Community Forums

Renipladlo · 07-16-2008, 08:11 PM

Hello all,

Please note residential refrigerator is the issue here and the load is draws alone.

Tried to plug in coach to shore power at the house, only have normal 15A outlets. I turned off all the breakers except the fridge, and kept blowing the GFI in the garage (where power is located). I ran out the 50A cord, and adaptered it down to 15A receptacle male fitting which I plugged into a 25' extension cord, as the coach is parked on one side of the lot and the closest power is on the other side of the house. I used a 25' 14/2 extension cord. I think it should have handled the load, but it did not. I have a 20A 50' 10/2 conductor extension cord I purchased for my boat, and will try it next time. Is something running which does not switch off when throwing the breakers, as I specifically turned off the inverter, and made sure the charger was not running.

I have done (as many know by my posts) the electrical transfer-surge guard switch conductor tightening job, redone the generator connections as well and have checked all the grounds as I can find them.

Any thoughts on if the coach as a matter of routine draws more than 15A, when everything is just turned off? I went into the tank bay, unplugged the refer, and ran an extension cord up to that plug and it's now running to get cold. Nothing else is powered on; the inverter is still off, as well as the charger.
It worked the first time we brought it home, and it worked in Montana when we visited a relative and plugged into her garage power. Now it won't run on 15A supply.

I know the grounds are good, because I have double checked them all. In Montana, we came off the 50A cord with a 25' 30A RV extension cable, and then plugged into the house. At home I used the larger extension cord the first time, and it worked then, which may be the answer. The GFI could also be getting weak, and I am aware that once they get week, it's easier to trip them off.

Renipladlo · 07-16-2008, 08:11 PM

Hello all,

Please note residential refrigerator is the issue here and the load is draws alone.

Tried to plug in coach to shore power at the house, only have normal 15A outlets. I turned off all the breakers except the fridge, and kept blowing the GFI in the garage (where power is located). I ran out the 50A cord, and adaptered it down to 15A receptacle male fitting which I plugged into a 25' extension cord, as the coach is parked on one side of the lot and the closest power is on the other side of the house. I used a 25' 14/2 extension cord. I think it should have handled the load, but it did not. I have a 20A 50' 10/2 conductor extension cord I purchased for my boat, and will try it next time. Is something running which does not switch off when throwing the breakers, as I specifically turned off the inverter, and made sure the charger was not running.

I have done (as many know by my posts) the electrical transfer-surge guard switch conductor tightening job, redone the generator connections as well and have checked all the grounds as I can find them.

Any thoughts on if the coach as a matter of routine draws more than 15A, when everything is just turned off? I went into the tank bay, unplugged the refer, and ran an extension cord up to that plug and it's now running to get cold. Nothing else is powered on; the inverter is still off, as well as the charger.
It worked the first time we brought it home, and it worked in Montana when we visited a relative and plugged into her garage power. Now it won't run on 15A supply.

I know the grounds are good, because I have double checked them all. In Montana, we came off the 50A cord with a 25' 30A RV extension cable, and then plugged into the house. At home I used the larger extension cord the first time, and it worked then, which may be the answer. The GFI could also be getting weak, and I am aware that once they get week, it's easier to trip them off.

midflajim · 07-17-2008, 02:14 AM

I pretty confident in saying your inverter is still using power (mine is on all the time). 15 amps wouldn't work for me. I wired a 30 amp receptical to a 20 amp breaker and now I can run fridge and 1 a/c. The breaker limits the load

Jim and Kathy
06 Apex

Route 66 · 07-17-2008, 02:15 AM

It may be the inverter if you have one.

Some inverters will charge the batteries even when turned off, and they can draw quite a bit on bulk charge.

See if the inverter can be set for 15 amp service.

midflajim · 07-17-2008, 02:44 AM

That is what is going on with mine, always had dead batteries. You can set the amperage thru the silverleaf

Jim and Kathy
06 Apex

Basil Shannon · 07-17-2008, 02:46 AM

Monty, if the above idea fails, you can disconnect the fridge in the basement and connect your extension cord directly.

Wil Rathke · 07-17-2008, 04:20 AM

My inverter/charger control panel has the ability to disable the inverter and also the charger separately. Yours probably does also. Be sure that the charger is disabled. If the batteries are even slightly discharged, the charger will try to charge them at 100 A DC which would be near 15 amps AC. If it still trips your house CB the coach is presenting another load which is not obvious. Try running the generator with the charger on and building up an initial charge on the batteries.

1peddler · 07-17-2008, 07:15 AM

We had the same problem on our 40fdqs. Did not have the problem, then had the problem.

It was cause by the switch being set to electrical on the water heater. When I set it to propane, the problem went away.

TerryM · 07-17-2008, 08:57 AM

I had a similar problem a while back. It turned out that there was a lot of draw from other appliances, etc. on the garage circuit. It wasn't the coach at all.

midflajim · 07-17-2008, 01:03 PM

Cannot disable the inverter on the Apex. Thats why my batteries were dead, I could disable the charger however. I don't want to go into the basement and turn the inverter on and off all the time and even then I think it still draws power (Apex only)

Jim and Kathy
06 Apex

dgerstel · 07-17-2008, 06:04 PM

Monty,

See if you have a receptacle with out GFI protection and let us know if it will work when plugged into that receptacle.

Renipladlo · 07-27-2008, 07:49 AM

Hello All,
Well the HH still is not working, even though we have had two service calls, the tech is supposed to call HH and see what they recommend. Aside from that, we went to the coast and stayed a week, only thing that broke was one outside storage door lock-wont lock-but will stay closed. So now, I figure I'm 80% camping and 20% Repairing this thing. I will try the non GFI hookup today since we have to clean out all the sand, etc from the Coach. Will keep you posted.

Renipladlo · 07-27-2008, 04:18 PM

Well using a Non-GFI receptacle is the ticket, everything seems to work, as long as I don't start an AC, or something like that. The refer even works.

Taking it back to storage tonight, and will order the lock once I get confirmation it's the correct one.

Critter guards are next, then an Auto-Former unit for 50amp service.

In the meantime I am going to make some ramps to back up on, so I can get under it and fix the front air bags and lube the U-Joints, exhaust brake as well does not work, got to be in that area someplace.

Thought I would use 4X12" with 3/4" plywood to reinforce both sides, which will give me about 5.5" lift, that should be enough I think. Your opinions please?

quikduk · 07-29-2008, 05:46 AM

I presently use 2x6 boards and set my CW orange plastic ramps on them with a short 4x6 (laid flat) behind the ramps for extra length. This gives 5" roughly in additional height and I open the basement doors where I am rolling under on the creeper.

I will be making ramps out of 2x8 pressure treated planks. You basically cut the ends at 45 degrees, stagger each consecutive plank back about 3"-5" and glue and through bolt the entire assembly together. I will only need these at home for maintenance etc. so their weight isn't an issue.

On the road, I keep 16"-18" pieces of 4x6 beams handy to help with the jacks or if the site is really sloped.

I also use a pair of wheel chocks on both front wheels. They really should be bigger and I have to go to a HD truck supply store for them but they help as I usually have to back the coach up just a bit to get them out when my maintenance is finished.

Hope this helps.

Oh, I am also wiring a 50A RV plug on the side of our house where I park the coach as the 15A GFI sometimes trips.