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tonicbigal · 07-06-2012, 11:40 PM

I have a fltw discovery 98. Before preaching to the choir 14G is ok, I would do some checking of your wiring system. I have 30 amp shore power cord to the coach with #10 wiring. From that connection into the coach is 14G wiring which feeds the 30 amp breaker. My electrical 101 class says 14G is for 15 amp use. I did all this tracing when I found the power cord yellow male plastic adapter hotwire burnt to heck and fused to the neutral wire. I was then off to trace the wiring. I then went under the refer and took out the panel to expose the breakers and the transfer switch. To my horror and others all the neutral wires the neutral bus are crispy and more so where the inverter/converter and works it way towards the 30 amp main breaker. Transfer switch and wires for the gene take over are OK and those wires are for the 120 and gene side are all 10 G. The neutral wire that feeds off the transfer and goes to the neutral bus is burnt at the bus. Why the coach did not burn to the ground with me in it boggles folks mind. The only sign of an issue was a power drop especially when the converter breaker was left on. So it remains on the list to be replaced and could have been the cause of some back feeding we think. Since I keep monitoring on all the equipment as a matter of routine, the GFI testers on all the GFI circuits showed normal and the plug in volt meter showed OK power unitil there was a power drop which I notice when a light bulb flickered that I had plugged in. The surge protector did its thing in reverse. It sense a power drop on the coach side and would not let power thru for maybe a day. When this first happened it set off alarms to start looking for a cause since the shore power was OK. Yes the coach has been in the shop trying to nail down this issue. The shop knew I knew the wiring on the coach so I got the assignment to trace out the wiring . The coach is in for some serious rewiring on my precious dime. It is going to be real interesting to see the condition of the wires at the inverter converter. The freedom combi 10 system that also has 14G romex running to it is going to have a quick airborne training lesson before it gets heaved. Been looking for an excuse to get rid of it and put a prosine inverter in and a smart charger system in and better converter. I can get by without the charging system until we settle on something as I have two large solar panels that have been handling that task rather well. So I am baffled by the comment it is ok to run #10 wire on the shore power cord and then dumb it down to 14G and run that to the 30 amp breaker to the coach some 20 feet or more away. My female brain and the thought of being crispy along with the coach fails to compute that thought properly. I would take some time and look at your shore plug adapters or if you are hard wired to a surge protector look inside and also look where you breaker panel is for any browning of wires or the copper wiring itself looking dull. I am also not real pleased with the yellow plastic male adapter connector and the results seen there. The crimp on the neutral wire shows some splitting there. The hot wire is burned so badly even at the crimp but the crimp looks still solid. I would also be careful with electric heaters to include the water and furnace electric heater cheaters if they are not on dedicated lines. We are dealing with 14G for 15 amps if it is white romex. Yellow is 12 G and good for 20 amp. Orange is 10 G and food for 30 amp

In case you are wondering, the surge protector was sent back to the company for testing and put under a heavy load and tested out fine.

Toni C
98 fltw discovery which I would like to keep awhile longer. Everything below the coach body has been refurbished. Been trying to decide for a year what to do with making sure the wiring was OK to the breakers. Guess this projects gets done next.

stink · 07-08-2012, 03:35 AM

Is their a big difference from an 01 to an 02 discovery? I have an 02 with 30/50 amp service with an intellitwhatever panel and have 6 guage wire to the genny box and to the main panel. I have found and replaced a 14 guage wire supplying the inverter with a 30 amp breaker, replaced with 10 guage stranded..

tonicbigal · 07-08-2012, 09:25 AM

Yes there is a difference in the wiring of the coaches. What is appears to be constant for all the coaches the wiring from the gene is correct which heads to the transfer switch. What is not correct for various coaches is the wiring from the from where the shore power cord joins the connection to the coach. In my case I have 10G at the shore power 30 amp cord and 14 G being joined up with it. Good catch on running a heavier wire guage to the inverter. For me the neutral bus wires at the breaker panel the worst ones that are burnt are the ones on the converter/inverter breaker. I also have 14G at the main 30 amp breaker at the breaker box.

I am leaving Monday to take the coach to have the wiring upgraded and will have some more sense of where it all goes and what is wired with what.

I would email fleetwood with your vin and manuf ID and make and model and your full owner info and ask for the wiring diagrams for your coach. What wiring they used on your coach will be listed on these diagrams. while you are at it I would also get the plumbing, chassis, and heating diagrams. Freightliner will also email you the chassis wiring diagrams.

you might want to consider joining the egroup and bulletin board for DOAI MAIN PAGE How to join is there The gurus for these coaches reside on this group. If you post to the egroups you will get response as the two folks that are electrical gurus repsond to this board quicker. I would also pot it on the BB. The BB has over 10 years worth of data and the hints and tips has over that as well

Toni C
98 36T

tonicbigal · 07-10-2012, 10:45 AM

it has been confirmed today for the 120 volt wiring as we were fixing the wiring on my coach due to burnt wires and burned neutral buss in the breaker box the 98 and 2000 someone else owns have 10 gauge stranded on the 30 amp shore power cord and 10 gauge single wire going into the coach to the transfer switch and the main 30 amp breaker on the 120 volt side. On the inside breaker box side the wiring it is all 12 gauge. This would mean the 97 and 99 should have the same set up. White romex at the time these coaches were made have different wiring in them. The color break out for coded for romex did not start till later. Replacing the neutral buss is proving to be challenging. We have a replacement but now trying to make sure it is installed properly so there is no continuity on the neutral buss. The breaker box is obsolete as well otherwise we could have replaced the box. Now for the inverter the 458 combi 10 is obsolete. for the 98 coach the fleetwood suggested replacement is the Magnum ME 2000 inverter/charger system. SullivanRV is helping me put together a replacement system to send out. Looking at seeing if the Magnum MS series will work since I want to get a prosine inverter in or do we put together separate pieces to accomplish the charging and prosine inverter which means we may have to put anther transfer switch in as well since the box combo has it inside

wiring from the gene to the transfer switch is all 10 gauge stranded and single wire.

Also putting a separate breaker and outlet for running a heater or hot water heater element.

as for the shore cord power adapter where the wires burned in the unmolded yellow adapters everything is being replaced with molded adapters.

will keep you posted as to what inverter and charger system we end up with.

Hope this info help some folks.

Toni C
98 36T FLTW Discovery