Help I'm melting....

Rick Jay wrote:
Ok, here's another wild guess...

Possible loose connection on the transfer switch/generator circuit, or the generator might be low on oil (or has the wrong weight oil installed) and cuts out for a second. Either way, the transfer switch timing circuit kicks in and power is disconnected for about 30 seconds. In addition, I believe the AC control circuits have timers built in so that if they are shut down with the compressor is under pressure, it keeps the compressor from starting for 2 minutes or so to let the pressures stabilize in the lines.

Do you have something else plugged into the 120VAC outlets you could monitor while travelling down the road? Either a light or radio or something? That way, if you lost power, you'd notice it right away.

I was checking my TV to see if it was on or off and it stayed on from what I saw.



I guess it's also possible that a loose connections anywhere in the AC circuits might also cause them to cut out.

But that's just a guess. Do you have any more hints you can send our way?

When they do cut out, you stop and the generator is still running, will the compressors come on after a short while? Yes they seem to come back on after switching them off. Then once back underway down the road they cut off.

If the generator isn't running when you stop to check on things, what is causing it to shut down?

The generator still runs and is running. I have to see if I can figure out how to monitor the voltage. It's hard to drive and instruct my wife or 8 year old to look at the generator panel.

In answer to our question about powering down before switching from generator power to shore power or vice versa. YES, you should shut down all of the major current drawing appliances (AC's, electric water heater, microwave, etc.) when switching between power sources. This will minimize arcing on the transfer switch. For a similar reason, you should always have the power pedestal breaker shut off when connecting or disconnecting your shore power cord to minimize arcing at the shore power plug/receptacle.

~Rick

I ran the a/c's on the generator at our destination and they never cut out. I left them on with the generator for about 30 minutes and nothing happened, as in the ran without incident. I didn't level the rig at all just so I could see if it was an off kilter thing (maybe generator oil level).


Plugged in to shore power now. Just came back in and the rear unit was shut off (set to auto and cool and t-stat at 70). Well there was a 20 amp breaker tripped in the breaker panel. I reset it (turned the unit to off) and then waited a few minutes and turned it back on. So, that is kind of odd for it to just cut off. This is the second time this has happened, it did it one time last week while we were in Florida.

Also, curious thing is that the t-stat showed 86 degrees and it is way cooler at that unit than 86. I wonder if my two t-stats are possibly messed up? These are RV comfort HP model t-stats. Now that this unit is running the temp has dropped about 11 degrees in about 2 minutes, like it realized it was too high. I'm probably reading too far into this part...


I am planning on taking it in for service for other things but I want to try and pin-point the error so the service guys don't have to do the leg work or tell me "Could not duplicate".