Community Forums

WCGraham · 07-12-2015, 01:42 AM

Hello I just joined here hoping I could get some help with a problem plaguing our 5th wheel.

We have a '98 Skyline Nomad. Everything was running well except power to one of the 3 slide outs. However a few days ago the main AC unit, furnace, water heater, and tank monitor quit. We turned everything off and the next morning everything worked for about 3 hours then quit again and have been off since. While the propane seems to work fine, there is no power to the fans or ignition switches for lighting the water heater and furnace. I've checked all the breakers and even went so far as to check the 3a fuse inside the ac unit. So far I can't identify where the problem is and it seems strange that the tank monitor is out as well. I'm open for suggestions as to where to start and what I should be looking for.

Thank you all for your help.

Skip426 · 07-12-2015, 10:29 AM

Welcome to iRV2.

You mention you checked the breakers ?
Is your 5er , equipped with 12v circuit breakers for all circuits, or did you check the house type 120V , circuit breakers, and miss the 12v fuse panel.
Do you have a volt meter and a 12v test light ?
Your problem sounds like a poor connection, at the fuses or in the wiring from the fuse panel to the non functioning switches/ appliances.
Is the slide out power issue a 12v problem or 120v?
Furnace thermostat , water heater control and monitor panel could easily be on the same fuse, because of their low power draw.
Do you have lights operating in your RV?

WCGraham · 07-12-2015, 12:51 PM

I'm very new to addressing electrical issues and only just got a multimeter, outlet tester, and voltage tester.

>Is your 5er , equipped with 12v circuit breakers for all circuits, or did you >check the house type 120V , circuit breakers, and miss the 12v fuse panel.
>Do you have a volt meter and a 12v test light ?

We toggled the house breakers and pulled and visually inspected the fuses. I checked the continuity on the fuses with a multimeter and all of them were good.

>Is the slide out power issue a 12v problem or 120v?

The slide out lights don't work on 120v or 12v, so I'm unsure. It is plugged in and the voltage tester indicates power is going through the cord from the outlet to the slide. The voltage tester indicates that there is power to the lights, but we've tested light bulbs from working lights and they don't work.

>Furnace thermostat , water heater control and monitor panel could easily >be on the same fuse, because of their low power draw.
>Do you have lights operating in your RV?

We do have lights, the refrigerator is working on AC, the secondary front AC unit works great and the microwave is working. In addition the pump switch which is also built into the tank monitor panel works and the water pump works fine.

Thank you for your help. I'm really stumped with this.

Skip426 · 07-12-2015, 06:48 PM

Water pump , ( switch & pump ) could be on a separate fuse from the rest of the panel. So the pump could have power and not the panel.
Testing the fuses for continuity , is fine .
But did you test for voltage , into and out of the fuse , when it was plugged in ?
When testing the slide lights, you said there is power ; 12v ? automotive style bulb ? Voltage rating of the bulb will be in very small print on the metal portion of the bulb.
Were you using the outer edge of the socket for a ground , when you tested the non-working lights for power ?
Do you have a digital camera ? If so and you could take and post pictures of the fuse panel and the non- working lights, maybe I can be of more help.
Info on posting pictures , attached to posts, is in the " FAQ " drop box, in the blue bar, under your welcome message. Be sure to re-size the photo , 640X640 works best, and wait for the download to complete , before closing the manage attachments, drop box.

WCGraham · 07-12-2015, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skip426

Water pump , ( switch & pump ) could be on a separate fuse from the rest of the panel. So the pump could have power and not the panel.
Testing the fuses for continuity , is fine .
But did you test for voltage , into and out of the fuse , when it was plugged in ?

When testing the slide lights, you said there is power ; 12v ? automotive style bulb ? Voltage rating of the bulb will be in very small print on the metal portion of the bulb.

Were you using the outer edge of the socket for a ground , when you tested the non-working lights for power ?

Do you have a digital camera ? If so and you could take and post pictures of the fuse panel and the non- working lights, maybe I can be of more help.
.

For the fuse I tested all of them and all were about 11v except for the 3 amp and 1 amp fuses which showed up as 4.5 on the 200 mv scale.

They are 12v bulbs. The voltage detector I used was a simple pen detector that beeped when it detected power. I can not get a reading with the multimeter, but on a working light I get a reading of about 10V. Yes I was using the outer metal for a ground.

