Forum Discussion
dedmiston
Sep 22, 2017Moderator
Hey T Bone. We ought to be able to solve this.
Does the AC run when he's plugged into shore power? That will tell you whether it's trouble with the AC or trouble with power.
Then like Y Guy said, is the gen powering anything else, like charging the batteries and powering the coffee maker? That's the most likely source of trouble in my experience. I don't know if the Gearbox has an automatic transfer switch or not. My old Weekend Warrior didn't have one, so I had to manually plug the shore-power plug into the 30A receptacle near the converter, which was the output of the generator. My newer trailer has a transfer switch, so a few seconds after starting the gen I hear a thump and a bing as the power source switches from 12v to 120 and all my appliances come alive.
If that isn't the problem...
What do you know about his thermostat(s)? (Does he have more than one? My rig has three ACs and three thermostats.) Can he switch the fan on? Can he get the furnace on? Most RV thermostats are cheapos, so his might need to be replaced.
My trailer also has a mysterious switch that nobody could figure out. I finally activated it by accident. It turns out that I can only run two out of three air conditioners at any one time. There's a rocker switch in the ceiling in the bedroom (that I have now labeled) that activates either the bedroom or the garage AC. So for either of those ACs to come on, three conditions need to be met: The thermostat needs to be on, the temp needs to be above the thermostat setting, and that rocker switch needs to be in the right position corresponding to that AC.
I can't think of anything else right now, but give us some more details and some more clues to work with. I bet we solve it with you.
Does the AC run when he's plugged into shore power? That will tell you whether it's trouble with the AC or trouble with power.
Then like Y Guy said, is the gen powering anything else, like charging the batteries and powering the coffee maker? That's the most likely source of trouble in my experience. I don't know if the Gearbox has an automatic transfer switch or not. My old Weekend Warrior didn't have one, so I had to manually plug the shore-power plug into the 30A receptacle near the converter, which was the output of the generator. My newer trailer has a transfer switch, so a few seconds after starting the gen I hear a thump and a bing as the power source switches from 12v to 120 and all my appliances come alive.
If that isn't the problem...
What do you know about his thermostat(s)? (Does he have more than one? My rig has three ACs and three thermostats.) Can he switch the fan on? Can he get the furnace on? Most RV thermostats are cheapos, so his might need to be replaced.
My trailer also has a mysterious switch that nobody could figure out. I finally activated it by accident. It turns out that I can only run two out of three air conditioners at any one time. There's a rocker switch in the ceiling in the bedroom (that I have now labeled) that activates either the bedroom or the garage AC. So for either of those ACs to come on, three conditions need to be met: The thermostat needs to be on, the temp needs to be above the thermostat setting, and that rocker switch needs to be in the right position corresponding to that AC.
I can't think of anything else right now, but give us some more details and some more clues to work with. I bet we solve it with you.
About Fifth Wheel Group
19,006 PostsLatest Activity: Jan 29, 2025