Community Forums

Gypsies2 · 07-10-2008, 08:14 AM

Recent experience with Lighting strike in the area, that caused the GFI in the bathroom to
trip. When it occured, we lost TV, and all the
110 plugs. After checking all the fues, breakers, (they did not really need checking)
and checking the pop breakers on the inverter,
I called Monaco. They were great. After running through several check list, and rechecking the inverter, the tech admitted, he
thought the inverter may have been damaged. Suggested I make an apponitment with the nearest
dealing for a check and service. I then call
Rocky Mountain RV (Local Dealer) the soonest appt was 28 July. However, they suggested I talk with the Service Manager. After running
through all the issues listed above, he suggested I check the GFI plug. To my surprise,
resetting the plug cleared all the problems.
My reason for passing this on is to share this
little bit of info so others might save themselves several hours and phone calls, by first checking the GFI plug when a lighting has hit nearby. We were lucky. It could have been expensive to take the coach into a dealer, only to have them reset the GFI.....Safe travel to all............

Gypsies2 · 07-10-2008, 08:14 AM

Recent experience with Lighting strike in the area, that caused the GFI in the bathroom to
trip. When it occured, we lost TV, and all the
110 plugs. After checking all the fues, breakers, (they did not really need checking)
and checking the pop breakers on the inverter,
I called Monaco. They were great. After running through several check list, and rechecking the inverter, the tech admitted, he
thought the inverter may have been damaged. Suggested I make an apponitment with the nearest
dealing for a check and service. I then call
Rocky Mountain RV (Local Dealer) the soonest appt was 28 July. However, they suggested I talk with the Service Manager. After running
through all the issues listed above, he suggested I check the GFI plug. To my surprise,
resetting the plug cleared all the problems.
My reason for passing this on is to share this
little bit of info so others might save themselves several hours and phone calls, by first checking the GFI plug when a lighting has hit nearby. We were lucky. It could have been expensive to take the coach into a dealer, only to have them reset the GFI.....Safe travel to all............

AKBrick · 07-10-2008, 09:40 AM

Hi Gypsies2,
Wow, that's a weird occurance. Did you get power back to the TV and all of the 110 outlets just by resetting the bathroom plug-in's GFI? I didn't realize that everything would go when that one popped. I guess everything is on the same circuit....?

Up N Flames · 07-10-2008, 09:49 AM

I found out that My bathroom GFI also controlled the TV power. GFI plugs are what I always check first even at home because the GFI plugs seem to trip more often then the breakers.

BudtheDiplomat · 07-10-2008, 04:18 PM

Same thing happened to me during a storm, but while there was lightning, I don't believe we had a close strike. I actually heard the GFI breaker 'pop,' TV's went out, and I just figured this happened to everybody. I'm still six months new to RV'ing and generally think that if it has happened to me, everybody else has already 'been there, done that.'
Glad you didn't get a big dealership bill!

arby · 07-10-2008, 04:31 PM

I had a similar experience about a year ago when my 07 coach was about a year old. While driving the GFI tripped about 6 times over a few week period only while driving. Hasn't done it since. Hope I didn't jinx myself by saying that.

RB

Toby · 07-10-2008, 05:16 PM

Hi everyone

Now is the time to get a surge protector installed ASAP. What with summer storms and lot of RVs on the same electrical lines, a protector is more important than ever. You can get a hard wired unit or a portable one, but get one. I have a progressive unit in my motor home and would not leave home without it. It not only protects against surges, but high and low voltage, mis-wired circuits and etc. s/Toby

GoneFishin · 07-10-2008, 08:08 PM

Getting our Hughes Autoformer back in March, when we got our Cayman, was a must-have item on our list of requirements. We feel we've taken one more step to protect our coach. Besides the lightening storms, we have to watch out for the low and high voltage in campgrounds. Especially the low!

itdave · 07-11-2008, 03:31 PM

I have had the GFI pop a few times related to storms. It happened once during a thunder storm and another time during a real heavy rain. I think that when there is enough dampness the plug in the basement will have some leakage to ground and that will pop the GFI in the bathroom.

On one of the outages I did some trouble shooting to figure things out. I had lost all the outlets but not the microwave. So here is how things look to be wired. The inverter has two 30 amp breakers, one feeds just the microwave and the other all the other plugs. There is a wire from the inverter breaker to the bathroom GFI on the load side of the GFI plug there are two wires. Looks like it is one for each side of the coach. Since there are three wires coming out of the inverter there may be a couple of things that are not on the GFI but I am not sure what they are.

So here is a quick check to see if the GFI is the problem the next time you lose the TV. If the Microwave is on but TV is off go reset the GFI.

Gypsies2 · 07-11-2008, 05:13 PM

Thanks to all who replied. It certainly seems like a common problem. Leasons learned. A surge protector is on our list. Thanks to all.

Jack & Mary
Safe travels to all

LewF · 07-14-2008, 05:05 AM

We have had our surge protector, a portable unit bought at Camping World, trip two or three times during thunder storms. It was expensive but I think it has paid for itself by protecting the coach from phase reversals, low voltage and surges. I highly recommend getting one for all. The unit I bought is an portable unit that is a bit of a pain because it causes an additional shore power connection point and then you have to lock it up to make sure no one runs off with it, but it is well worth the extra effort.