Georgie Boy Pursuit electrical problem
Poking your brains! 2006 Pursuit - front of the RV electricity out. Apparent overload (thought I was OK, but seems like circuit breaker/fuse disagreed!). Tried the GFI in bathroom, but nothing. Ch...
Forum Discussion
2.
This sort of thing happens a lot in my own and other coaches like mine. This is just a real good first try. What I think you should is simple safe and really quite easy. You will need a flashlight and a good screw driver or three. If you don't have a head-mounted light, this is a little tougher unless you have a friend.
It important that you disconnect any line power sources to the coach and if you have an inverter, shut that down as well.
Open the main breaker box. When you look at the individual breakers, each will have a wire or two that go to a screw terminal. Try to tighten all those. Now look around in the box and find two bars with screws that are full of bare or white wires. Tighten all those screws too.
When you have done that, look at the receptacles (outlets) and start closest to the panel. Remove the center screw that holds the cover and then the two screws top and bottom and pull the receptacle clear of the box.
Now we get a little interesting. Most receptacle have 5 screws. I hope that the wires are under those screws. In a mobile installation, they are supposed to be. If they are, do the same screw tightening routine that you are now so practiced at doing. If the wires are not under screws, pull on each and if one comes out, put it back under a screw. White wires go under the silver screws and black go under the brass.
The receptacles are all "Daisy Chained" so, when you open the first, it will have two black, two white and two bare wires. One set feeds power to that receptacle and the other set goes on to the next.
When you find receptacles with two push buttons, those are GFIs (now called GFCI, but I am that old). Any of those could be open as in tripped or just plain bad. So, put everything back together and power up the unit and see were you are.
My bet is that you will find loose screws. It only takes one to shut down a branch. There are live circuit detectors that are not expensive, but they require that the circuit be live and then they can lie to you and tell you it is good when it is not.
When you are trying to decide if this is worth it, just remember that you would be paying some jamoke at an RV shop a lot of money to do this.
Happy Hunting
Matt
This sort of thing happens a lot in my own and other coaches like mine. This is just a real good first try. What I think you should is simple safe and really quite easy. You will need a flashlight and a good screw driver or three. If you don't have a head-mounted light, this is a little tougher unless you have a friend.
It important that you disconnect any line power sources to the coach and if you have an inverter, shut that down as well.
Open the main breaker box. When you look at the individual breakers, each will have a wire or two that go to a screw terminal. Try to tighten all those. Now look around in the box and find two bars with screws that are full of bare or white wires. Tighten all those screws too.
When you have done that, look at the receptacles (outlets) and start closest to the panel. Remove the center screw that holds the cover and then the two screws top and bottom and pull the receptacle clear of the box.
Now we get a little interesting. Most receptacle have 5 screws. I hope that the wires are under those screws. In a mobile installation, they are supposed to be. If they are, do the same screw tightening routine that you are now so practiced at doing. If the wires are not under screws, pull on each and if one comes out, put it back under a screw. White wires go under the silver screws and black go under the brass.
The receptacles are all "Daisy Chained" so, when you open the first, it will have two black, two white and two bare wires. One set feeds power to that receptacle and the other set goes on to the next.
When you find receptacles with two push buttons, those are GFIs (now called GFCI, but I am that old). Any of those could be open as in tripped or just plain bad. So, put everything back together and power up the unit and see were you are.
My bet is that you will find loose screws. It only takes one to shut down a branch. There are live circuit detectors that are not expensive, but they require that the circuit be live and then they can lie to you and tell you it is good when it is not.
When you are trying to decide if this is worth it, just remember that you would be paying some jamoke at an RV shop a lot of money to do this.
Happy Hunting
Matt
