electrical question

dalestow · 05-11-2014, 10:34 AM

I purchased a new rockwood signature ultralight 5th wheel 8282ws yesterday. I have it hooked to a 50 amp service over night at my home as we were storing all of our gear for a trip. this morning there is absolutely no power in the camper. I tested the power to the plug and all is well, no breakers are tripped in the camper. the lights on the umbilical cord are lit also. battery had 5.2 vdc so no charging for awhile. I did have both ac's running last night in auto just to make sure everything is fine for a long trip. Glad I did as I see now there is some issue. can anyone help here?
thanks

Evereddie · 05-11-2014, 12:16 PM

Breakers can be tricky. Sometimes they can trip on one leg and not the other. Turn any breakers involved completely off and then on. Including the one in your house that feeds the trailer. With your battery that low you may also have the 12 volt disconnect in the off position. Did you leave the air conditioning running all night?

dalestow · 05-12-2014, 10:47 AM

I had tested all circuits from breaker box thru breaker panel. All circuits test

dalestow · 05-12-2014, 10:59 AM

After checking all circuits I found that the AC/DC converter had crashed and was no good. Hard finding one on Sunday but camper world in Katy fixed me up. Had a 45 amp converter with 50 amp service so I upgraded to 65 amp. I believe it may have crashed due to the position it was installed at the factory. The fan was butted up next to the access door. Couldn't get much cooling air thru the fan. But now it is fixed and the tv is not working. It is also defective. Don't know why but thank god for warranty.!

Evereddie · 05-12-2014, 11:06 AM

Wow, glad you got it fixed. Hopefully you weren't too late for your trip.

dalestow · 05-20-2014, 11:08 AM

Made the trip thanks. but i still need to get to the bottom of extending circumstances. the night before the converter went out i noticed the new flat screen tv would not power up. pulled it out ant brought it to the dealership for warranty. then this weekend after we hooked up to the power at another rv park i noticed that the microwave would not work either. pulled it and checked the power to the plug and i had 120v so it is not the plug. tried it on another circuit but no luck. so far in just a 2 week period on a brand new unit TV, converter, and microwave crapped out. guess i will have to verify all of the wiring to make sure that there is not some other issue going on. problem is i cant get to everything. hope this is the last issue!

TURBS · 05-20-2014, 11:19 AM

Sounds to me like you had a power surge.
Good plug for a progressive industries ems surge protector.

TURBS

"Sabre owners united"

Batts-toy · 05-20-2014, 11:32 AM

You said it was hooked up to 50 amp service at home. Are you sure it was two 110 volt and not 220 volt wired to a 50 amp plug? If 220 volt went into the unit you are frying stuff.

**wmtire** · 05-20-2014, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Batts-toy

If 220 volt went into the unit you are frying stuff.

That's what is sounded like to me too, that the OP has 240 volts going in on a line to the trailer......instead of two separate 120 volt lines. It could be a mis-wired plug/outlet at his house or a broken neutral.

If this is the case, you are frying the electronics as stated. You need to immediately check your house 50 amp plug for the voltages according to the NEMA 14-50 service between all the plugs in the chart below.

TURBS · 05-20-2014, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wmtire

That's what is sounded like to me too, that the OP has 240 volts going in on a line to the trailer......instead of two separate 120 volt lines. It could be a mis-wired plug/outlet at his house or a broken neutral.

Yep

TURBS

"Sabre owners united"

**wmtire** · 05-20-2014, 11:44 AM

One more question. Are you hooking up to a true 50 amp split phase 120/240 volt service at your house.........or are you using an adapter to plug your 50 amp (4 prongs) RV into a 30? amp (3 prong) plug.

If using an adapter, you will need to check all the voltages between the plugs as per the chart for the adapter (which is the last plug shown)

Batts-toy · 05-20-2014, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wmtire

That's what is sounded like to me too, that the OP has 240 volts going in on a line to the trailer......instead of two separate 120 volt lines. It could be a mis-wired plug/outlet at his house or a broken neutral.

If this is the case, you are frying the electronics as stated. You need to immediately check your house 50 amp plug for the voltages according to the NEMA 14-50 service between all the plugs in the chart below.

I almost did that on my first go round with 30 amp service, I went to the RV dealer and asked for a 220 volt adapter to my 30 amp plug, the young lady at the sales counter straightened me out in a quick minute. This (couldn't have been more than 20 years old) young lady fully explained the how TT circuits worked so went to Home Depot and got the parts and installed a 30 amp wall plug in my garage. She saved me from a lot of misery and expense.

**wmtire** · 05-20-2014, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Batts-toy

I almost did that on my first go round with 30 amp service, I went to the RV dealer and asked for a 220 volt adapter to my 30 amp plug, the young lady at the sales counter straightened me out in a quick minute. This (couldn't have been more than 20 years old) young lady fully explained the how TT circuits worked so went to Home Depot and got the parts and installed a 30 amp wall plug in my garage. She saved me from a lot of misery and expense.

We've had several members do that, and use an adapter to plug into a 240 volt 30 amp outlet. This causes 240 volts to go up both lines of the RV and fries the usual three things......converter, television, and microwave.

A lot of fellow RV'ers don't know (and I didn't either originally), that even though you are hooking up to a split phase 120/240 volt service, that the RV utilizes each line only as 120 volts and doesn't combine them which then has 240 volts.........so you are never ever using 240 volts. The RV only use 120 volts. They (and even electricians) see the big plugs and automatically incorrectly assume it needs 240 volts.

It just seems strange that this didn't happen immediately though to the OP, and it gave up the ghost later, but we did have another member who the same thing happened. She used it for part of an evening with A/C before the converter fried. She had an electrician incorrectly wire her outlet 240 volt on a 30 amp.

That's why I'm also curious to see of there is something else messed up.

dalestow · 05-28-2014, 02:09 PM

All the wiring is correct. 2 120v legs, one ground, and one neutral, of course the neutral is on a grounding leg in the main box. Still lots of fun in the camper, it had to be a friday rig. my wife had just walked under the ceiling fan and sat down when the dam thing came flying apart. Close call. The fan blades are attached to one peice that bolts into the motor. One screw holds the peice connected and apparently someone didnt consider using a lock washer or anything except the screw to hold it in. We love our camper. but you gotta watch your butt, seems i will be carrying alot of tools with this thing until all the bugs are worked out. i called the dealership and asked them if this was normal to be having all of these issues. (decals are coming off also) their answer was that "of course they do until all the bugs are worked out and surprised we didnt have more" Now thats a bunch of crap! Its called Quality control wherever i have worked and it seems that Forest river may be having issues on that front right now. Thank God my wife is an attorney, one more problem and she will file for a lemon law suit.

dalestow · 05-28-2014, 02:22 PM

BTW, thanks to all for the feedback, always helpful to throw out some good info for everyone.

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