Community Forums

JWEibeck · 05-06-2012, 09:52 PM

The wife and I recently purchased a 2009 Phaeton QSH. We previously owned a 2001 Allegro and had several 3-watt LCD nightlights which we transferred to our new acquisition. Upon reaching home and plugging into shore power at the storage facility we rent, the nightlight in the living room burst into flames. Fortunately, we were able to quickly extinguish the fire with only minimal damage, however, the outlet was "toast".

I went to our neighborhood camping supply dealer and bought a replacement outlet. I turned off the Master and the inverter breakers on the panel below the fridge before beginning. Upon wiring it, I turned the breakers back on and immediately metered it prior to inserting it into the wall and discovered that there wasn't any voltage present. To compound matters, upon checking other outlets in the vicinity, they too were "dead". I still had 120 VAC at other outlets at the front and rear of the coach.

I'm wondering if there are additional breakers in some hidden location that I'm overlooking?

I haven't called the tech guys at Tiffin yet as I'm thinking this may be something right under my nose that I'm just missing.

Thanks!

ernieh · 05-06-2012, 11:00 PM

Did you actually cycle the breaker or just return it to the on position? Also, did you check any GFI's that your coach might have?

JWEibeck · 05-07-2012, 11:50 AM

Actually, none of the outlets in question (the ones that are now powerless) have GFI indicators or reset buttons (even though the ones by the kitchen sink have labels indicating they are GFI). I thought that to be rather odd.

paz · 05-07-2012, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JWEibeck

Actually, none of the outlets in question (the ones that are now powerless) have GFI indicators or reset buttons (even though the ones by the kitchen sink have labels indicating they are GFI). I thought that to be rather odd.

Just because an outlet doesn't have a reset button doesn't mean it isn't GFCI protected. All the outlets in our Allegro Bay (except the ones that are connected to the inverter) are daisy-chained off a GFCI outlet somewhere else in the rig. Check all your GFCI outlets to see of one of them is tripped.

Tiffin is also very good in marking the individual breakers in the main breaker box (at least they were back when they built our coach). There should be a couple of the smaller breakers in the main panel marked "GFCI," "outlets," or "recept." Check them all by turning off, then back on.

JWEibeck · 05-07-2012, 05:04 PM

Ok, thanks for the idea. I'll go through and check each and every outlet, both in the living area and down in the storage bays. I hadn't thought about the possibility of one outlet having a GFCI controlling all the others. Unfortunately, the outlet where the fire started was damaged nearly beyond recognition, so I don't know if it was a GFCI outlet.

I concur with the breakers being well labeled. They look professional but their electrical schematic is not overly easy to follow. I have flipped all of the breakers off, including the main, and then turned them back on.... to no avail.

Melmoses · 05-09-2012, 07:56 AM

There are 2 GFI outlets in our 2009 QTH - one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen on the under the AC control. Some have a third one by the shower. But you will have to replace that bad outlet before that GFI will reset. What I found after losing nightlights on our (fortunate not to have a fire) was that we have a modified sine wave inverter, otherwise known as dirty power, in the Phaetons. Certain things do not like MSW inverters. The buses have the Pure Sine wave inverters and have no problems. Before I realized what a MSW inverter meant power-wise, I lost 2 coffeepots, nightlights and a couple of other things. Now I am careful to unplug these items when we go off shore power and onto the inverter. I would love to change to the PSW but it is too expensive to warrant doing it right now so I just remember to unplug everything after use. Made it a habit.

JWEibeck · 05-09-2012, 08:29 PM

Well, I finally got to go back to our coach and check for a blown GFCI. The one is the bathroom was fine but found the one under the glass display case, to the right of the sink, popped! I reset it and the new outlet works like a charm. Many thanks for all the suggestions and ideas!

JWEibeck · 05-09-2012, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melmoses

There are 2 GFI outlets in our 2009 QTH - one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen on the under the AC control. Some have a third one by the shower. But you will have to replace that bad outlet before that GFI will reset. What I found after losing nightlights on our (fortunate not to have a fire) was that we have a modified sine wave inverter, otherwise known as dirty power, in the Phaetons. Certain things do not like MSW inverters. The buses have the Pure Sine wave inverters and have no problems. Before I realized what a MSW inverter meant power-wise, I lost 2 coffeepots, nightlights and a couple of other things. Now I am careful to unplug these items when we go off shore power and onto the inverter. I would love to change to the PSW but it is too expensive to warrant doing it right now so I just remember to unplug everything after use. Made it a habit.

Mel,
I read your reply with special interest regarding your inverter having dirty power. Do you know if all the Phaetons have modified sine wave inverters and, if so, how does one tell? Our problem seem to occur when we plugged into shore power rather than the other way around. So far (knocking loudly on wood) we have not experienced any other power situations/problems. We do not leave our nightlights plugged in except when we are set up at camp. Just curious....

Melmoses · 05-13-2012, 05:25 PM

All Phaetons have a modified sine wave inverter. Rumor has it that 2013 will finally offer the PSW inverters.

ernieh · 05-14-2012, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melmoses

All Phaetons have a modified sine wave inverter. Rumor has it that 2013 will finally offer the PSW inverters.

I asked the Tiffin rep that question just last week. He told me that since the 36QSH that I have on order has a residential refer, it will have a PSW inverter. We will see in a couple of weeks.

Melmoses · 05-14-2012, 05:54 PM

Ask when you get your coach to be sure (or look at the inverter itself). My 2009 has a residential fridge that works just fine with the MSW inverter (Xantrex). In fact I think that most Phaeton's have the residential fridges, at least 2009 and forward, yet all still have the MSW inverter. Buses and Zephyrs were the only ones to get the Pure Sine Wave. But I just heard the other day that the 2013 Phaetons will have the PSW standard equipment. Then again, Tiffin has been known to work in 2013 features on 2012's produced later in the model year. So maybe you will get lucky and get that PSW! I would love to have one of those!

By the way, congratulations on a great coach! Have a great summer!

JWEibeck · 05-15-2012, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ernieh

I asked the Tiffin rep that question just last week. He told me that since the 36QSH that I have on order has a residential refer, it will have a PSW inverter. We will see in a couple of weeks.

Please let us know which type of inverter you wind up with on your new coach. Thanks!

ernieh · 05-16-2012, 11:43 AM

I will post when my coach arrives. I looked at a 36QSH in March at RB and I'm pretty sure that it had a Magnum inverter. I don't know if that makes any difference. It took me a while to find it because it was mounted on the ceiling of one of the bays.

ernieh · 05-29-2012, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JWEibeck

Please let us know which type of inverter you wind up with on your new coach. Thanks!

My coach arrived at the dealer today. One of the first things that I checked was the inverter.

It looks like I was lied to again. It's a Magnum ME3112 (MSW).

I had a Xantrex MSW in my old coach and the only problem that I had was it would fry the rechargable flashlight (Coleman) that Winnebago supplied. Other brands seem to be fine with it.