BAC Forum
General Boards => Technical Support => Topic started by: neil omalley on August 15, 2018, 07:08:31 PM
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Can’t seem to get shorepower to the coach. Generator will power just fine. Don’t hear the transfer switch “thud”. New chassis batteries. New solenoid as part of big bird system. Any ideas where to begin? Thanks.
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Neil,
I'd start by checking for power at the park pedestal. Make sure circuit breaker is on and that voltage is present on both legs of the 50A receptacle. The top and bottom sockets are nuetral and ground. The other 2 sockets are hot. You should measure about 115-120 VAC between each of the hot sockets and nuetral or ground. If OK there, do you have a surge guard that might be detecting a problem and not transfering power to coach. If no Surge guard or if surge guard indicates incoming power is OK, the transfer switch may be malfunctioning.
Steve
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Thanks Steve. Everything seems to work but it’s all off the inverter. If I shut off the inverter, the a/flights and residential reefer go off. That kinda indicates to me ground power is not getting to the coach except through the inverter?i can’t really tell because my Alladin system is all but defunct. I’ve pushed the inverter charge breaker. I guess it’s working. There was no “snap” like a normal cab ,but then maybe it’s not supposed to? The generator acts normally I.e. Good ac and Good dc when operating
An update,of sorts. With ground power plugged in and reduced to 15 amp via connectors nothing happens I.e. no big bird thump nor charge light on the xantrx panel. With Genset running all appears normal . Did not hear transfer thump but a charging light illuminates on the Xantrex.
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Neil,
Like Steve said, you need to take a meter and check a few things before we can give you an inteligent answer to your question. There are to many variables to give you an answer without more information.
Gerald
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Neil,
15A will barely run the reefer. What else do you have on? In any case, suggest you remove some connectors and increase extension cord guage to get at least 20A to coach. Are you plugged into a 20 or 30A circuit?
Steve
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20
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What kind of readings would help,Gerald?
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Neil,
First, what is the voltage on each hot leg of the receptacle that your 50 amp cord is plugged into? If both legs are above 110 volts, what is the voltage at a base plug in the coach that is not on an inverter powered circuit? If that is above 110 volts, what is the voltage at a base plug that is on an inverter powered circuit?
Gerald
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I'm kind of following this thread, just to read the answers and learn something. I'm confused though. The OP says he is plugged in to a 20A circuit. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the 50A is either not available, or is not working?
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I believe where Gerald is going with this is - OP is using a "dog bone apadater" on his 50A shore line cable to reduce from 50A to 30A to 20A (So he has adapters on his 50A cord). I do this too when my coach is plugged into my 20A garage reciprocal when I'm parked at home.
http://www.dmbruss.com/zFullTimeLifeStyle/FTLS_ElectricalAdapters.htm
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Neil,
I have a good voltmeter and clamp on amp meter. I have a little experience with testing the transfer switch on the (old) Monterey.
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I believe where Gerald is going with this is - OP is using a "dog bone apadater" on his 50A shore line cable to reduce from 50A to 30A to 20A (So he has adapters on his 50A cord). I do this too when my coach is plugged into my 20A garage reciprocal when I'm parked at home.
http://www.dmbruss.com/zFullTimeLifeStyle/FTLS_ElectricalAdapters.htm
Mike, I understand that could be it. That's exactly what I use when plugged in at home. But he is not hearing the thump (the same one I get) when the TS engages. Mine is built in with the surge protector in the bay where the cord reel is located. Gerald asked him to check power to each leg at the receptacle, therefore making me think he is plugged in to a 50A power pole. If he is using a dog bone, he is connected to a regular house circuit.
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Stan,
He has to use the 50A connector on the coach. This is then tied to the 30A connector, which in turn, is connected to the standard 3 prong wall or extention cord connector/recepticale. One side of the 50A will have AC on it if all previous connections are good. This is what Gerald is after.
Steve
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We cannot generally connect to a 15/20 amp household receptacle, especially if the receptacle has a GFI on its circuit. The GFI will nearly always break the continuity. And this with the inverter's power-sharing status set to its lowest possible setting... which is 5 amps. This means the inverter is limited to pulling 5 amps from the shore cord, but other devices not on the inverter may cause the demand on the shore cord to exceed that 5 amp inverter limitation, I believe.
