Question about electrical..sm

[Bunny V.]

We have a 1995 Monaco Windsor. We have it plugged into 220 at our home. However, the coach does not seem to be recognizing the AC coming in. We have tested the plug and there is power going to the coach. Also, the air conditioners won't come on, the light comes on on the air cond. control but the actual air conditioners do not come on and the microwave won't come on, everything else works but we are thinking that it is all running off the batteries. We have checked breakers and fuses. Can anybody direct us on how to troubleshoot this problem?

thanks so much

[Bunny V.]

We have a 1995 Monaco Windsor. We have it plugged into 220 at our home. However, the coach does not seem to be recognizing the AC coming in. We have tested the plug and there is power going to the coach. Also, the air conditioners won't come on, the light comes on on the air cond. control but the actual air conditioners do not come on and the microwave won't come on, everything else works but we are thinking that it is all running off the batteries. We have checked breakers and fuses. Can anybody direct us on how to troubleshoot this problem?

thanks so much

[RV Wizard]

Bunny V., welcome to our web site and forum. If you have a 50 amp service and you look on the side of the electrical compartment door you should notice that it is 120/240 volt. THis means that you will need a neutral as well as an equipment ground. If you doi not have this properly wired it can cause great damage to theelectrical system onboard of the RV. All of you brach circuit are 120 volt not 220. I hope that you luck up and no damage was done. You should have an electrician check you receptacle for the proper voltage and wiring. It should be the same as a 50 amp 4 wire range receptacle.

[Bunny V.]

Thank you for the welcome and the advice. I think the receptacle is correct, it is a four wire plug and we have used it in the past for more than a year with no problems. I guess we may need to take the RV in and have it looked at.

[RV Wizard]

Glad to hear that the receptacle is properly wired. I highly recommend the Surge Guard to protect the electrical system from surges, over or under voltage, proper wiring and a built in time delay. Have you checked the circuit breaker on the inverter? If it is ok it sounds like the transfer switch may not be working properly. You might want to try giving it a wrap.

[Bunny V.]

Well ya know we were thinking it may be a switch malfunctioning since it seems like it is not recognizing the power coming into the coach, it should automatically switch over to the AC power but it no longer does that. Can you tell me where we might find the transfer switch? Would that be located near the inverter? I will tell Ken to check the circuit breaker for the inverter again. I know the inverter is on, the lights are on the inverter down under the coach. We have unplugged it for now because we did not want to cause any further damage. If you know where we can look for the transfer switch maybe that could be the source of our problems.

Thanks so much. Bunny

[RV Wizard]

Does your power cord pull out of an outside compartment or twist lock onto the side of the coach? If out of a compartment look in that area for the transfer switch. If twistlocked onto the coach it could be anywhere inside the coach. Look under draws, bed and inside cabinets for the transfer switch.

[Bunny V.]

It twists locks so we will definitely be looking for that switch this weekend!! Thank you so much for your kind help. I didnt really take the time to introduce us before posting. We are new to RVing, this is our first coach. We are Kenny and Carol, living in Apple Valley CA with two sons Noah and Darius who are 11 and 13. We love to take trips to Tahoe for skiing and we tow our 2004 Honda Element behind our Coach. We like the Coach but next time we will definitely get the slide outs.

Thanks again, Bunny

[Bunny V.]

Hey we found the switch, right behind the inverter above the generator. That took a while, we did not know we were looking for such a big box. Anyway, took the cover off and we understand that the shore power comes into the switch as does the generator power and the switch switches between the two. We also checked the power to the breakers with the shore power plugged in and we had no power, so we are thinking that the transfer switch is bad. The question: In the middle of the switch between the connections for the generator and the connections for the shore power, there is what looks sort of like a rocker, two round grey cylinders with what looks like a plastic connector between them. We are thinking this is the part that switches between the power sources, this seems to be broken in the middle. Could that be the problem and if so, can we just buy that part or do we have to buy a whole new switch?

we sure do appreciate your help. Bunny

[RV Wizard]

Not sure the exact part you are speaking of but it sounds like the contactor is broken. I would ask that if you can take a picture of the transfer switch and point out the part broken I can tell you if it can be replaced alone or the entire switch needs replacing.