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kahoona's avatar
kahoona
Explorer II
Jun 18, 2019

Need wiring diagram and help

We recently bought a 2008 National Tropical 33'. I am trying to fix a problem with the electrical outlets. I need an electrical diagram showing the 120 wiring and outlets.
There are 2 breakers that control 120 outlets. One is for bath, dinette and galley. They all work. The other says Bedroom GFI 3. The three in the bedroom do not work. Neither do the 2 for the TV's, the passenger seat outlet or the the outlet on the dash (with a GFI reset.)
Right after we got it home I pressed the button to connect the inverter and the outlet on the dash caught fire. It apparently had been replaced before. The inverter does work properly.

Here is what I checked

I checked every other outlet in the RV to see if there was another GFI circuit or others that were out.
I checked for power coming out of the breaker (yes) then for continuity between the breaker and all of the outlets that did not work.(no). I checked for continuity between the dead outlets and another breaker to see if they might be on another breaker. (no)
I pulled all of the outlets from the wall and checked to see if they were connected properly.(yes)
I checked for continuity between the dead outlets to see if they were connected to each other. (they are)

I think that perhaps there is a wire loose or burnt somewhere under the RV. It is possible that it happened when the dashboard GFI outlet caught fire. Or possibly the dashboard outlet was a separate problem.Not sure.

If this was in our house or older RV I would follow the wire from the breaker where it goes through the floor and find out where it is not connected and then repair any problem areas but on this RV all wires are inside black corrugated tubes and those are often encased in black foam. There are so many cables that go through the floor that there is now way to even start looking. If I had a diagram I could at least know where to look. Is there a place to get those things?
Thanks
  • I had a 2009 National SurfSide 34' Class'A'. U'r symptoms sound familiar. My problem was always caused by the 'Automatic Transfer switch RELAY. This switch, in my rig, was nothing more than a large multipin plug in type relay with a see thru plastic top. It was located in a gray metal electrical box in one of my left side, outside storage bins. U'r fire in the dashboard sounds like a separate issue, probably an idiot rewired the GFI circuits.
  • Do you have a Xantrex inverter. If you do disconnect from power then remove the small plate on the front of the inverter, Inside you will see wire nuts connecting the AC wiring that passes through the inverter. On mine the connections had vibrated loose and had even melted the wires. I was able to get enough slack to cut off the bad parts and reconnect the wires. This was on an 04 National Tropi Cal so could be the same. Your problem sounds very similar to the symptoms I was experiencing.
  • Outlets are usually daisy-chain wired off the GFI breaker. Open breaker, pull the GFI out of the wall and inspect it. Check wiring connections. If nothing observable, isolate the GFI from all other outlets by removing those daisychained wires, power it up and check to see if it's working right. Continue on to each outlet until it's isolated. It's ether the breaker or the GFI if you want to just shotgun it.
  • kahoona wrote:
    I checked for continuity between the dead outlets to see if they were connected to each other. (they are)
    Did you check continuity back to the breaker?

    Did you check the outdoor outlet? Fridge outlet? Storage compartment? Transfer switch on the inverter?
  • I would start at the GFCI outlet, confirm power to the outlet, it may have been wired so the single GFCI protected all outlets on the circuit, and if that GFCI were faulty, all outlets after it would be dead.
    Good Luck.

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