Electrical Problem in Brand new Class C

[patted1571]

We plugged in our motorhome for the last week and today we went to show it to some friends and all the lights were dim inside the coach. It appears that the batteries are dead. The generator wouldn't even fire until we started the truck and as soon as the generator started everything started working. We have just bought this Forester by Forest River and have only used it twice - both times it was fine or at least seemed to be. Why would the power all of a sudden stop going to the motorhome?. The plug is fine and the wires are fine. It is plugged into 15 amp, but the Class A we had before at least kept the batteries charged on 15 amp. This is a Class C motorhome. Does anyone have any ideas?
thanx pat

[markb5900]

Have you checked the fuses on your converter?

[JLeising]

Check 110 volt circuit breaker that feeds power to converter. Mine sometimes trips when plugging in shore power

[patted1571]

Thanx so much. That is exactly what the problem was. We couldn't figure out why the breaker would trip for no reason, so we'll see if it happens again.
Pat

[JLeising]

On my Solera there is a 110 volt outlet on the same breaker. I plugged a cell phone charger with an "on" light into that outlet. If the charger "on" light is not lit after connecting to shore power, I reset the breaker. Seems to happen rarely, but does happen. Maybe some anomaly with the shore power or with my connection procedure?? Don't know.

[hunt247]

Was the outlet "hot" when you plugged in your RV power cord? This often causes some arcing and may trip the circuit breaker.

Always follow these simple steps when plugging into a campground power pedastal or shore power:

1. Turn off shore power circuit breaker
2. Plug in RV power cord
3. Turn on shore power circuit breaker

The same prodedure should be used to unplug the RV cord from a power source as well.

[RamblerGuy]

You can easily exceed 15 amps with your Class C if several things are on at once. Did you leave the water heater switched on? A/C running? The starting load for the A/C plus a few other small loads can trip a 15 amp breaker. The convertor supplies 12 volts to the lights, etc., and charge the batteries. If it is rated for 55 amps (12 volt output) like the one in our 2011 Sunseeker 3100, it could take 6 or 8 amps (at 120 volts) input, considering it is not 100% efficient.


If you have an Onan generator, there's a table in the manual listing the wattage of typical loads. Just divide the watts by 120 volts to get the amps. If you can't find a table, electrical load tables have been posted in this forum before. Use the search window at the top of any forum web page.

[patted1571]

Thank you to all for your responses. There is some really good advice about leaving the breaker off before plugging in. The thing is the RV was plugged into the outlet at home for a week and there was no problem. I took my sister and brother-in-law into the rv to show it to them and turned some lights on and off - nothing major. Then we left and 4 hours later I took another friend in to show it (nothing was touched, nothing left on, the plug stayed plugged in) and when I turned on a light it was dim. I guess the breaker had blown at that point, OR the breaker had blown the week before, but because we weren't in the RV at all, when I turned the lights on the first time, it drained the batteries and by the second visit they were nearly dead. The breaker could have blown when we plugged it in the week before, and it took a week for the batteries to drain - is that possible?

[JLeising]

Very possible. If you have two batteries you have 200 amp hours + of battery capacity. With "everything turned off" and main switch in stairwell on your Solera "on" your RV will draw some parasitic current. On mine I believe it draws between one to two amps for propane CO detector, propane shutoff valve, etc. A week is 168 hours - long enough for parasitic currents to discharge the batteries.