Campground electrical issues

[Jason Worman]

So we are camping here in Florence Oregon and hooked up to 50 amp power. Leg A Leg B show 122 amps each but appliances, heat, etc that run on leg B and drawing VDC amps directly from the battering. Appliances, outlets that run on Leg A are working just fine. We have the Xantrex 458 charger/inverter, its showing a charging rate of 12.5 amps. When we first hooked up everything worked fine. Tried restarting charger to reset it but nothing changes. Moved down to 30 amp pedestal service but no change Any thoughts?
Thanks
Jason

[Steve Huber]

Jason,
My "knee-jerk" thought is that the transfer switch isn't switching leg B. However, if you are drawing from the batteries your charge rate would be higher than 12 amps.
Steve

[Jason Worman]

Thanks. We are staying just one night as my work does not allow me to travel far, will investigate when we get home, was just worried that its causing damage.

[Steve Huber]

Jason,
Try switching to your generator. If everything is OK, it is probably either park power or you shore power cord connections.
Steve

[Jason Worman]

The generator is the next item on the repair list.  . It needs a new solenoid and starter. Local shop quoted me 600.00 for labor plus parts.

[Keith Moffett Co-Admin]

Jason, you might look those parts up on the Cummins Onan web site or just google them.  That assumes you have an Onan though not some other brand.

[Jason Worman]

I did look up the parts, the starter us 125.00 and and solenoid us 50.00. The generator unfortunately is not on a pull out tray but enclosed in a box, watched youtube video, repairs are simple if I could just pull it out.

Thanks

[Joel Ashley]

Yes, it’s unfortunately not uncommon for the biggest cost of gen set repairs to be mostly labor getting the thing out of and in the coach, esp. ones not on a slide out.

[Mike Tomas]

A concrete level area, a pallet jack and some 4x4 wood planks could do the trick. Pallet jacks lift only a few inches, so if you can roll one under the generator and press up just a little for support, you should be able to disconnect it and roll it out to service yourself. If your handy, the few hundred dollars for a new one might be justifiable with future repairs and service.

[Jason Worman]

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm back home now and hooked up to our regular 50 amp service. Both leg A and Leg B operating normally. Weird part is that when I start the furnace instead of drawing from Leg B, it is drawing 13 VDC off the battery. Everything else; reefer, lights, outlets etc., drawing off Legs A & B. I restarted charger/inverting its charging at 13.5 volts. Was called that new batteries came in, went to get them installed and won't be in until Monday. Maybe all this goes back to bad batteries.

[Gerald Farris]

Jason,
There is nothing in your furnace that operates on 120 volt AC current. Therefore, nothing in the furnace operates off of leg A or B. Everything in the furnace operates on 12 volts from the house battery bank.

Gerald

[Jason Worman]

Gerald,

Thank you for information, the question about the furnace needing 12v is, there is a breaker for the heater in the breaker control center is that for the 12v from battery bank?

Jason

[Joel Ashley]

As Gerald noted, your furnace has no alternating current factor.  If it was an AquaHot, yes, but not a regular furnace.  The 120v breaker you see labeled “Heater” could possibly be a heating circuit option for the engine, which requires plugging in to an extension cord to warm the engine when parked in very cold ambient weather.  Few of us ever use it so it’s not talked about often.  Others here may proffer other ideas for what the breaker’s for.

Joel

[Doug Allman]

We had a 1991 Contessa with the Onan 6500 gen set. When we also looked at service we contacted our local electrical shop and they indicated that we continue to repair it as the new Onan is not as good as the one we had in many ways.  Out of the box it came and went back in.

[Gerald Farris]

Jason,
If you have a 120 volt breaker that is marked heater, if your coach does not have electric baseboard heaters, the breaker will be for an electric heating tape that the fresh water tank and/or the holding tanks are sitting on, or as Joel mentioned an engine block heater. I would have to look at your coach to see how it was equipped. All of these coaches are not equipped the same even though they might be the same year and model.

Gerald