Community Forums

clarkst · 10-05-2015, 10:27 AM

I searched high and low for information regarding breaker locations in my motorhome and found general references to owners manuals and just looking around until you find it (them). I find the owners manual useless when it comes to providing breaker location information outside the main distribution panel, in fact, mine does not even reference the possibility that breakers can and do exists (AC power) outside the main panel.
You will know if you need this info if you loose a portion of your AC power and find no tripped breakers in your main panel, AND, you have already checked your GFCI outlets and reset them, and you cycled each breaker , with no success.
I suspect the location is different in each version of each motorhome, probably even in the same year and model, my mystery breaker box was under the bottom drawer closest to the inverter (main breaker panel, remove the drawer completely). I found 2) 20 amp breakers, one of which handled the AC power fro the living area, and was tripped.

BFlinn181 · 10-09-2015, 10:31 AM

Good catch! It's not unusual that the power supplied by sources other than the shore cord have breakers not in main panel. You found the ones for the inverter supplied power. There are of course 120 v breakers on the generator and 12 v or even 120 v breakers built in to the inverter/charger itself.

I think the reason owner's manuals are so non specific is because it gives the freedom to change things 'on the fly' during assembly without having to re-write the owner's manual. The OM must be run through legal review, which can make any changes very expensive. If you look at various manuals on line, you discover they seldom change from year to year or even different models to remain as 'useful' to the manufacturer as long as possible. The number of models, layouts, lengths, etc. are far more varied than autos or trucks, making specific details less likely to be included in the manuals. Many new buyers look for details and specific locations that are just not present in them. That's what makes this forum so useful, our combined 'discoveries' can be shared to reduce the amount of sleuthing each owner has to do.

profjedi · 11-26-2019, 02:17 PM

sorry to bring this thread back to life, but I've just been told that my flickering/dimming 12v lights when I'm hooked up to shore power might be a bad converter... is this the same thing as an inverter? If so, I think that's the location I'm looking for since I'm got a 2007 Mirada too

Quote:

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

Good catch! It's not unusual that the power supplied by sources other than the shore cord have breakers not in main panel. You found the ones for the inverter supplied power. There are of course 120 v breakers on the generator and 12 v or even 120 v breakers built in to the inverter/charger itself.

I think the reason owner's manuals are so non specific is because it gives the freedom to change things 'on the fly' during assembly without having to re-write the owner's manual. The OM must be run through legal review, which can make any changes very expensive. If you look at various manuals on line, you discover they seldom change from year to year or even different models to remain as 'useful' to the manufacturer as long as possible. The number of models, layouts, lengths, etc. are far more varied than autos or trucks, making specific details less likely to be included in the manuals. Many new buyers look for details and specific locations that are just not present in them. That's what makes this forum so useful, our combined 'discoveries' can be shared to reduce the amount of sleuthing each owner has to do.

FatChance · 11-26-2019, 04:23 PM

A converter changes 120vac power to 12vdc power, an inverter changes 12vdc battery power to 120vac power.

cavie · 11-26-2019, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clarkst

I searched high and low for information regarding breaker locations in my motorhome and found general references to owners manuals and just looking around until you find it (them). I find the owners manual useless when it comes to providing breaker location information outside the main distribution panel, in fact, mine does not even reference the possibility that breakers can and do exists (AC power) outside the main panel.
You will know if you need this info if you loose a portion of your AC power and find no tripped breakers in your main panel, AND, you have already checked your GFCI outlets and reset them, and you cycled each breaker , with no success.
I suspect the location is different in each version of each motorhome, probably even in the same year and model, my mystery breaker box was under the bottom drawer closest to the inverter (main breaker panel, remove the drawer completely). I found 2) 20 amp breakers, one of which handled the AC power fro the living area, and was tripped.

You have located the inverter controlled sub-panel.

cavie · 11-26-2019, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by profjedi

sorry to bring this thread back to life, but I've just been told that my flickering/dimming 12v lights when I'm hooked up to shore power might be a bad converter... is this the same thing as an inverter? If so, I think that's the location I'm looking for since I'm got a 2007 Mirada too

There are Converters. (120/12) There are Inverters.(12/120) And there are converter/inverter combo units.