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We cannot generally connect to a 15/20 amp household receptacle, especially if the receptacle has a GFI on its circuit. The GFI will nearly always break the continuity. And this with the inverter's power-sharing status set to its lowest possible setting... which is 5 amps. This means the inverter is limited to pulling 5 amps from the shore cord, but other devices not on the inverter may cause the demand on the shore cord to exceed that 5 amp inverter limitation, I believe.
Dave, I just spent 3 weeks plugged into a 20 amp outside outlet at a friend's house while living in the coach. Initially I kept popping the breaker in the house. Then I remembered to set my inverter on 20 amp incoming power. What I think was happening is that the charger was coming on and drawing too much power. After the reset of the inverter it worked fine. It also kept the batteries charged. So with the HydroHot elec off and the inverter set up right you should be able to run the coach. I did not use the air conditioning either. I did make coffee in the morning, used toaster and the microwave. Obviously being careful to not use any at the same time as others. Reefer ran the whole time on AC. Even though off subject I figured it was good info for you Dave. Happy camping!
Jerry
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Ok!Riddle me this.😳 I went to a service provider and he plugged in to his 50amp. Guess what? Everything worked as written. They went to 30amp via a connector. Aok. Went to 15 amp connector. No problem. Inverter inverter. Charger charged. Light on central showed a charging light. When I got home and plugged in to a circuit which had worked before, nothing happened. I assured myself all connections had power but no charge light and no a/c without the inverter being on. Cannot get charge light to take and microwave will not illuminate without the inverter. Thoughts?
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Did you double check the breaker for your home receptacle to be sure it did not trip?
If the "Shore Power setting" is set to a higher amperage (say 30A) than your home receptacle, it might have tripped the breaker once the battery charger kicked on.
At the Service provider you coach may have worked on 20A because your coach's charger did not come on - then you get home plug into 20A circuit and charger comes on tripping breaker.
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Ok!Riddle me this.😳 I went to a service provider and he plugged in to his 50amp. Guess what? Everything worked as written. They went to 30amp via a connector. Aok. Went to 15 amp connector. No problem. Inverter inverter. Charger charged. Light on central showed a charging light. When I got home and plugged in to a circuit which had worked before, nothing happened. I assured myself all connections had power but no charge light and no a/c without the inverter being on. Cannot get charge light to take and microwave will not illuminate without the inverter. Thoughts?
When you said that you plugged into a 15 amp connector at the shop it worked, was it your connector or one he had? You say at home you assured yourself that the power "connections had power," did you actually check them with a meter or some other way and actually verify that you had 120+- on one blade when measured to the other blade and/or the ground? If it works somewhere else than it pretty much has to be something at home or something that you are doing that the service guy didn't! Or gremlins!! Very perplexing problem and I wish you luck that you figure it out soon!
Jerry
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Jerry - In my earlier post I was indicating I cannot plug the coach into a 15/20 amp home circuit because the house's GFI will disconnect. I meant to indicate that without the GFI and reducing the "power-sharing" on the inverter to below 15/20 amps or less, then usually the connection will hold okay. Obviously, we cannot run many devices from that low amperage solely from the house circuit. But the inverter will pull power from the batteries to operate those extra devices, then when they're shut off, the inverter will use extra shore power to recharge the batteries.
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Neil,
It's possible that your circuit at home is missing a ground or neutral. This would keep the surge guard from transferring power to the coach. Consider getting a circuit tester (harbor freight, home depot, etc) https://www.amazon.com/Electrical-Receptacle-Outlet-Ground-Tester/dp/B0012DHVQ0 to verify the supply up to your 30A connector. Also, check to see if your surge guard has any indicator lights and what they indicate after ac is applied for about 5 minutes.
Steve
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Steve:you broke the code. The problem was ,in fact, no ground on the receptacle and the surge guard did its job and refused to tie the coach to bad electrics. Thanks for everyone’s help and a big hand from me to Bill Sprague who wanted his whole day helping the dope who wired the receptacle 😩
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It was a good day! We went to Burger King for lunch.
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Consider making yourself one of these: http://www.myrv.us/electric/Pg/tester_50amp.htm
as I did. The plastic container I put it in stores nicely in my cord reel compartment, but I know some rigs have a cord configuration out of a port rather than a bay. Nevertheless it’d take up little room in any handy left side bay.
It can be used to check 30 amp and 20/15 too.
Joel