Community Forums

JimM68 · 02-21-2012, 11:52 AM

Our front kitchen knight has an electric fireplace below the midships tbv. Under a trapdoor in. The pantry are 2 outlets... one is from the inverter, for the tv. The other is a separate circuit off the breaker panel for the fireplace. It keeps the coach nice n warm.

SteveSkinner · 02-22-2012, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fun time

Fellows, something is wrong either with my coach or some of the information provided. I did exactly what Gary recommended i.e. turn off the inverter breaker then test all the outlets to see which outlet still has power and that will tell you it does not run off the inverter. Well, all my outlets still worked with the inverter turned off! What gives here??????? Did I do something wrong? Thanks

You need to turn the inverter off
You possibly just turned off the supply side 120v and the outlets are being supplies by the inverter via your house batteries.
So turn off the inverter itself and go again

autofish · 02-23-2012, 08:38 AM

You realy need the wiring diagram for you unit to see what is going on. However in general there is two tran switches one for shore power vs gen two inverter vs shore pw and gen, If you are on shore power and turn off power to the inverter it will only kill power to the inverter as the defalt tran sw position will still be shore power so all outlet will still be hot. If you want to see what outlet are powered by inverter----unhook from shore power turn on inverter see what outlet are now hot. If you plug heaters into any of these outlets when on shore power they will get power by the tran sw. in the inverter even if if it is off.

steelheadbluesman · 02-23-2012, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by autofish

You realy need the wiring diagram for you unit to see what is going on. However in general there is two tran switches one for shore power vs gen two inverter vs shore pw and gen, If you are on shore power and turn off power to the inverter it will only kill power to the inverter as the defalt tran sw position will still be shore power so all outlet will still be hot. If you want to see what outlet are powered by inverter----unhook from shore power turn on inverter see what outlet are now hot. If you plug heaters into any of these outlets when on shore power they will get power by the tran sw. in the inverter even if if it is off.

Thanks autofish, I think your explanation added just enough to clarify!

fun time · 02-23-2012, 05:52 PM

UPDATE:
I spoke with Winnie today and also pulled up my wiring diagram and here is what was determined from both. Based solely on my and I emphasize MY, coach and Winnie's wiring diagram, I have several receptacles that do not run through my inverter. After trying all the above methods to determine which receps. do not run the inverter I pulled up my wiring diagram and called Winnie for conformation of the diagram. I now have indentified those and appreciate knowing this valuable information. The Winnie service rep. was great as always and confirmed the basis of this entire thread but when I told him I have been running two heaters on 1500 watts for almost 6 years on and off every winter when in Fl. with no problems he said I should use only those outlets not running the inverter. So, I will do this and thank all those for responding.

PNWGirl · 02-23-2012, 07:01 PM

In my 1990, 30 amp coach, I can run two space heaters but only if they are set for 750 watt. Anything more will flip my breakers. It kept me nice and toasty with high teen nights and high twenty days.

I do, however, plan on putting in a plug that pulls directly from outside power. I have a friend who did this and it's worked out well for her and her husband.

Sheila

steelheadbluesman · 02-23-2012, 07:09 PM

Hey, fun time, thanks for the contribution, how about telling us what year and model you own.... And I would like to know where you found your diagram.

smiller · 02-23-2012, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PNWGirl

In my 1990, 30 amp coach, I can run two space heaters but only if they are set for 750 watt. Anything more will flip my breakers.

Problem is the same thing will also happen on your 2012 50-amp coach if your AC outlets are on two breakers, which is pretty common. Even though you may have 12kW of total power available you can't devote and more than 3,000 watts to heaters (one on each circuit), and often not even that since you are sharing the circuits with other devices. If you need more heat than that a useful mod is to install a dedicated outlet off of the A/C circuit breaker to be used for heating, which will give you another 15-20 amp separate circuit (since you aren't going to use your A/C during times when heat is necessary.)

Mr_D · 02-23-2012, 09:35 PM

Been using the space heaters as long as I can remember (RV'ing since 1957) and have never had a problem blowing breakers, although last weekend my wife moved one to another plug in on the same circuit as the other one, that did blow the breaker and both heaters and both TV's went out. Moved the heater back and reset the breaker and no more problems.
I have yet to "burn out" a heater although I have had some quit due to the thermostat quit working.

LAT-LON · 02-24-2012, 07:42 AM

Steelheadbluesman - at the top of the Winnebago forum you will find a thread for Winnebago electrical and plumbing diagrams. Follow the bouncing ball and you will eventually get tot he drawings for your specific coach.

fun time · 02-24-2012, 10:46 AM

Steelheadbluesman: My coach is a 06 36 Meridian with a 2000w inverter I purchased new. Most of the time if you click on the persons moniker you will see the make and year of their coach. As mentioned above you can find the wiring, plumbing diagrams etc for any Winnie coach at the top of the thread when you come to the Winnie forum. Just follow the prompts. They do a superb job with these diagrams.

LAT-LON · 02-25-2012, 07:59 AM

The only electrical drawing that I cannot get from their web site is the 12 VDC wiring diagrams for my 2011 Suncruiser 32H. They obviously exist because the factory technicians use them when building the coaches. Tech support has told me that due to hard economic times, they just do not have the ability to digitize the drawings to place on them on web. Was told that if I needed something specific, they could get it for me. While I have trouble believing their statement regarding not having the resources to put the drawings on the web, it seems strange that all of the AC, mechanical and plumbing drawings are there. Anyway, it's just a note to owners of newer coaches that in the future these drawings may not be readily available to customers.

Gadget Man · 02-25-2012, 08:26 AM

I fried my inverter/charger yesterday (click on the words, "I'm an idiot"), so it was relatively easy for me to find the outlets in my coach that bypass the inverter. I wouldn't suggest this method for everyone...

I was surprised to find that most of my outlets work without the inverter. Only four outlets went out when the inverter died; my entertainment center outlet, microwave outlet, one of my three galley outlets, and the bathroom GFI outlet. The GFI outlet at our bedroom sink still works though.

Craig

Gadget Man · 02-29-2012, 11:12 AM

This thread made me do some thinking about my portable heaters. I have two portable heaters, a new Lasko ceramic tower heater and an older "Big Heat" electric coil. I ordered a Kill-A-Watt from Amazon, so I could see the exact wattage these two heaters were using.

On the high setting, the Lasko ceramic and Big Heat both pulled 1500-1520 watts. On the low setting, the Lasko ceramic pulled 830 watts, while the Big Heat pulled 1120. I have operated both of these heaters on high in my RV for extended periods without any tripped breakers. This thread does raise some concerns however.

Based on these results and the input from this thread, I should probably sell my Big Heat at my next yard sale and only operate the Lasko only on low. Does this sound about right?

Craig