BAC Forum
General Boards => Technical Support => Topic started by: Richard Anderson on November 02, 2014, 09:45:28 PM
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I have searched the forum and couldn't find this exact problem so here goes. Last night I lost all electrical to the 120 volt lights and outlets on the starboard side of my coach. I am hooked up to 50 amp and have a Magnum 2800 inverter. Everything on the port side works fine and all 12 volt lights work throughout the coach on both sides. Breakers in the bedroom closet are good. I looked at the inverter and couldn't find any breakers. The Magnum manual says there are two breakers on the side of the Inverter, but if they are present, they are not where the manual says they are and I don't see any. GFCI breaker in the bathroom is good. None of the other non-working outlets are GFCI. Am I missing a breaker somewhere else on the coach?
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Hi Richard
Check the outlet in the lower storage bay - mine was a GFI outlet and it had tripped - it was on the passenger side.
Brad Burgess
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Hi Richard
Check the outlet in the lower storage bay - mine was a GFI outlet and it had tripped - it was on the passenger side.
Brad Burgess
X2, I also have a GFCI in the Stbd side cargo bay just forward of rear wheels above the water pump.
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Also AC breakers in a small grey box are usually on the ceiling of the storage bay. Flip each one off and back on.
Later Ed
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Hi Richard
Check the outlet in the lower storage bay - mine was a GFI outlet and it had tripped - it was on the passenger side.
Brad Burgess
Mine seemed to like to trip frequently when it was dark, cold or rainy. Sometimes all three. I decided I feared going out in the dark more than electrocution. So, I replaced it with an old fashioned, standard outlet. No issues since!
Now that I think about it, my grandparents, parents and even my kids (up to when they were in school) survived well without the damned things!
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The GFCI in the storage bay was a good idea, but unfortunately, it has not been tripped. I couldn't find a breaker box on the ceiling of any of my storage bays. I don't know where else to look. I am going to go through the owner's manual more carefully to see if I can find a location of another breaker box. If anyone has any other ideas, please comment. Thanks.
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Hi Richard
My 03 Seacliff had a breaker box in the storage bay where the inverter is located. The outlets would have their breaker in that box as they would be on the inverter circuit.
Brad Burgess
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Richard,
If you follow the output AC wires from the inverter/charger to a breaker box. Your problem is likely to be that something hit the breakers on that sub-panel. It would happen on my 2002 Patriot all the time. Mine where located on the ceiling of the basement on the PS just in front of the holding tanks.
Karl
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I could not find a breaker box in any of the storage bays on either side. There is a metal box in the driver side bay where the inverter is that is labeled "transfer switch." I know what the transfer switch does, but is it possible there are breakers inside that box? I didn't open it because it is screwed closed and the box is humming. I figured I would at least disconnect shore power before opening that box but I thought I would ask here first.
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I could not find a breaker box in any of the storage bays on either side. There is a metal box in the driver side bay where the inverter is that is labeled "transfer switch." I know what the transfer switch does, but is it possible there are breakers inside that box? I didn't open it because it is screwed closed and the box is humming. I figured I would at least disconnect shore power before opening that box but I thought I would ask here first.
Nothing in my transfer switch except two big relays and wires.
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My 2000 watt inverter has (2) breakers on it! I would double check it again!
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I had the same thing recently on my 2001 Monterey. The GFI, under the top bathroom cabinet was tripped. Others we found were in the kitchen.
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On my coach's starboard side (in the kitchen) I find several 110v receptacles. There are at least five 110v receptacles, two of them are GFCI receptacles, all found in the kitchen. That tells me there are at least two GFCI-guarded circuits in my coach's kitchen. The convection/microwave is plugged into one of the GFCI receptacles found in an upper cabinet. I assume that GFCI receptacle is on its own GFCI circuit because of the power demand of the convection/microwave, but I do not know that for sure. Under the convection/microwave facing downward towards the kitchen countertop is the other GFCI receptacle. I assume that receptacle is one of four receptacles residing on the second GFCI-guarded circuit. Of these four receptacles, three are not GFCI receptacles, but are on the GFCI-guarded circuit.
When a GFCI receptacle has kicked out, then all the receptacles on that GFCI-guarded circuit do not receive power.
When I first owned this coach I had an event where my living room TV and all the receptacles on the port side in the living room and the receptacles in the bathroom had no power. Had I hair I would have pulled it out. I looked high and low. I had my little LED light and was looking for whatever might be the cause. I finally found it. The GFCI receptacle for that whole circuit from the TV way up front, and down the left side to and including the bathroom was located under the bathroom countertop almost out of sight for anyone except a dwarf. But there it was, a GFCI receptacle that had tripped. When reset, the whole circuit came back to life and the game was back on TV! Those GFCI receptacles are not colored differently, nor branded in any way. They simply have two very small and very hard to see buttons.
Keep looking, my friend.
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First of all, I want to thank everyone for taking the time to reply to my issue. I have looked at every outlet I can find. There are two GFCI outlets that are not working on the passenger side, one, in the bathroom under the medicine cabinet and one in the basement storage. I have repeatedly pressed the reset button on both. There are several other outlets that are not working, but none are GFCI. All other outlets are working. I have looked everywhere for a sub-panel and can't find one and there is not one in the 120 volt wiring diagram in the owner's manual. I have checked the inverter and in the spot where the manual says there are 2 pop-out breakers are instead two round metal plugs, so I am assuming my model does not have the breakers. I am out of ideas, so I guess the next step is to take it in to a service dept. I am planning on having the MH serviced at the end of the month, so I will wait until then to have someone check it out. I will report here in a few weeks what they find. Thanks again everyone!
