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Old 10-09-2013, 06:59 PM   #1
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Gfi location. Little help please

We are dry camping and I have no power in front electrical outlets. Back half of coach is working. For the life of me I can't find a gfi. I assume ? That is what is going on. 07 Beaver marquis. Appreciate any help guys
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Old 10-09-2013, 07:02 PM   #2
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If you're dry camping what do you think should be supplying power to the front outlets?
Inverter?
Generator?
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Old 10-09-2013, 07:15 PM   #3
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Often they are in the bottom of a kitchen, bath, or other cabinet. Gotta look under and up to see them. I went 'round on a previous coach not knowing this, then found one in the far corner of the bath under the wall cabinet.

Usually bath, kitchen, storage bays, and outside outlets are on GFCI.
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Old 10-09-2013, 08:04 PM   #4
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Found breaker off
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Old 10-09-2013, 09:32 PM   #5
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Glad you found the problem. I recently replaced a breaker that had tripped a few times and finally got where it would not reset.
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Old 10-10-2013, 06:26 AM   #6
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Hi flying Butch
I'm happy you found the problem. Did you ever find the GFI breaker? I'm asking because when I bought my rig I couldn't find mine either. It turned out a previous owner had taken them out. So I put them back in. You should have one in the bathroom and kitchen. Sometimes they are connected to the sand GFI.
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Old 10-10-2013, 07:11 AM   #7
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The schematic for the 110V distribution in our coach ('06 Dynasty) says that it also applies to the Marquis series. It's for '06 which would likely be at least similar in logic to the model years close to it. Close but no cigar, unfortunately, is often the case. But here 'tis, nonetheless.

In ours, the GFI protected circuits are supplied by breakers with the GFI function built into them, in the main breaker panel line-up.

I hope this is helpful. And I'm glad that you found your problem, as well.

Safe and fun travels!
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Schematic - 110V Circuits and Outlets Diagram.pdf (127.1 KB, 127 views)
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Old 10-10-2013, 08:35 AM   #8
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I guess the newer motorhomes can use the GFI breakers. Are the breakers on the inverter also GFI breakers. This is where the power on my rig comes from for the bathroom and kitchen areas on my rig. Maybe the inverter has built in GFI. I don't know.
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Old 10-10-2013, 10:40 AM   #9
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Hi Flying Butch,
In my 99 beaver patriot I finally found a breaker on the inv/conv in the basement up between the frame rails !! Really fun to find!
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Old 10-11-2013, 06:30 AM   #10
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Gfi

I never did find a gfi. I was surprised that the problem was a thrown breaker in the breaker panel in compartment on left a over driver seat. I guess it doe sent have gifts but breakers as mentioned above?.
Now if I can figure out why I can't get electric power into the coach off 15 amp. All works well with 50amp or generator but nothing off an extension cord.
Safe travels
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Old 10-12-2013, 08:24 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FLYING BUTCH View Post
I never did find a gfi. I was surprised that the problem was a thrown breaker in the breaker panel in compartment on left a over driver seat. I guess it doe sent have gifts but breakers as mentioned above?.
Now if I can figure out why I can't get electric power into the coach off 15 amp. All works well with 50amp or generator but nothing off an extension cord.
Safe travels
Flying Butch,

You do not show your RV model and that would be a big help. Most of the diesel pushers made my Monaco had load management and if you only have a 15 amp shore power connection the load management system will shed many devices. Another thing is that the 50 amp coach system has two legs with electrical loads distributed between the two legs. When connecting to a single phase 15, 20, or 30 amp shore power the two legs must be connected together. This is usually accomplished in the dog bone adapter that converts the 50 amp plug to a 30 amp plug. After attaching the dog bone you then will need an adapter that goes from the 30 amp plug to a normal 15 amp plug. If at any point along this route their is a problem and both 50 amp legs are not connected to the 15 amp supply, there will be items in the coach that will not receive power. Another source of a problem of this nature is the 50 transfer switch. One of the shore power legs could have a bad contact in the transfer switch. The system may still operate normally on the generator because a different set of contacts is used in the transfer switch for the generator.

By the way, don't expect much to work in the coach with only a 15 amp shore power connection. Your main concern is that you have power to the converter/charger so you will charge the batteries and maintain the 12 VDC system in the coach. That way you will have lights and control boards in the frig, etc. will work. Forget using the microwave, the air conditioners, the electric water heater, etc. If you are careful you might get by with a coffee pot in the morning and the television at night.

Bob
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Old 10-12-2013, 10:43 AM   #12
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Butch said 2007 Beaver Marquis in the OP.

