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Parrothead_Mike's avatar
Parrothead_Mike
Explorer
Jun 20, 2015

Lightening Strike - Possible RV Damage

Last Saturday night we had a thunder storm pass through. It seemed as though a strike hit very close to our house. It knocked out the TV I was watching and shut down the desktop computer I was surfing on. The lights did not go out in the house. The TV came back on, but not the pc. In addition, I've found several other items throughout the house that were damaged: One of 4 cable boxes (all TVs were fine), my son's laptop charging cord (but not the laptop), the charging cord to a basic telephone, our wireless router. BTW, the TV I was watching was on the same surge protector as the pc, but the pc is fried and the TV is fine.

I hadn't thought of checking my RV that was plugged into an outlet in the garage until I was putting my slides out & back in and the battery level went down to almost nil. I get no power out of that outlet now and after about 5 days the battery died. I have no power to the RV even when I plug into a working outlet. I charged my battery for 1.5 hours and the indicator shows no battery power to the RV.

I did make an appointment at the local RV dealer for next week, but I'm not sure how I can get the landing gears to operate on battery. The dealer service person indicated to me that he thought the converter was shot. I was wondering whether my power cord (50 amp) may be damaged as well. I would think that plugging into a working outlet would at least supply power to turn on the lights. Is the fact that the converter may be shot responsible that nothing works even through the battery? How significant could the damage be relative to my RV?

I have a neighbor that may be able to help me check a couple of possibilities when he gets home tomorrow as I'm not much when it comes to electrical matters. Sorry for the long post. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
  • MEXICOWANDERER's avatar
    MEXICOWANDERER
    Explorer
    Jul 05, 2015
    Without a 101% electrical checkout you may have a Pandora's Box In the making. The shore power cord must be inspected internally. The same for the breaker box and fuses. Meticulous eyeball insoection using strong lighting. Boil a gallon of water in the microwave. Take the rig on a bumpy road then recheck. Several million volts cruising on ionized pathways can do weird things. Never underestimate it.
  • Harvey51's avatar
    Harvey51
    Explorer
    Jul 05, 2015
    Wow, what a hit! I would definitely want to have an electrician inspect the entire electrical system in the house and RV. For example, wire connections inside terminal boxes could have been damaged.

    A neat way to check some of this out yourself is to set a multimeter on an AC volts range 150 volts or higher, and stick the probes into a plug in. The voltage will be close to 120 V. Then plug a kettle into the other outlet on the same plug in and note how much the voltage drops. Drops up to 5 volts or so are normal, depending on things inside and outside your house. An outlet with a higher voltage drop than others in your house or RV is worrisome and should be drawn to the attention of the electrician. I wouldn't be using one with a drop of ten more than other outlets because it means there is a heat loss in some connection amounting to ten per cent of the kettle heat - enough to melt wire if it is concentrated in one spot.

    Check everything that was connected to AC power. Smoke detectors, sump pump, circuit breakers (especially GFCI and AFCIs with sensitive electronics in them), and so is on. I wouldn't be surprised if you have an insurance claim in the thousands of dollars.
  • Parrothead_Mike's avatar
    Parrothead_Mike
    Explorer
    Jun 21, 2015
    Thanks for the input everyone. I've been making a list to what everyone said in addition to another thread on the same topic. I have charged the battery on my neighbor's electric charger. It only charged 85% so there may be some damage there since this is a new unit. I put it into the camper and the light on my radio and the inside fridge light came on. I didn't check any further as I put the battery back on charge. It goes into service this coming Wednesday. Thankfully we didn't have any trips planned until later in July.

    On my list to purchase: A good certified surge protector and a better battery charger.
  • Oaklevel's avatar
    Oaklevel
    Explorer
    Jun 21, 2015
    AS far as the landing gear plug the 12V light/power cord into your tow vehicle it should have a 12V hot pin and the landing gear should work, if the motor is not fried, should go up, or you could blow the fuse on the truck but it is worth the try. Be sure to see that the taillights still work as well.

    If your converter is shot you will not get any inside lights but the exterior 12V lights tail / turn signals Etc. should still work.

    Good Luck !!!!
  • fla-gypsy's avatar
    fla-gypsy
    Explorer
    Jun 21, 2015
    A lightning strike on my TT took out the converter, tv antenna booster, power cord etc. insurance paid for repairs.
  • Poppy___Nana's avatar
    Poppy___Nana
    Explorer
    Jun 20, 2015
    Ring Ring - Hello (insert insurance company name) we have a problem!
    After you call your home insurance, make the next call for your trailer insurance!!!!!
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Jun 20, 2015
    You have 2 electrical systems in RV
    120V AC and 12V DC

    120V AC via power cord....runs microwave, A/C Unit, wall outlets and powers converter.

    12V DC via converter (if on shore power)and/or battery.....runs lights, water pump , t-stat for A/C Unit, fridge/water heater controls, furnace etc.
    Converter also charges battery when on shore power


    No shore power....parasitic draw on batter---battery goes dead
    Converter can be damaged by lightning surge........also circuit boards on appliances that were on.

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