Community Forums

jmdermo · 06-13-2018, 01:17 PM

1998 Monaco, when hooking up to shore power, breaker at house trips, can run generator and Motorhome works fine, inverter seems to be working fine. I am thinking transfer switch, any ideas. Thanks.

Podivin · 06-13-2018, 01:19 PM

Here's a conversation currently going on with someone else having the same problem.
I expect the recommendations made here would work for you also.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f107/shor...ml#post4237964

jmdermo · 06-13-2018, 01:24 PM

Thanks

twinboat · 06-13-2018, 01:24 PM

What kind of breaker ?

If its a GFCI and not a circuit breaker, its not the transfer switch.

jmdermo · 06-13-2018, 01:28 PM

Hooked up to both kinds, same result. Pulled shore power wires from transfer switch and breaker did not trip. Maybe circuit board in transfer switch box?

CountryB · 06-13-2018, 01:35 PM

Maybe I 'm missing some info in the previous posts - but I'm wondering could the coach just be drawing more power than Shore power can provide?

At one site I had a 30A hookup and when I turned on the electric water heater (with roof AC running) it tripped the Shore Power breaker. It was just a matter that my coach was drawing more than 30A at the time. With generator running it would not be a problem since gen puts out more power than needed.

jmdermo · 06-13-2018, 01:44 PM

Thanks for the reply, no there is nothing on inside the unit.

twinboat · 06-13-2018, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountryB

Maybe I 'm missing some info in the previous posts - but I'm wondering could the coach just be drawing more power than Shore power can provide?

At one site I had a 30A hookup and when I turned on the electric water heater (with roof AC running) it tripped the Shore Power breaker. It was just a matter that my coach was drawing more than 30A at the time. With generator running it would not be a problem since gen puts out more power than needed.

Great point !

To the OP, descibe with some detail, what's on in the RV and where the breaker is that trips and how many amps its rated for.

CountryB · 06-13-2018, 01:50 PM

Okay. Then most likely a short to ground in the cable. Does your coach have a cable reel - if so look at that connection. You could unconnect the wire ends at the transfer switch and see if any of the 120V cable leads have continuity to ground (indicating a short).
Good luck.

jmdermo · 06-13-2018, 01:51 PM

Everything is off inside the unit. The breaker is located inside my garage, and it 20 amp. I have been using the same circuit for the passed year without any trouble until now.

CountryB · 06-13-2018, 01:55 PM

If the shore power cable (the cable coming from your coach) has a "short", it would trip the breaker in your garage. If you disconnected that cable inside the transfer switch, you can put an ohmmeter on the disconnected leads (one lead to the red wire and one to ground, then one lead to the black wire and the other to ground). If either the red or black wires (the "Hot wires") are shorted to ground the ohmmeter will tell you.

Podivin · 06-13-2018, 01:56 PM

When you say "Pulled shore power wires from transfer switch and breaker did not trip".
Does that mean that you removed the shore power cord from the RV completely, left the RV end 'dangling', plugged in the cord and nothing tripped?
If so, then I would tend to agree with you that the next thing to check is the transfer switch.

If that's where we are now, can you relatively easily bypass the transfer switch (connect the shore cord to the 'out' wires of the transfer switch) to see if the breaker still trips?
If it does not then you've neatly identified the transfer switch as the problem.
If it does, then the problem is farther downstream somewhere.

jmdermo · 06-13-2018, 01:56 PM

Thanks

**Petro** · 06-13-2018, 01:59 PM

Jmdermo;

I have a thought for you to consider. Turn off all the breakers on you 120V panel. Hook up the shore power and if the house breaker still blows I would suspect a short on the power cable or transfer switch.

If the house breaker stays on with all beakers turned off, turn on 1 breaker at a time until the house breaker trips. It could indicate an overload as suggested by. If the outlet that you are plugging into is a GFI you likely have a ground problem.

I am not an electrician but I had a similar problem and found a ground wire that was wired into the inverter panel instead of the main panel.

Good luck with your project;

Don