2003 Mountain Aire. Full time now and have been hooked to shore power for about a month. Cut off shore power today to run genny awhile to exercise it. Generator fired up went inside to cut on some items to work it and I had no power anywhere on 110 volts. 12 volts was working but nothing 110. Checked switches in breaker box, switches on generator and all was on. Cut it all off and put back on shore power and all was well again. I did this several times with no luck. Checked batteries. Did not see any bad or loose connections. Water levels good. Showed power at batteries was good. Thought it might be converter switch sticking but not sure. Did not see a fuse bad at converter and all looks okay. Bumped converter box couple of times hoping it was stuck switch but no luck. Surge protector on shore power was on and all lights showed power was good. New surge protector. Can you guys give me some help. I am still learning and not a electrician but can deal with some things. Thanks for help.

Did you check the breakers on the genset?Do you hear anything from the transfer switch? Should make a pronounced click going to genset or shore power.

The CONVERTER does NOT switch 120 power. The TRANSFER box converts power and there are NO fuses on it. You were looking at the wrong component if the box you were bumping had a fuse on it. Newmar mounted both the Transfer box and the Converter in the same compartment. At this point, the ONLY thing to do is to take the cover OFF the Transfer box and verify that when the Genset is running you have 120 power on the Genset connections at the Transfer box. Since you state you are learning, be VERY careful when you put your multitester leads in that box. It may be better to get someone else to help you. IF you have NO 120 power at the genset leads at the Transfer box, then you have a Genset problem. Is your Genset a Onan or a Powertech? Doug

My bad in description. I said I bumped converter but meant transfer switch. It is mounted above the converter in power compartment. Have not pulled cover off. I can hear it click then hum when hooking to shore power but hard to tell when cutting on gen. as it is on other side of coach. I will get wife to start it up for me while I listen to it. If it is transfer switch how hard is it to replace.

Before I would take the cover off of the transfer switch, I would plug in to shore power again and see if it clicks. If it clicks, the transfer switch is OK. There is no need to do that again with the generator running. If the transfer switch does not click when you start the generator, check the circuit breaker on the generator itself. These may be difficult to find on some generators but it should be on the front side. Try resetting the circuit breaker and see if that fixes your problem. If not, it may be time to contact someone to service your generator.

revrick3 wrote:2003 Mountain Aire. Full time now and have been hooked to shore power for about a month. Cut off shore power today to run genny awhile to exercise it. Generator fired up went inside to cut on some items to work it and I had no power anywhere on 110 volts. 12 volts was working but nothing 110. Checked switches in breaker box, switches on generator and all was on. Cut it all off and put back on shore power and all was well again. I did this several times with no luck. Checked batteries. Did not see any bad or loose connections. Water levels good. Showed power at batteries was good. Thought it might be converter switch sticking but not sure. Did not see a fuse bad at converter and all looks okay. Bumped converter box couple of times hoping it was stuck switch but no luck. Surge protector on shore power was on and all lights showed power was good. New surge protector. Can you guys give me some help. I am still learning and not a electrician but can deal with some things. Thanks for help.If you haven't turned of your genset circuit breaker and turned it back on, as yet, do so and before going any further.Once the generator is running, unplug from shore, so there's no question of where the would be power, is coming from.

Power out on generator | Good Sam Community

dougrainer
Nomad
Dec 18, 2016
rgatijnet1 wrote:
pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Just because it clicks does not mean it doesn't have burned contacts on the generator side. I dislike transfer switches.

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Before I would take the cover off of the transfer switch, I would plug in to shore power again and see if it clicks. If it clicks, the transfer switch is OK.
There is no need to do that again with the generator running.
If the transfer switch does not click when you start the generator, check the circuit breaker on the generator itself. These may be difficult to find on some generators but it should be on the front side. Try resetting the circuit breaker and see if that fixes your problem. If not, it may be time to contact someone to service your generator.

If the power is transferring on shore power when it clicks, then the power will transfer on generator, if the generator has output. It is the same contacts on the output.

WRONG assumption. Just because it transfers power on Shore does NOT mean the genset side is operating. There are 2 seperate relay's for each side and one can burn out or fail while the other operates. There are different modes of various Transfer switches. Depends on the model Transfer switch. 1 model the shore power relay STAY CLOSED and you will not hear a click when shore power is connected. Others, you will hear that click when connecting shore power because each relay is already OPEN. YOU WILL ALWAYS HEAR A CLICK WHEN ON GENSET AFTER THE 45 SECOND DELAY OF TRANSFER, REGARDLESS OF MODEL. That is why I stated to check for 120 power at the Genset input at the Transfer switch. That is the easiest, quickest thing to do. Doing anything else is a big waste of time. Doug
rgatijnet1
Explorer III
Dec 18, 2016
pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Just because it clicks does not mean it doesn't have burned contacts on the generator side. I dislike transfer switches.

