lack of shore power

[JimM68]

Originally Posted by ChrisNiemann

genny is out of the question, were parked about 50' from the old mans bedroom LOL, he'd kill me, and i don't think the cattle would care for it to much.

I didn't mean for you to run it all night, just for troubleshooting.

If everything works from the genny, then your rig is good from the transfer switch in, you've ruled out the rv wiring, breaker panel, etc.

I wouldn't suppose you have a voltmeter?
That would make quick work of this.

[GaryKD]

The OP mentioned the furnace motor will not kick in due to low power. Assuming the furnace is the standard propane furnace, that power is 12 VDC from the batteries, no AC power is used.

ChrisNiemann, consider starting at the beginning and work through until you find the VAC problem. Consider:
1. Check the house power at the receptacles. Check all three legs for proper wiring, connections, etc..
2. Check the charger/converter. Is there 120 VAC input to this appliance?
3. Check the output to the batteries. >13.5 VDC?
4. Is the voltage at the batteries the same as at the converter/charger.
5. Are the coach batteries at 12.6 VDC.
6. Put a load on the source power circuit. With a meter does the power (VAC) drop below 108 VAC?
Please check and let us know what you find.

These suggestions are to establish there is power to the charger and the coach batteries are fully charged.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Run your genset for just a minute or two to see if you have full power that way. That will isolate the problem to either the RV or the garage outlet.

With a 30A connection, either the neutral or the hot could be bad (loose or corroded connection). And it could be bad inside your power cord, where the wires connect to the pins on the plug. That's not unusual, since the cord gets bent back and forth at that point often.

[wa8yxm]

The furnace runs on 12 volts, so if it's too slow to fire up then your batteries are low, This indicates the converter is not working.. I'm going to guess you have an inverter and that's what's running the microwave (And televisions)

you have no shore power.. Prime suspect is the breaker feeding that 30 amp outlet.. check it, NOTE: if it's tripping when it should not it may be wore out.

And the rest of the suspect list is .. Well, just follow the wire all the way to your RV's transfer switch (Assuming you have one, which means you have a generator)

iF everythign works properly on generator..... Then and you have good power IN to the transfer switch.. Well. that's your problem.

If you loose power BEFORE you reach the transfer switch.. Breaker wards of your test probe is the problem.

[Paul R. Haller]

Do you have a VOM? if yes, go get it and start at the 30 amp outlet outlet. Check to see if you have 120 from hot to neutral and to ground. Now check the breaker panel in the coach with it plugged in. Is there 120 volts there from hot to neutral and ground. Keep going like that for all circuits until you find the fault. As others have said, air conditioning, furnace, and refer all require 12 volts to operate so now check your batteries. Do they read 12.6 volts or higherafter sitting off the charger for 3 hours? No?, check your converter and output fuses on the converter. Charge your batteries with a known good charger not the one in the coach. Now with all hooked up are you reading 13.2 volts or higher? if no, your converter is not working. Use that 20$ VOM to isolate voltage trouble then move onto current. Do you have a clamp on current meter or a 10 amp scale on the VOM? with a simple vom you can diagnose 95% of simple electrical problems.
-Paul R. Haller-

[wa8yxm]

Another option is to get an adapter, one that lets you plug a 15 amp plug into the 30 amp outlet (most places that carry RV stuff have 'em) and plug in a test lamp.. Any test lamp. If the lamp works, your RV should.

[Wayne Pryor]

Have you actually used a volt meter to see how many volts you're getting inside the RV? Then I would check the outlet where your plugged in. Do you get the same reading? Let us know what you find.

[ChrisNiemann]

so so so so sorry for the long delay of a reply, farm work got busy for a bit again. No, sorry, no volt meter yet, wife is getting it tomorrow when she goes into town. I usually have all my tools with me, but when i carry tools, things break on the road trip up here, since i stopped bringing tools, the rig and toad make it up here with no problems... damn karma.. lol

anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know that I will post back after I get the volt meter. but to fill in a few questions from above...

1.) the house batteries were crap when we bought them and the PO said he had replaced them twice but they would never charge so he stopped replacing them

2.) the chassis battery decided to take a dump on me the morning that we were leaving (fired right off the night before... karma again) so I used my toad battery to get me going since we left at 3am and nothing was open, so there is no chassis battery, therefore I can't just fire off the gen right now (remembered i pulled the battery the hard way when i pooped myself when the gen didn't even turn over... lol)

3.) yes, i do have an inverter under the bed where the breakers and 12v fuses are located, but again I can't check anything without a VOM.

4.) when i checked my ext cord and ends, i noticed at the end of my ext cord where it plugs into a regular 15amp outlet, the plastic around the straight prongs was a bit "melted" looking and one of the prongs looked as if it had gotten hot at one time as compared to the other, i don't remember it being like that before we plugged it in... I'll know more tomorrow when we get the meter.

5.) i flipped all the breakers inside the rv as well as the main breaker for the garage, it has just the old glass screw in fuses so i replaced the old one with a new one just to be sure


i'll update again tomorrow night after work is done and i get time to test my wires... thanks again everyone, really love the way everyone is willing to step in and answer questions without making a guy feel like a complete "donkey"

thanks again!

[ChrisNiemann]

so who wants to take a crack at it now... got my VOM and all outlets, plugs, wires, GFI Outlets all say 122.9 volts. My ground tester shows that all outlets from the garage "shore" to the inside of the RV have a proper grounded system and that no wires are backwards anywhere...

so again, why am i losing so much power when i turn on the microwave that it won't even heat up and the display lights won't show either while its running. I just don't get why its doing it this year and never done it before... again, any and all suggestions are and will be taken seriously and tested ASAP...

Thanks Again in Advance Everyone!

Chris

[GMRHost]

Check the plug and the outlet on the Microwave? look for scoring on the plug, as can be caused by an outlet that is damaged internally. I've had bad outlets nearly melt a plug before.

[Dunner]

Have the wife run the microwave while you wiggle or re-seat ALL the AC connections coming from the house and in the motorhome. If it perks up even briefly, you've found your problem.

[RVtomtom]

You wrote......there is wire nuts here in the rv where the wires come in to the rv and then go to the breaker box/fuse panel in the rv.... guess i'll have to check those out yet too since i just redid them earlier this fall when i replaced the carpet in the bedroom.... After you did this did you test everything including the microwave?
Lost count of the times I replaced or modifyed something, didn't fully test it. Just a thought. Update us when you find the problem. Electrial problems in RV's can be a pain in the %$#*. Tom

[xctraveler]

I may have missed something along the way, when you say your are "losing power" is that in the entire coach or just that the microwave doesn't work properly? If the former, I haven't a clue, if the latter, just the microwave, have you considered that the Microwave is at fault and needs to be fixed/replaced?

We had our convection microwave fail on us in a similar (?) way. However convection worked not micro and if we turned on the micro everything failed and we had to reset to get the convection portion to work. Had the microwave tube replaced and all is good.

[hudson]

You mentioned you replaced the carpet and re-did the wires earlier this fall. If it worked OK before your re-do, I'd take another look at the re-do.

Nick