Don't know whether it's pecking order or age but at some point Monaco put GFI-equipped circuit breakers in the VAC distribution panel to replace the GFI outlets to which downstream outlets were daisy chained. My 2001 Diplomat had GFI outlets and my 2003 Windsor has GFI circuit breakers in the VAC distribution panel.

I'm having a similar problem, Butch. Mine was working on the 50 amp RV park pedestals. That said, I've been noticing that as more appliances are turned on, the 120 VAC is dropping to a greater degree than it once did. Having just returned from a 4,500 mile trip and staying in about 20 different RV parks, I got to sample a wide array of AC power sources. All but one were 50 amp. As the trip progressed I noticed that the AC voltage started going lower sooner as appliances were added to the load. At one point I was seeing 105 VAC with less than 5,000 watts of load. Now some of that could have been the park supply itself but I don't think it's the sole or even major reason.

When I got home and plugged into the stick-house 20 amp circuit I only got power to half the coach. With the generator power was available at all outlets in the coach. We don't have a 50 amp outlet here at the house so I can't go back to test that at this time. Checking the output of the transfer switch showed only one leg with power on it. I immediately assumed that the transfer switch relay that forwards the shore line power to the coach panel had a bad contact and ordered a replacement transfer switch which has yet to arrive.

While troubleshooting this I got to thinking that the power cord reel might be a problem so I took it out and put it on the bench to check resistance through the brush block and wiper rings. Could not find a high resistance in any path. While the power cord and its reel were out I connected the extension cord from the 20 amp house outlet directly to the wires that feed the transfer switch thus bypassing the coach's power cord and power cord reel. I connected the 20 amp "hot" to one leg of the transfer switch input then the other. Only one leg transferred power from the cord to the coach. There is a potential hole in that test - I failed to confirm with a meter, that in each case, hot L1 versus hot L2, the transfer case relay did in fact energize. I believe that I heard the relay pick in each case but would feel better having confirmed it with a meter reading.

That satisfied my conclusion that the transfer switch is bad. But wait.... When I put the power cord reel back in and wired everything up all outlets in the coach had power once again.

Bob is correct in that somewhere along the line the 120 VAC has to be fed to both legs of the transfer switch shore line input. The generator is hard wired. The shore line has two hot wires, each of which is connected to its respective leg, L1 & L2, on the transfer switch input. If 120 VAC is fed to only one of those legs then only its respective circuit will be energized, L1 OR L2, but not both. Therefore only half of the coach outlets will have power. The "dogbone" or other adapter must tie the 120 VAC "hot" wire to both "hot" legs on the transfer switch shore line input.

Where does that leave my coach? Don't care if it suddenly started working again, am going to replace the transfer switch. Something between the 50 amp outlet on multiple park pedestals and the output of the transfer switch was dropping 10-15 VAC. Marginal as well as intermittent performance can be consistent with pitted contacts. I inspected all of the transfer switch connections and all were tight. I found no evidence of heat caused by a high resistance anywhere along the line. BTW: We're religious about powering everything off before shutting down the generator or tripping the circuit breaker on the park pedestal.

While continuing to wait for the transfer switch to arrive, am going to wring out that "dogbone" and 30 amp to 20 amp adaptor plug to see if there is an intermittent or high resistance contact there that prevented the coach from energizing both L1 and L2 circuits.

I think there are two problems in my case. A high resistance in the transfer switch relay contacts is accounting for the dropped 10-15 VAC under load.
Secondly, there is an intermittent connection in the "dogbone" or other shore power cord component preventing the connection of 120 VAC to both legs on the transfer switch shore line input.

FWIW
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Old 10-13-2013, 07:20 AM   #13
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Gfi

Great posts guys, thanks everyone. I have tried the dog bone cord50-30-15 and all I want it to do is charge the batteries. The Alladin system shows power to both legs but the inverter panel shows no power. Took a volt meter and put it at the input on the inverter itself and no power coming to it. At this point I think it is the transfer switch?.

Safe travels all
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Old 10-13-2013, 10:08 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FLYING BUTCH View Post
The Alladin system shows power to both legs but the inverter panel shows no power. Took a volt meter and put it at the input on the inverter itself and no power coming to it. At this point I think it is the transfer switch?.
You may want to check to see if VAC is making it to the circuit breaker panel. Here's a diagram of how my coach is wired. I know yours is a different model but it might be wired in a similar fashion given that the parts are often from the same vendors.

2003 Windsor VAC Distribution Panel

Given that I had to squeeze it down to meet the file size limitation of iRV2 it may be a little hard to read. Send me your e-mail address and I will send you the original PDF. Or call Monaco and they will send you this schematic and more.

Good luck!
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