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Before I would take the cover off of the transfer switch, I would plug in to shore power again and see if it clicks. If it clicks, the transfer switch is OK.
There is no need to do that again with the generator running.
If the transfer switch does not click when you start the generator, check the circuit breaker on the generator itself. These may be difficult to find on some generators but it should be on the front side. Try resetting the circuit breaker and see if that fixes your problem. If not, it may be time to contact someone to service your generator.

If the power is transferring on shore power when it clicks, then the power will transfer on generator, if the generator has output. It is the same contacts on the output.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Dec 18, 2016
Hi,

Just because it clicks does not mean it doesn't have burned contacts on the generator side. I dislike transfer switches.

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Before I would take the cover off of the transfer switch, I would plug in to shore power again and see if it clicks. If it clicks, the transfer switch is OK.
There is no need to do that again with the generator running.
If the transfer switch does not click when you start the generator, check the circuit breaker on the generator itself. These may be difficult to find on some generators but it should be on the front side. Try resetting the circuit breaker and see if that fixes your problem. If not, it may be time to contact someone to service your generator.
rgatijnet1
Explorer III
Dec 18, 2016
revrick3 wrote:
Checked all breakers and ok. I made mistake about bumping converter, I meant transfer switch. Pulled off cover and all looks okay. When on shore power it hums and clicks when cutting on power. When cutting on genny nothing, no click or hum. How can I tell if the switch is bad or if genny not sending power to switch>

Did you check the breakers in your Main electrical panel or the small breakers that are right on the generator? Reset the breaker ON the generator.
revrick3
Explorer
Dec 18, 2016
Checked all breakers and ok. I made mistake about bumping converter, I meant transfer switch. Pulled off cover and all looks okay. When on shore power it hums and clicks when cutting on power. When cutting on genny nothing, no click or hum. How can I tell if the switch is bad or if genny not sending power to switch>
tropical36
Explorer
Dec 18, 2016
revrick3 wrote:
2003 Mountain Aire. Full time now and have been hooked to shore power for about a month. Cut off shore power today to run genny awhile to exercise it. Generator fired up went inside to cut on some items to work it and I had no power anywhere on 110 volts. 12 volts was working but nothing 110. Checked switches in breaker box, switches on generator and all was on. Cut it all off and put back on shore power and all was well again. I did this several times with no luck. Checked batteries. Did not see any bad or loose connections. Water levels good. Showed power at batteries was good. Thought it might be converter switch sticking but not sure. Did not see a fuse bad at converter and all looks okay. Bumped converter box couple of times hoping it was stuck switch but no luck. Surge protector on shore power was on and all lights showed power was good. New surge protector. Can you guys give me some help. I am still learning and not a electrician but can deal with some things. Thanks for help.

If you haven't turned of your genset circuit breaker and turned it back on, as yet, do so and before going any further.
Once the generator is running, unplug from shore, so there's no question of where the would be power, is coming from.
rgatijnet1
Explorer III
Dec 18, 2016
Before I would take the cover off of the transfer switch, I would plug in to shore power again and see if it clicks. If it clicks, the transfer switch is OK.
There is no need to do that again with the generator running.
If the transfer switch does not click when you start the generator, check the circuit breaker on the generator itself. These may be difficult to find on some generators but it should be on the front side. Try resetting the circuit breaker and see if that fixes your problem. If not, it may be time to contact someone to service your generator.
revrick3
Explorer
Dec 18, 2016
My bad in description. I said I bumped converter but meant transfer switch. It is mounted above the converter in power compartment. Have not pulled cover off. I can hear it click then hum when hooking to shore power but hard to tell when cutting on gen. as it is on other side of coach. I will get wife to start it up for me while I listen to it. If it is transfer switch how hard is it to replace.
dougrainer
Nomad
Dec 18, 2016
The CONVERTER does NOT switch 120 power. The TRANSFER box converts power and there are NO fuses on it. You were looking at the wrong component if the box you were bumping had a fuse on it. Newmar mounted both the Transfer box and the Converter in the same compartment. At this point, the ONLY thing to do is to take the cover OFF the Transfer box and verify that when the Genset is running you have 120 power on the Genset connections at the Transfer box. Since you state you are learning, be VERY careful when you put your multitester leads in that box. It may be better to get someone else to help you. IF you have NO 120 power at the genset leads at the Transfer box, then you have a Genset problem. Is your Genset a Onan or a Powertech? Doug
enblethen
Nomad
Dec 18, 2016
Did you check the breakers on the genset?
Do you hear anything from the transfer switch? Should make a pronounced click going to genset or shore power.

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