFI and wired it into the AC panel directly below so when I am connected to shore power this outlet will be hot and does not pass through the inverter. This is where I plug my small space heater in when needed.

Dutch Master · 11-09-2015, 08:16 AM

Hello CC Owner - I was looking through the forums when I saw "electrical problem." Being an EE, I wanted to take a look at it. In reviewing the posts, I notice that a mention of an ELECTRICAL REEL was mentioned. Although I have a Newmar Dutch Aire, mine exhibited the same type of problem. If the reel is a Glendinning type, then I have to believe this is the root cause failure mode. This has been reported in the Newmar owners section. The reel has 4 slip rings with associated spring brush contacts. For some odd reason, the L! slip ring and brush contact corrodes and burn. This causes the intermittent power issue.
Usually, the power protection, relay, etc is all in the electrical bay. If the coach does have a reel, a temporary fix would be to remove the cords contacts from the reel and connect them to the surge protector. This would eliminate the issue. I contacted Glendinning Products with pictures of my reel along with backup data from the forums. The president, John Glendinning wrote me back with the new manufacturing procedures to eliminate this issue. He also sent me a new reel, no charge, since this is a fire hazard. Hope this helps

srh · 11-09-2015, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarlAda

Perhaps you don't have one. If you follow the power cord to where it connects, it will either go to your power transfer switch or to the surge protector (if installed). I have an 06 Inspire, so it may differ from yours, but the principle will be the same -- if you have a surge protector, it should be the first thing in line from your power supply line.

Thanks for your response! Sorry to the OP for stealing the thread a bit.
Carl: I found in my manual where my surge protector is - it is in one of the bays. I will look for it and keep this in mind if I ever have an issue with it.
I hope the OP finds a solution to the problem!

dsbike · 11-10-2015, 06:24 AM

Thank you very much to everyone who responded, great information here. I've been away from my computer for a few days, therefore the delay in my response.
SRH , your questions were very helpful , I would of had the same ones.
My parents willbe at my house sometime this week & we will be able to trace this issue down with y'all's help
Thanks again.

dons2346 · 11-10-2015, 01:51 PM

Does the coach have an energy management system? It could be set to low for what your parents were trying to run. Heater, coffee maker and microwave all at the same time is a pretty hefty load