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Edhick · 07-07-2019, 05:50 PM

Have a series problem I can hook a meter up and go from my neutral bar to the metal frame of fuse box and have 120 volts. Had trouble last year and burned up some wires. I feel like my troubles will be in the wires coming from the junction box where I plug in my shore power to. 1993 National RV Dolphine. Does anyone know where the wires from the junction box go to after they leave box. I thought they would go to fuse box. But I can't find any wires the same size or color coming into it. Need help

richard5933 · 07-07-2019, 07:18 PM

Gonna need more information to help you.

General path of power is:

shore power/generator>transfer switch>breaker panel

I'm assuming that you had problems last year with your transfer switch, since this is a common problem point. If that melted down, you might have insulation melted downstream from there as well. Is the thing you're calling a 'junction box' the transfer switch?

You have a dangerous situation and the coach should not be plugged in until it's fixed. Same for generator use - keep it off till this is fixed. You have a hot-skin situation where someone could get zapped by touching the coach.

Isaac-1 · 07-07-2019, 07:28 PM

You should also test at the outlet where you are plugging in, this may not be an RV problem, and may be a shore side wiring issue

Edhick · 07-07-2019, 09:55 PM

Thanks Issac
What I am calling junction box is where the shore power cord actually comes into coach. Also when not hooked up to shore power you have to take same plug and plug it into the box so your generator will feed the coach if you turn it on. Hopefully that makes since to you. Not familiar with the differant terms used in electrical field.. the wires burnt up last year were the neutral wires for the 120 that connect to the bar in fuse box

Edhick · 07-07-2019, 10:00 PM

Sorry I replied to your question on Issaac post. Below the transfer switch what does look like? Where would it typically be?

richard5933 · 07-08-2019, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edhick

Thanks Issac
What I am calling junction box is where the shore power cord actually comes into coach. Also when not hooked up to shore power you have to take same plug and plug it into the box so your generator will feed the coach if you turn it on. Hopefully that makes since to you. Not familiar with the differant terms used in electrical field.. the wires burnt up last year were the neutral wires for the 120 that connect to the bar in fuse box

Sounds like you may not have a transfer switch - plugging the cord into the generator or shore power is about as manual a way to switch from shore to generator as there is, with you being the switch.

If the neutral burned in the fuse box, I'd be suspicious of all other connections until they were confirm to be tight. I'd also be concerned the insulation melted inside the outer jacket of the cable further down the line.

Can you post a photo or two of what you're looking at?

When you had the neutral burn last year, what was done to fix the problem then?

Start with one end of the system and then work back to the other. Open the covers and visually inspect. If you can isolate a section of cable, you can use a multimeter to see where the short is.

I'm wondering if your shore cord itself didn't get damaged during the problem last year.

Edhick · 07-08-2019, 09:41 AM

I believe I found problem the wire going to main breaker was melted back a couple inches from the end. (Wire was one that by urnt last year). Remove the bad section and not getting any volts to fuse box frame. Inspected the rest of the wires in box. Before repair all the 120 volt outlet showed I had a open ground now they all test ok. The only thing left that I see is the neutral bar was mounted to a piece of rubber attached to fuse box. It melted so I will replace it. Thanks for your help if you feel I need to inspect anything else let me know. Thanks again

richard5933 · 07-08-2019, 12:05 PM

Glad that you found that problem. If this were my coach, I'd actually open the cover on any junction boxes within a few feet of the problem just to be certain that the problem didn't go further than you initially thought. When you remount the neutral bar, be sure that you don't inadvertently form a bond between neutral and ground by getting the rubber out of place.