Hello all, I am new here and am armed with questions. First I am not new to camping, but I am new to electrical on my camper. I have a 1979 Prowler 19E. It is a great sturdy trailer but when I was in Kentucky last summer I had several appliances going at once and then suddenly they stopped. (microwave, Fridge, a plug in box fan, my computer, and several lights. The trailer was plugged in.) I checked all the fuses and breakers and they are fine. It is only the plugs on the right hand side of the trailer. The plugs on the left still work. I am wondering if I fried half of the inverter as it is 36 years old? It does make a electrical hum as all old electronics do. But not a buzzing like sparks jumping. Or is something else wrong. What are your ideas? Also the 12V system never really worked correctly. The lights were very dim, and if you ran the water pump they were non existent. Could that have been an early symptom? Thanks for the input. -Nick.

I didn't know inverters were even available 36 years ago.

Check your GCFI outlets, one is most likely tripped. This can affect only some of the outlets.And, you most likely dont have an inverter (DC>AC) in your TT, but rather a converter (AC>DC).

Check your GFI for the outlets... or a lose connection early in the string.Breakers don't always look tripped and must be firmly switched off and firmly back on to reset.As for 12 volt you probably need a new converter and a new battery.

The ac outlets have nothing to do w/ any converter, or inverter (if you have one.The ac outlets come straight from the ac power cord.....thru the ac distribution box that seperates the circuits thru breakers.Like said, look for tripped GFIs

sch911 wrote:Check your GCFI outlets, one is most likely tripped. This can affect only some of the outlets.And, you most likely dont have an inverter (DC>AC) in your TT, but rather a converter (AC>DC).That makes sense, converter. (ac>dc) Lesson learned thanks. I am not sure if the trailer has GCFI outlets but I will go out there and check to see if there are any and if they are tripped.

Power inverter issue | Good Sam Community

2oldman
Explorer II
Apr 14, 2015
I didn't know inverters were even available 36 years ago.
sch911
Explorer
Apr 14, 2015
Check your GCFI outlets, one is most likely tripped. This can affect only some of the outlets.
And, you most likely dont have an inverter (DC>AC) in your TT, but rather a converter (AC>DC).
time2roll
Nomad
Apr 14, 2015
Check your GFI for the outlets... or a lose connection early in the string.
Breakers don't always look tripped and must be firmly switched off and firmly back on to reset.

As for 12 volt you probably need a new converter and a new battery.
RJsfishin
Explorer
Apr 14, 2015
The ac outlets have nothing to do w/ any converter, or inverter (if you have one.

The ac outlets come straight from the ac power cord.....thru the ac distribution box that seperates the circuits thru breakers.
Like said, look for tripped GFIs
1979Prowler
Explorer
Apr 14, 2015
sch911 wrote:
Check your GCFI outlets, one is most likely tripped. This can affect only some of the outlets.
And, you most likely dont have an inverter (DC>AC) in your TT, but rather a converter (AC>DC).

That makes sense, converter. (ac>dc) Lesson learned thanks. I am not sure if the trailer has GCFI outlets but I will go out there and check to see if there are any and if they are tripped.
1979Prowler
Explorer
Apr 14, 2015
RJsfishin wrote:
The ac outlets have nothing to do w/ any converter, or inverter (if you have one.

The ac outlets come straight from the ac power cord.....thru the ac distribution box that seperates the circuits thru breakers.
Like said, look for tripped GFIs

O.k. that makes more sense. I said the wrong thing it is a converter. I will check for tripped brekers and gcfi plugs. Thanks.
MrWizard
Moderator
Apr 15, 2015
Bad main breaker ?
Loose connection on main power?
Burnt connection in shore power cord, in the 30 amp plug
Or in the junction box
BFL13
Explorer II
Apr 15, 2015
1979Prowler wrote:
Hello all, I am new here and am armed with questions.
First I am not new to camping, but I am new to electrical on my camper. I have a 1979 Prowler 19E. It is a great sturdy trailer but when I was in Kentucky last summer I had several appliances going at once and then suddenly they stopped. (microwave, Fridge, a plug in box fan, my computer, and several lights. The trailer was plugged in.) I checked all the fuses and breakers and they are fine. It is only the plugs on the right hand side of the trailer. The plugs on the left still work.

I am wondering if I fried half of the inverter as it is 36 years old? It does make a electrical hum as all old electronics do. But not a buzzing like sparks jumping.
Or is something else wrong. What are your ideas?

Also the 12V system never really worked correctly. The lights were very dim, and if you ran the water pump they were non existent. Could that have been an early symptom? Thanks for the input. -Nick.

You have at least two 120v receptacle circuits and each has its own 120v breaker on the panel. One of those circuits doesn't work, the other does.

The converter, however primitive, operates from 120v and makes 12v from that. You converter's charger is not working. You might have a converter that works but the charger part does not. Either way, with no charger part, your batteries will run down as noted.

Your 120v to the converter might be gone along with that one receptacle's circuit's 120v or you might still have 120v to the converter, but no charger part working.

With your digital multimeter you can find out what 120v is working or not and where. and you can check for 12v amount at the battery posts to see if it is at converter value of 13.6v approx. or just 12.x (or less) from battery only.
Golden_HVAC
Explorer
Apr 15, 2015
Hi,

36 years ago, they did not have many inverters, and probably never installed 1 GFI in your trailer!

You probably tripped a 15 - 20 amp circuit breaker feeding 1/2 of your trailer. Next time do not run so many things at once, or plug some of the stuff into the other side of the RV, so that you do not put more than 20 amps on the circuit that also has the microwave.

If you have a 15 amp circuit breaker, then likely the 12.4 amp microwave caused it to overload.

Good luck,

Have fun camping!

Fred.
westend
Explorer
Apr 15, 2015
Some of these circa '70's trailers had a 12V system that was switched on the distribution panel faceplate to run either the 12V system or charge the battery. You could not do both at once. That might be part of the 12 V side not charging the batteries.

The 120V problem is probably due to overloading a branch circuit. Turn "off-on" all circuit breakers to reset them. There may also be a loose connection in the load center. The large draw of multiple appliances may have caused the last bit of connecting wire to disappear. I would check the load center wiring, anyway, as trailer wiring can vibrate loose. Tighten all connections in the load center (we don't need to tell you to disconnect the shore power when doing this?).

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