Dang what next can happen

[Bilito]

Went out to work on the interior paneling, plugged in the RV to the house, went in the RV and flipped the AC switch on, Nothing, NADA DEAD... checked all the fuses and cb's, all OK wiggled the plug, nothing,
For the heck of it I fired up the gen, flipped the AC switch to fan, great that works, flipped it to cold, the fan stopped, Nothing again, looked at the gen, one of the circuit breakers popped, reset that and went back in to try it again, nothing, all ac current is dead, I even bought a new plug and changed plugs, nothing

All day and accomplished nothing again today,
it's always something
just glad it's happening here and not on the road some place

Where is the hidden fuse or CB ???????

[marc080]

look to see if you tripped a breaker on your converter

[Bilito]

Originally Posted by marc080

look to see if you tripped a breaker on your converter

I reset all the breakers on the panel by turning them off and then back on and checked all the DC fuses, all OK.
I read in my manual there must be an automatic double pole double throw switching device, where would that be and what does it look like?

[JimM68]

there will be a "transfer switch"" to select AC between shore and genny power. may or mayy not be automatic. Assuming your is/was automatic?
Normally located very near where the shore power comes in.

but if the genny is blowing breakers.....

[Bilito]

Originally Posted by JimM68

there will be a "transfer switch"" to select AC between shore and genny power. may or mayy not be automatic. Assuming your is/was automatic?
Normally located very near where the shore power comes in.

but if the genny is blowing breakers.....

I forgot to mention, the gen is running a bit ragged all of a sudden and pumping out some black smoke. I think the float may have stuck and it is running rich and not getting up to full speed.
I just gave it a big tune up just a few months ago including removing and cleaning the carb.
The shore power wire goes into an electrical box in a corner of the wire storage area, and of course that is almost inaccessable
That transfer switch has gotta be automatic, I never had to throw any switchs, just plug it in or start the gen or even both at the same time always had power. I still have dc power but that must be from the batteries

[Bilito]

Originally Posted by Bilito

I forgot to mention, the gen is running a bit ragged all of a sudden and pumping out some black smoke. I think the float may have stuck and it is running rich and not getting up to full speed.
I just gave it a big tune up just a few months ago including removing and cleaning the carb.
The shore power wire goes into an electrical box in a corner of the wire storage area, and of course that is almost inaccessable
That transfer switch has gotta be automatic, I never had to throw any switchs, just plug it in or start the gen or even both at the same time always had power. I still have dc power but that must be from the batteries

Got that electrical box opened up. found that the wire nut connecting all the grounds was very loose, unscrewed it all the way and did not like the way it was installed. Think I will cut the cord back about a foot and re-attach all the three wires with new wire nuts, which I just happen to have handy, don't know if that is the issue or not but at least I can eleiminate that as a suspect.
I think I will also check the continuity of the cord wires itself while I have it apart, each wire, plug to box, before I connect anything, just to be sure.

[Bilito]

Originally Posted by Bilito

Got that electrical box opened up. found that the wire nut connecting all the grounds was very loose, unscrewed it all the way and did not like the way it was installed. Think I will cut the cord back about a foot and re-attach all the three wires with new wire nuts, which I just happen to have handy, don't know if that is the issue or not but at least I can eleiminate that as a suspect.
I think I will also check the continuity of the cord wires itself while I have it apart, each wire, plug to box, before I connect anything, just to be sure.

What is the proper way to ground the RV in the juction box that the ground power cable attaches to? I have one heavy copper ground wire in there that is so thick I can barely bend it and to that wire they had the ground power ground wire which is a 3/10 size size and a Romex coming in from the coach wrapped around that heavy wire and a wire nut screwed down on the heavy wire, the positive and neutral were connected together with wire nuts that were actually too small for the job. There must be a better and safer way to do it. Perhaps some sort of lug with a bolt or something and to make it more interesting the romex and that heavy ground wire are solid while the ground power wire is braided.

[Wallaby Dan]

On mine, The big copper ground wire goes to the frame of the coach. The other end goes to the shunt on the ground block in the power box. The other grounds all go to that block as well.

[Bilito]

Originally Posted by Wallaby Dan

On mine, The big copper ground wire goes to the frame of the coach. The other end goes to the shunt on the ground block in the power box. The other grounds all go to that block as well.

You find aswers when and where you least expect them, My wife and I went to the HD to look for a very large wire nut to connect those three ground wires together, while I am exertly scanning the peghooks for a large wire nut, my wife, looking in a different part says to me, "Will this work" and she is holding a solid copper grounding bar. Holy crap that was what I needed only I did not know it at the time. Now if it would only stop raining here in Sunny Miami we can get to work reconnecting that pesky ground power cord in a proper manner. I would never have looked in the section where she found that thing.

[Bilito]

Originally Posted by Bilito

You find aswers when and where you least expect them, My wife and I went to the HD to look for a very large wire nut to connect those three ground wires together, while I am exertly scanning the peghooks for a large wire nut, my wife, looking in a different part says to me, "Will this work" and she is holding a solid copper grounding bar. Holy crap that was what I needed only I did not know it at the time. Now if it would only stop raining here in Sunny Miami we can get to work reconnecting that pesky ground power cord in a proper manner. I would never have looked in the section where she found that thing.

Connected up the new ground bar in the electric box, still no AC electric. Is it possible that a C/B could be bad, how do you check them, better yet, how do you remove them from the converter box.
My converter box used to hum when I plugged in the shore power, now I have nothing, not a sound. Any ideas what could be wrong?

[ccook129]

If this is your model it has a fan in it that goes bad and the unit gets hot and burns up.
It was replaced by the Parallax 7300 ru upgrade kit.

[MattC]

Bilto,

First, I like the new box and ground job.

The generator is not the problem with the A/C. It should run on shore power.
If the converter that used to hum is not humming, maybe you have a shore power issue that should be addressed first. These fail all the time. Do you have means to independently confirm that there is AC power in the coach?

As you have given little information as to coach and equipment, the guess would be that there is an automatic transfer system. You will have to find that. Many of these have no default connection, so if they fail, there is no power anywhere. This will be a box that both the shore power cable and the set from the genset go into and a third set will emerge and head for the AC breaker panel. These things actually more complex than one might expect because they have to fail safe.

As to the APU.
It is quite possible that the needle and float have been screwed up bu the alcohol in current motor fuels <rant not included>.

Good Luck Guy

Matt

[mikf]

Originally Posted by Bilito

You find aswers when and where you least expect them, My wife and I went to the HD to look for a very large wire nut to connect those three ground wires together, while I am exertly scanning the peghooks for a large wire nut, my wife, looking in a different part says to me, "Will this work" and she is holding a solid copper grounding bar. Holy crap that was what I needed only I did not know it at the time. Now if it would only stop raining here in Sunny Miami we can get to work reconnecting that pesky ground power cord in a proper manner. I would never have looked in the section where she found that thing.

a split bolt connector works well. needs to be tapped to insulate it.

[Dogpatch]

Have you checked your transfer switch? If it's an Iota, they had a recall. You may want to check your model# or google the one you have for possible issues.