Cardinal 3875 FB Electrical Issues

[X4336]

I’m trying to figure out why my camper only has half power. My refrigerator, tv, and outlets won’t work on one side (microwave on the same side DOES work). The other side I have outlets that won’t either. It’s mostly in the main sitting area that is out. When you go to the front of the camper, there is outlets that work, and only one that I have found that doesn’t.

The power source is fine. It’s a 50AMP. I have tried two different plug chords. All breakers have been flipped on and off. Fuses have been checked. What am I missing?

With this being said, I had connected the power chord to the camper last. Meaning the power was already running to the chord, then I attached it to the camper. Would this have anything to do with the problem. That’s when I had noticed the issue at hand. Please help! I live in this thing full time.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Only half the 50amp trailer usually indicates one leg of the power is not working. Have you actually had the power tested at the pole? Hopefully someone more experienced with 50 amp will come to help.

Welcome to the forum!

[bikendan]

Moved thread from the General Tech and Repair section to the Electrical and Charging Systems sub-forum since the OP's questions are specific to that sub-forum and not general questions.

[X4336]

So I flipped the 12 volt quick breaker thing by the battery compartment. I got my refrigerator to start running! But now it’s just the tv and a few outlets. I flipped them both again, did the breakers and the fuses again and still nothing. So making progress, just not resolved yet.

[Campzoo]

Originally Posted by X4336

I’m trying to figure out why my camper only has half power. My refrigerator, tv, and outlets won’t work on one side (microwave on the same side DOES work). The other side I have outlets that won’t either. It’s mostly in the main sitting area that is out. When you go to the front of the camper, there is outlets that work, and only one that I have found that doesn’t.

The power source is fine. It’s a 50AMP. I have tried two different plug chords. All breakers have been flipped on and off. Fuses have been checked. What am I missing?

With this being said, I had connected the power chord to the camper last. Meaning the power was already running to the chord, then I attached it to the camper. Would this have anything to do with the problem. That’s when I had noticed the issue at hand. Please help! I live in this thing full time.

If the power at the pole is good, then check that the plug to trailer is fully plugged in and making good contact. If that is good, there is a power distribution box in the front storage next to the batteries. There will be pretty big wires running into it. Turn the power off to the trailer and remove the cover of the pwr distribution box. You should see 4 black cb,s with red levers. One or more of those may be tripped and needs reset. I've had a similar issue before and the park host and I found one of those tripped, which I believed was caused by the pwr cord to the trailer rotated a little and not making full contact. Noe I torque that plug down pretty good.

[Larry-NC]

Have you checked/reset the GFI outlets? If one of them trips, all the downstream outlets will be dead.

[X4336]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

Have you checked/reset the GFI outlets? If one of them trips, all the downstream outlets will be dead.

Where do I find these at? That could be it because it seems like certain area is tripped which would make it trickle down

[X4336]

I found what you’re talking about and flipped both (they were both flipped) and then that lead to the battery. Well in doing so, I turned the battery off inside the camper so that killed the refrigerator. So back to square one. In other words, the power was charging the battery, and the battery in turn was doing the refrigerator.

[X4336]

Looking for the GFI outlets and have only found 2. Idk where else to look.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by X4336

Looking for the GFI outlets and have only found 2. Idk where else to look.

Were the GFCI outlets tripped? Usually they are on the outlets in the kitchen and bathroom.
When you push the button, do they stay in or are you not able to reset them?

I think that switch you turned on activates the inverter which powers the refrigerator. So that's not the problem.

About the power coming into your rig, do you have a surge protector/EMS that tests the power coming into the rig?
How do you know that you're getting 50 amp power from the pole? Did you or the campground test it?

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by X4336

Looking for the GFI outlets and have only found 2. Idk where else to look.

There are only one or two, typically located in the lavatory or kitchen. But they are wired at the head of a string. When one of them trips, all the regular outlets down the string lose power. Resetting the outlet will repower the entire string.

There are two buttons on each one, Test and Reset. If you press Test, the Reset button pops out with a loud click and the outlet and downstream outlets lose power. If you press Reset firmly, it stays in with a loud click and power is restored.

If the buttons do not perform this way, it means that power has been lost upstream or there is a faulty appliance plugged in, or an outlet (could be outside) has gotten wet. If you've lost power, there are several things to check. You've checked several of them already. Have you flipped the breakers on/off at the pedestal? Your 50-amp service actually provides two separate 50-amp circuits. One of them could be dead at the pedestal. Ask the campground staff to check whether there is power on both circuits at the pedestal.

[X4336]

I have checked the incoming power from the pole and it is fine. I even tried two different generators that have ran the whole thing before, yet the back half of the camper is still not working. Usually when hooked up for the generator, the refrigerator, tv light will kick on. Neither of them have. The generators that I hooked them up to run the same things as connected to the pole.

[X4336]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

There are only one or two, typically located in the lavatory or kitchen. But they are wired at the head of a string. When one of them trips, all the regular outlets down the string lose power. Resetting the outlet will repower the entire string.

There are two buttons on each one, Test and Reset. If you press Test, the Reset button pops out with a loud click and the outlet and downstream outlets lose power. If you press Reset firmly, it stays in with a loud click and power is restored.

If the buttons do not perform this way, it means that power has been lost upstream or there is a faulty appliance plugged in, or an outlet (could be outside) has gotten wet. If you've lost power, there are several things to check. You've checked several of them already. Have you flipped the breakers on/off at the pedestal? Your 50-amp service actually provides two separate 50-amp circuits. One of them could be dead at the pedestal. Ask the campground staff to check whether there is power on both circuits at the pedestal.

I also found two of them and reset them. But they seemed to have not been the problem at hand.

[Larry-NC]

Your 50-amp service has two 50-amp legs. Each leg serves part of the trailer. Have you asked campground maintenance to check to see if both legs are active?

If you have a voltmeter or multimeter, you can do that yourself. Unplug the camper. Set the meter to AC volts on a range appropriate for 120 volts. Turn the meter on. The outlet has four sockets. There are two parallel slits called L1 and L2. The third slit is called Neutral. The round socket is called Ground.

Put one probe in L1 and the other in Neutral. Read the voltage, should be ~120. Then put one probe in L2 and the other in Neutral. This should also be ~120.

If not, report to the campground management.