Bedroom slide outlets not working

[Steve Adams]

Last night we tried our first boon dock and it did not go so well. We recently had a solar system installed and tried the overnighter as an experiment to test the system. It worked great! What did not work was the outlets in the bedroom slide.

We both have CPAP's plugged into the nightstands and have had no issues at all until last night. Neither worked. We got extension cords and plugged them into other bedroom outlets and they worked fine. Today when we got back to town I hooked up to shore power and the outlets work. Shouldn't they work regardless of the power source? The inverter was on, I checked breakers and GFCI outlets (more on that later), etc. Nothing I did changed anything.

This can't be normal, can it? What should I check next?

Thanks, Steve

[Gerald Farris]

Steve,
All outlets are not run through the inverter. If the two outlets in question function normally on shore power, but do not function on the inverter while other plugs operate normally on the inverter, they are not powered by the inverter. In my 2000 Marquis, the plug on one side of the bed is powered by the inverter, while the plug on the other side is not.

Normally about 2/3 of your base plugs will be powered by the inverter. You can unplug from shore power, turn on the inverter and take a test light and check all of your plugs, to see which ones are powered by the inverter.  If it is important to you to have the nightstand plugs added to the inverter, the average electrician can add them to the inverter in an hour or two.  I would suggest that you add them to a ground fault circuit, or create a new ground fault circuit for them.

Gerald    

[John and Judy Gardner]

Steve,

I believe Gerald is correct. I use a B-pap machine and have a sleep number bed. When dry camping that outlet will not work unless I run the genny. I must plug the B-pap into a different outlet when dry camping. If the bed needs adjusting I run the genny for short period of time.

[Steve Adams]

How odd. I never would have thought that all of the outlets would not work off the inverter.

While trying to figure out the problem I found a GFCI outlet in the basement over the water pump. I could not get the red or black buttons to set or reset. Are they a fairly straight forward repair or should I get an electrician to replace it?

Are there are any other GFCI's I have not found yet?

Thanks again, Steve

[Gerald Farris]

Steve,
The reason that all wiring is not run through the inverter, is that the circuit that feeds the inverter, will only carry some many amps, and if you run all base plugs through that circuit, it will be overloaded. So the engineers only ran the circuits that they thought were necessary for dry camping through the inverter.
 
The GFCI outlet that you located in the basement is the only one that most owners have trouble locating. The basement GFCI plug controls about 1/3 of the plugs in your coach, so it is probably working normally. Usually the front TV is powered by that GFCI. You probably did not push the button in far enough, but if you want to replace it, the replacement is a straightforward repair. However I never recommend for a owner to perform 120V wiring repairs unless they are very familiar with with household wiring repairs.  

Gerald

[Steve Adams]

Gerald,

I'm thinking I should have the outlet replaced, I pushed like heck to get either button to move and could not get either one to budge.

I'm also thinking that for the few times we will need to boondock I'll just run an extension cord from another bedroom outlet that works.

Thanks, Steve

[LarryNCarolynShirk]

If there is no electricity to a GFI, the buttons will not respond.  Before you replace the unit, pull it out to be sure there is current to it.  If no current to the GFI, you need to chase that down first.  Look on the ceiling in the bay where the inverter is located.  There may be a breaker there that has tripped, or been inadvertently pushed off.

Larry

[John Harris]

On our 1999 Monterey, the same is true. GCFI's will not re-set unless there is power to them. Must be a safety thing.