Forum Discussion

pkick's avatar
pkick
Explorer
Oct 29, 2016

AC Power Issue

2011 Forest River Lexington. Ran a vacuum cleaner on the same ckt as the television. Out went the citcuit. I only lost the front 115v AC receptacles. Checked all ckt breakers several times. No breakers were tripped. The receptacles are on two 15 amp breakers. Apparently the only ckt with GFI is the unaffected toilet/kitchen ckt. I have an AC tester that shows current at all of the breakers.

Could an overheated ckt cause a power loss?
Noticed no burning wire smell either.

Thoughts?

v/r,
Paul
  • j-d's avatar
    j-d
    Explorer II
    Is that a rear view of a "Jensen Entertainment Center?"
  • $800 Chinese made piece of junk replacing with a 12v Sony AM/FM/CD and a Sony 115v Blue-Ray player. Lots of fun with the wiring and wood working...

  • Agree with the source of the wiring crew. Engineer by trade floored by this wiring mess...
  • j-d's avatar
    j-d
    Explorer II
    Suggest you not get into the TV Mounting Mess till you have more information. Join the FR forum if you haven't already. They may be able to hook you up with a diagram as soon as tomorrow.

    Did the Vacuum actually RUN for any period of time? Or did the circuit pop as soon as you turned it on?

    Couple points about RV wiring:

    1. Most RV's are wired like houses. The plan says "this switch turns this light on" but does not say how to run the wiring. Makes things hard to trace.

    2. Many RV's are built in a part of the USA where the crew who wired your coach may not have electricity in their own homes.
  • Thanks. Now for the fun of dismounting the TV. A true rats nest of wiring back there. Wiring diagrams seem to be a rare item in the RV world. :-)
  • I would say that you have a partially tripped circuit breaker.
    Turn off all circuit breakers and apply light pressure toward "off". Then turn on main breaker if equipped followed by branch breakers one at a time.
  • j-d's avatar
    j-d
    Explorer II
    We shouldn't be guessing, but here are three guesses:

    1. Another GFCI somewhere. Some appliances will trip a GFCI while being turned on or off but not if plugged in while switched on. We have two identical little fans. One trips GFCI if turned ON while plugged in, the other does not. Runs fine if plugged in with its switch ON.

    2. Partially tripped Breaker. I don't like this guess because a big residential vacuum's about 08 Amps, and a TV is more like 01. Now if some other appliance is on that breaker, then sure, vacuum might trip a 15 Amp breaker.

    3. Fault in the coach wiring, like a failed connection at breaker or outlet.

    For ALL these reasons, I think you need to do whatever it takes to get an AC Wiring Diagram for YOUR Make/Year/Model. Then post it here and we can help better. Narrow down the guessing. The FR forums might help, if not, call the company.
  • Did you measure 120V AC on both sides of those 15A CBs?

    Did you Open and then RE-CLOSE both of those 15A CBs? (looking at them may not show they are tripped)

    Did you look for another GFCI outlet in outside compartments that may have tripped?

    RV 120V AC outlets are junk..they use a 'v' shaped clip to hold wiring.
    Wires come loose, 'v' clips can burn etc.

    Wiring comes from an 120V AC CB and then will be daisy chained to outlets.
    First outlet in chain goes bad, issue with wiring/clip etc and all outlets downstream will not have power.

    Check CB, check first outlet in stream etc. Locate where 120V AC IS and where it isn't (may require pulling outlet to check wiring/clips)