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Richard, GFCI outlets do go bad, there is info on this forum on replacing with better ones, which I have done. These are available @ Lowes or Home Depot. No more problems with cut outs or electricity @ the most inopportune times. Henry
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Richard
I have a 2003 Monterey Seacliff and I have a panel in the bedroom closet on the driver's side above the hanger bar. There is also a metal plate next to the panel that , when removed, has 12 volt fuses in it. Don't know if this will help as I don't know if the MH's are the same.
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Don't know if this will help but on my Coach on the starboard [passenger side] there are 2 other 110 outlets one being under the front lip of the bedroom shelf [over shallow cupboards] and it is a GFI plug. There is another outlet hidden under the bottom drawer adjacent to the back closet. The Bose wave radio is plugged into this and I do not know whether this is GFI or not. Good luck!!!
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First of all, I want to thank everyone for taking the time to reply to my issue. I have looked at every outlet I can find. There are two GFCI outlets that are not working on the passenger side, one, in the bathroom under the medicine cabinet and one in the basement storage. I have repeatedly pressed the reset button on both. There are several other outlets that are not working, but none are GFCI. All other outlets are working. I have looked everywhere for a sub-panel and can't find one and there is not one in the 120 volt wiring diagram in the owner's manual. I have checked the inverter and in the spot where the manual says there are 2 pop-out breakers are instead two round metal plugs, so I am assuming my model does not have the breakers. I am out of ideas, so I guess the next step is to take it in to a service dept. I am planning on having the MH serviced at the end of the month, so I will wait until then to have someone check it out. I will report here in a few weeks what they find. Thanks again everyone!
You may know this and if so I apologize but just in case...if a GFCI does not have power to it the reset button won't work. So the problem is up stream, so to speak, from that point. Good luck.
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Richard,
I'm attaching a .jpg from a 2003 Monterey that may be hard to read clearly. It suggests you have two GFCIs and everything else is downstream from one or the other.
The diagram suggests that there is a 4 breaker panel near the inverter. In mine, there is a 4 breaker panel from the inverter but it has been relocated to the bedroom next to the primary panel. On that panel, one breaker feeds two GFCIs that distribute all the electricity to the accessory circuits.
If it were me, I would pull the cover off the breaker panel and see if it is "hot" with a volt meter. If not, it is a problem with the inverter. If it is hot, it will be a problem with the GFCI, in which case I would pull the cover and check that.
Note that there are "junction boxes" in the circuit. Each will have wire connected with wire nuts. They can come loose. On mine, one did that lead to the A/C units.
Good luck. I hope the diagram helps. It is not as sharp as it could be. I'll be "home" where I can scan a sharper version in a couple days and can send it too you. Let me know.
Hope this helps.
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Should fit the screen better!
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Have you tried gen power? It is possible that you are losing one leg of the 115 in the shore power relay in the TS. Try turning the ACs on. Each one operates on a different leg. If only one will start that might be the problem. If that is the case try gen power to see if it works. If they both work on gen power it could be the TS.
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Jerry, both A.C. units work fine. In fact, everything works except passenger side outlets and 120v lighting. Hot water heater works on electric, microwave works and all outlets on the driver side work. Bill, I really appreciate your taking the time to post the electrical diagram. Everything points to a sub-panel somewhere that likely has a tripped breaker. The problem is, I can't find the damn thing. My owner's manual says "The remote inverter panel is located in the living area of your coach. Depending upon the model, the exact location may vary." Not terribly helpful. I will continue to look inside the coach. I have opened every cabinet and drawer starting from the rear of the coach to the front. Thanks again everybody.
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I agree with George, GFI receptacle's go bad! I would shut off all power, remove the GFI's that won't reset, one at a time, spread the wires apart, turn the power back on and see if you have power to one of the black/white combo's you'll find in the box. If (and hopefully you do) mark them, turn power back off, replace with new GFI making sure you land the "power wires" on the end of the GFI marked "Line" and the others would land on "Load" Make sure you land the white wires on the Silver colored screws, and black wires on the copper colored screws! Turn power back on and you should be good to go!! Good luck!
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Richard, GFCI outlets do go bad, there is info on this forum on replacing with better ones, which I have done. These are available @ Lowes or Home Depot. No more problems with cut outs or electricity @ the most inopportune times. Henry
GFCI's need to be cycled, when I was doing all the NEC grounding survey's for our company we found that about 50% of GFCI's would fail when tested. I would rather protect a electrical circuit with a GFCI breaker. In our Beaver I replaced the GFCI's with regular duplex plugs and changed out the breakers. That was if something trips I only have one place to look, the breaker panel in the bathroom.
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As an owner of an '06 with factory GFCI integral breakers, I have to agree with Lee. Consider replacing the outlet with a standard one and the existing circuit breaker in your panel box with a modern one with a built in GFCI. It's great having few if any problems with GFCI's and they are all together in one place - in the breaker box.
Joel
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Great advice guys, thanks!
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Ok, I promised to update everyone once my electrical problem was fixed, so here goes: I took the coach in to General RV in Orange Park, Fl, to have it serviced and to see if they could find and fix the electrical issue. They did not find a sub-panel breaker box and they don't believe my particular coach has one even though the owners manual refers to one. They did find a "junction box" with no breakers in an area just forward of the rear wheels on the passenger side. This area has a compartment door but no door latch. The "door" is bolted closed. It looks like all the other doors except there is no door handle. Inside this compartment is the junction box buried under insulation. A wire had come loose in this box. The wire was re-attached and all other connections were tightened and all works fine now. Thanks to everyone who replied.