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Old 09-09-2015, 08:41 PM   #1
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Power to RV won't work. PLEASE HELP!

I just purchased a 2010 Coachmen Freedom Express 300BHS. When I was at the sellers home checking it out everything seemed to work fine. When I got it home I ran a 12 gauge extension cord to plug it in to a GFI outlet and the outlet immediately tripped every time. I then plugged it into a regular adapter and it didn't trip anything, but nothing worked in the camper. I realized at that point that it was still plugged into the truck where we were initially running it off of the 12v. I'm not sure if that would have messed anything up. After I unplugged it from the truck I found the breaker box in the trailer and flipped everything off, plugged it into the GFI outlet again, and turned on things one at a time. The only thing that didn't immediately flip the outlet was the microwave, which came on, but when I tried to use it it would again flip the outlet. When I turned the AC breaker on by itself nothing flipped, but it also didn't work, as if it wasn't even trying to work. I have no clue what is going on, or if I'm doing something wrong, or if I possible messed something up by not unplugging it from the truck before plugging it into the outlet. Can anyone give me something information on what might be going on?
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Old 09-09-2015, 08:57 PM   #2
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The rv has GFI's so you don't plug into another GFI, it will not work, so make sure you are not plugging into one that is also being fed from anotherGFI. Hope this helps.
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:00 PM   #3
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I don't really know much about campers, as this is my first. The breaker has a switch for GFCI, is that the same thing basically as GFI? I tried that both ways if it makes a difference. I tried it with a regular outlet as well and it didn't work.
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:09 PM   #4
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Make sure you do not have the water heater electric switch turned on with no water in it. It will burn out the element immediately. A burned WH element can cause a GFI to trip.
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:12 PM   #5
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You didn't say how much power the outlet provides? If not at least 20 amp you could damage the A/C by trying to run it with insufficient power for boot up. You might want to go to the forum electrical section for articles on AC and DC power, amp draw, etc.
Very informative.
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:13 PM   #6
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The house gfci will trip because the trailer is not grounded. If you reset it, it should work. However, as stated above, I would not recommend using a gfci outlet.

Did you check to see if the inverter breaker on the trailer also tripped?
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:15 PM   #7
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Krawler, what is the inverter breaker? The only breakers I saw on the trailer were a main breaker, and 5 other breakers for the fridge, ac, gfci, microwave, and water heater.
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:24 PM   #8
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I ALWAYS plug my trailer into a 15a plug on a GFCI circuit in my garage when I am loading it for a trip. I ALWAYS use a 50' 12 awg extension cord. It ALWAYS works right. I never run the A/C on this set-up.

Not all trailers have an inverter. Mine doesn't. Mine DOES have a converter.
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:24 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jch2122 View Post
Krawler, what is the inverter breaker? The only breakers I saw on the trailer were a main breaker, and 5 other breakers for the fridge, ac, gfci, microwave, and water heater.

You don't have a breaker in the elec panel for the inverter? If you are getting no power at all, try turning the main off for a couple seconds, before throwing back on.
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:26 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jch2122 View Post
Krawler, what is the inverter breaker? The only breakers I saw on the trailer were a main breaker, and 5 other breakers for the fridge, ac, gfci, microwave, and water heater.
Krawler meant the CONVERTER, not inverter.
Your trailer doesn't come with an INverter, unless a previous owner installed one.
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:30 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by Krawler View Post
You don't have a breaker in the elec panel for the inverter? If you are getting no power at all, try turning the main off for a couple seconds, before throwing back on.
Nothing listed as inverter. I tried turning all off and on again, but nothing happened. I am ONLY getting any signs of power from the microwave, until I try to use it then it turns off like everything else and trips the outlet. Nothing on the camper is tripping, it's only the outlets that I plug it into. Is it possible that I messed something up by having it plugged into an outlet and the truck at the same time?
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:33 PM   #12
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Your microwave may be pulling more power than the home outlet can provide just like the A/C???
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:33 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bikendan View Post
Krawler meant the CONVERTER, not inverter.
Your trailer doesn't come with an INverter, unless a previous owner installed one.
Either way, I don't see anything listed as converter either. I only have the ones listed in my previous reply. Unless there is another breaker that I'm not aware of somewhere else.
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:40 PM   #14
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Power to RV won't work. PLEASE HELP!

Quote:
Originally Posted by bikendan View Post
Krawler meant the CONVERTER, not inverter.
Your trailer doesn't come with an INverter, unless a previous owner installed one.

Correct, sorry about that. Too much multi tasking tonight
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Old 09-09-2015, 09:42 PM   #15
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Is the outlet in the house a 15amp, or 20. Should be 20 min, especially if you are running the ac or microwave, which sucks a lot of power.
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Old 09-09-2015, 10:01 PM   #16
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The prior owner just may be a lot of help here ---- maybe he can help you with what you're doing differently than he did to cause this problem that didn't exist at his house. Can you call him??
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Old 09-09-2015, 10:01 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by Krawler View Post
Is the outlet in the house a 15amp, or 20. Should be 20 min, especially if you are running the ac or microwave, which sucks a lot of power.
I'm not sure. Even if it were only a 15 amp, shouldn't it atleast work if I only had 1 thing turned on in the breaker?
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Old 09-09-2015, 10:18 PM   #18
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You may have a ground fault somewhere or at least something that the GFCI device on your house is seeing as a ground fault which is likely something that has neutral and ground coming in contact. The part about your water heater may be true, make sure you turn that off. When we got our camper the WH element was shot probably from them having it on with no water in the WH tank. In the long run you should consider having the correct receptacle installed where you park your RV so you can run pretty much whatever you want without worry. You'll be happy you did.
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Old 09-09-2015, 10:20 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by jch2122 View Post
I'm not sure. Even if it were only a 15 amp, shouldn't it atleast work if I only had 1 thing turned on in the breaker?
With nothing on, my camper still pulls 1-2 amps from the inverter, co detector just sitting there plugged into a 30 amp outlet. When the 13.5 amp A/C boots up it can pull around 15 to get started. Microwaves are similar. Try plugging in a lamp at one of the camper plug outlets which are 120 volt and see if it works. Could be you are pulling more than your home outlet can provide. There is a rather large learning curve for these campers whether we like it or not. Go slow, read the articles here in the forum because what you don't know can damage your camper appliances before you even get out of the driveway and they are so expensive. For instance, if you turn on power to the water heater before fully priming it with water first, it will burn up in a heart beat. We are all here to help each other, just go slowly at first.
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Old 09-09-2015, 10:59 PM   #20
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I'm not familiar with your particular trailer but a friend of mine had a simular experience. I suggested the same thing as I'm suggesting to you...check the GFCI in the trailer assuming it has one usually in the bathroom. Trip it by pushing the test button and reset by pushing the reset button it without plugging the trailer into shorepower. After you reset the GFCI then plug it in.

It worked for my friend anyway. Good luck.
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