Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 06-18-2016, 01:47 AM   #1
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 14
AC stopped working

Just picked up a 2017 Grey Wolf 26BH and was prepping it for storage with the ac on. It stopped working once but I traced it back to the 15A out just quit working out of nowhere. I plugged in to a new outlet and the ac came on. About 45 mins later it quit, but the outlet and cord had power. Going to call dealer, but thought I would see if anyone can provide any information. Totally puzzled.
navman28 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-18-2016, 01:52 AM   #2
Site Team
 
wmtire's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Northeast Louisiana
Posts: 33,695
A 15 amp outlet is not usually advised to run an air-conditioner from, especially a 15,000 BTU one. If you will look inside your RV's electrical distribution panel, you will most likely find that your air conditioner has it's own 20 amp circuit breaker.

Also not knowing exactly if you are using any kind of undersized extension cords, you may have done some damage to either the cord and or A/C as you are most likely overloading something by trying to run your A/C from a 15 amp house outlet..

Please read the following article by Mark Polk, where he touches on the situation you are encountering.

BTW, welcome to the FRF family.

Basic RV Electricity - RV Information (RV Maintenance)

and then this one explaining converter draw:

http://rvservices.koa.com/rvinformat...d-amp-draw.asp
__________________
2011 Flagstaff 831 RLBSS

A 72 hour hold in a psych unit is beginning to intrigue me as a potential vacation opportunity.
wmtire is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-18-2016, 02:03 AM   #3
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 14
Thanks. Interesting read. I thought that as well, that I might be drawing too much on the system, but none of the breakers on the trailer or house were tripped nor any GFIs.
navman28 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-18-2016, 06:00 AM   #4
Site Team - Lou
 
Herk7769's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: South Eastern PA
Posts: 23,268
I posted this before about how much power is needed on AC startup. My 15K BTU air conditioner has a hard start capacitor and a fan delay relay installed and it still pulls 25 amps on startup.

It only pulls that for a second; too short a time to blow the fuse, but plenty of time to trip the compressor overtemp sensor. If you continue using the air conditioner in this low voltage condition you will do permanent damage to your compressor and fan motor.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	ohms-law-illustrated.gif
Views:	120
Size:	142.3 KB
ID:	111437  
Attached Files
__________________
Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
Herk7769 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-18-2016, 01:32 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
HONDAMAN174's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Big brown desert
Posts: 3,003
Like others have said, not a good idea to run ac off of a standard outlet and extension cord. I have melted a 30 to 15 amp plug and the extension cord it was attached to. It also puts a great deal of strain on the ac due to low voltage from high resistance and extension cord length. Pretty sure that was my leading cause to my ac failure after 18 months.


2014 Evo 2850 "Woodstock"
2011 Toyota Tundra "Clifford"
__________________
2014 Stealth Evo 2850- "Woodstock"
2011 Toyota Tundra Rock Crawler TRD 5.7- "Clifford"
2013 Honda Accord Coupe V6 w/Track Pack- "Julia"

Just glad to get away
HONDAMAN174 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-18-2016, 06:22 PM   #6
Always Learning
 
ependydad's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Four Corners, FL
Posts: 21,888
Is there a certain voltage number that would be reflected on my PI EMS?
__________________
Officially a SOB with a 2022 Jayco Precept 36C
Checkout my site for RVing tips, tricks, and info | Was a Fulltime Family for 5 years, now we're part-timing on long trips
ependydad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-18-2016, 06:45 PM   #7
Georgia Rally Coordinator
 
aceinspp's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: GA
Posts: 24,293
Quote:
Originally Posted by navman28 View Post
Just picked up a 2017 Grey Wolf 26BH and was prepping it for storage with the ac on. It stopped working once but I traced it back to the 15A out just quit working out of nowhere. I plugged in to a new outlet and the ac came on. About 45 mins later it quit, but the outlet and cord had power. Going to call dealer, but thought I would see if anyone can provide any information. Totally puzzled.
Running ac requires a 30 amp outlet at least. This may be your problem. Later RJD
__________________
2020 Shasta Phoenix SPF 27RKSS (sold)
2018 Dodge Ram 2500 6.4 3:73 gearing. Traded 2015 Chevy 2500 6.0, 4:10
Traded 2015 30WRLIKS V-Lite
Days camped 2019 62
Days camped 2020 49 days camped 2021-74 2022-40 days 2023 5 days
aceinspp is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-18-2016, 07:26 PM   #8
Senior Member
 
raspivey's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Brazoria County, Texas
Posts: 1,460
Quote:
Originally Posted by ependydad View Post
Is there a certain voltage number that would be reflected on my PI EMS?
Mine is reading about 12A and around 111V with one AC running and on a 15A w/ extension cord. I normally wouldn't be using the extension cord, but I parked in a strange spot temporarily. I was mainly just watching the numbers out of curiosity. It got up to about 14A and down to 109V as the cord heated up just slightly and it leveled off about there. I'm pretty sure most of that was the extra cord I was using. According to the manual, the AC operating range is 115V +/- 10%. Under normal circumstances (with no extra extension cord ) I wouldn't feel uncomfortable running on 15A. The EMS will kill power before the voltage gets low enough to hurt it.
__________________
2015 Chevy Silverado LTZ - HD tow package
2017 Rockwood 2703WS Emerald Edition
raspivey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-19-2016, 09:37 PM   #9
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 14
Checked the voltage which is at 111-112. My breaker for the outside rec is a 20 amp, so I got a 20 amp rec and extension cord and going to see if the ac shuts down again. If it still does, then I'm going to bring out an electrician to quote changing out 1 of the rec to 30 amp.
navman28 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Forest River, Inc. or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:16 AM.