Community Forums

opti280 · 08-16-2010, 03:01 PM

Good afternoon! I bought this 1989 Mobile Traveler and have never owned a motorhome before or have much electrical experience. I took a circuits class in college. I plugged in my power cord to the outlet by the meter pole, and then went inside and plugged in my alarm clock to the outlet by the kitchen. I was setting the time and I heard a pop inside the alarm clock, smelled smoke, and then the lights on the alarm clock went dead. I tested the lights inside the RV (the system is supposed to detect when the RV needs to run off DC battery power or when the RV is plugged into a power source) and the lights did not come on. They're kinda dim, so I'm assuming they're running off the battery. So I opened up the power boxes in the RV and used my voltmeter to check voltages. There is a problem getting the electricity to go to the right spot. Can you help me? Here's the picture.

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVUu2Ar

and again at http://tinypic.com/r/2qx88si/4 in case one of them is taken down.

It's 3 MB, so you should be able to download it and zoom in to see the text.

Thanks!
Opti

popsuscdds · 08-16-2010, 03:14 PM

Because the electrical portion of an RV is so basic and complicated it may save you some time and money in the long run to take it to an RV repair facility. I am sure that not everyone has a repair next door but with some research there must be one you can go to. I like doing it yourself when I can but there are times when one must punt and get help.. Less than .02 cents.
Have fun
MILT

opti280 · 08-17-2010, 03:41 PM

This is true. It may be over my head. I'll look up repair centers near me.

opti280 · 09-02-2010, 04:20 PM

So I bypassed the automatic transfer switch and ran the power cable from the meter box directly into the circuit board with the 7 screws on the left (2nd picture) and now I have electricity at all outlets inside the RV! And it's doing something with supplying the lights with power, because before the lights in the ceiling ran off the DC battery and were dim, but now the lights are very bright. I also bought a new battery which helps, but the problem is that the AC power from the meter box is not charging my battery. The coils at the bottom of the power center (3rd picture) are very, very warm and I hear it humming but it's not charging the battery. The monitor switch above the stove shows that the battery is charging, but it is not. Any tips?
Thanks!