I've attached the pictures attached. I hope they make it clearer.

KIX · 07-12-2015, 09:13 PM

Have you checked the power at the 12v battery? Is your battery charger keeping your battery charged? Is there only one 12 volt source in the coach?
The controls on the items you mentioned in your original post (OP) probably need 12v to operate the appliance. You may want to check the battery terminals as cable lugs for corrosion. Again, your OP mentioned that it worked for a few hours after not working. That symptom sounds like a corroded connection to me. Could be on the ground for the 12v circuit that is feeding the controls on the non working appliances.

WCGraham · 07-12-2015, 09:38 PM

The battery has a charge of 12.61. Its only about 3 months old. There is no apparent corrosion on the connections to the battery.

Skip426 · 07-12-2015, 11:29 PM

OK ; Huston we have a problem , if battery volts are 12.6, and you only have 11v at the fuses, there is a problem between the battery and the fuse panel.
How far from the battery to the fuse panel?
If over 3 feet , there may be a main fuse or 12v circuit breaker in that wire with a poor connection , or the main battery ground is bad at the frame.
There is no reason for every fuse in the panel and every one of the wires at the connecting screws not to have full battery voltage.
The back side of the fuse panel has a printed circuit that distributes the power from the main battery feed to each fuse, there may be a problem there.
I find the additional in-line fuses ( with the white wire ) troubling , I have a feeling someone has had electrical issues with this RV before, and been adding circuits/fuses to correct problems.
The lights , you'll have to lower them from the ceiling and test at the wires, for voltage and continuity to ground . There may be a problem with the sockets, the power contact ; in the center of the socket; is held in place in a non conductive plate and held tight to the bulb with a spring, if the plate is worn or the spring is bad the power contact won't touch the bulb, the plate and spring are available at automotive outlets.
I'll look at the photos again ; thanks for posting them

, and scratch my head. Then re-post if I think of anything.

Skip426 · 07-12-2015, 11:49 PM

I hate to ask , but would it be possible for you to post a picture of the decal, showing the 12v distribution and fuse application chart.
The inline fuses , appear to be attached to the main power cable( heavy gauge black wire) from the battery at it's mounting screw , is that screw good and tight?

In RVs black power wiring and white ground, for the 12volt systems , is a hold over from the 120v wiring, where when hooking up 120v, black is power and white is neutral and bare copper wire is the ground.

WCGraham · 07-14-2015, 03:28 PM

The mainline screws are both in tight. Attached is the fuse diagram and distribution pictures. The battery is a good 6 feet from the fuse panel but there isn't any accessible wiring between the battery and the fuse panel without taking the fuse panel off. I will try that later today. Sorry the pics are upside down in the thumbnail. They seem to re-orient when you click on them. downside to using my phone.

You have given me a lot of good information. Thank you.

Skip426 · 07-14-2015, 10:51 PM

If there is a fuse or 12v circuit breaker, between the battery and the fuse panel, it will be close to the battery end or the wire; to prevent fire in case of a short , between the battery and fuse panel.
Can you run a length of wire from the fuse panel, remove the positive battery cable , attach one end of the wire to the battery cable, and check the black wire at the fuse panel to the battery cable end for zero ohms resistance. Then do the same for the white wire to the battery negative cable end . The wire ; black or white ; that shows any resistance is the problem with low power at the fuse panel.

When the RV is plugged into shore power , does the converter/charger put out voltage to the fuse panel , in the range of 13.2 >14 v.

Thanks for posting the decal pictures , I downloaded them , flipped and enlarged. I think if you pull that panel out , and look at the back side , I'm sure your going to see problems with the printed circuit board.

Grubmaster · 07-16-2015, 06:16 PM

Does it work when plugged into shore power or when you are using the generator?

WCGraham · 07-16-2015, 07:07 PM

We're plugged into 50 Amp shore power. We don't currently have a generator. When we're not on shore power we don't run anything but the propane and lights. The water heater and tank monitor worked on the battery alone, but do not now.

WCGraham · 07-22-2015, 07:00 PM

We finally found the inline breaker. Fortunately it had a manual reset and we were able to get things up and running again. The converter is going to need to be changed out. From what we've found on the model it is commonly a problem component and we're looking to update it soon.

Thank you all for your help, I have learned a lot from your help here.