Electrical Issue

[SkyCop4U]

I just replaces one GFI with sucess. It appears that the other GFI is dead. No voltage going to it. All circuit breakers in the coach are ON, the breakers on the inverter are IN.

2008 Discovery

Ideas?

[JimM68]

worth knowing:

If there is power to the gfci, it will click when you press the test button, and again when you press the on button.

No power, no click.

If it doesn't click, your problems is BEFORE the GFI.
Wiring or curcuit breaker. Breaker could be at the inverter/converter if that is what feeds this circuit.

[wa8yxm]

If there is no voltage TO the GFCI, then the GFCI will not work.

Now: The suspect list:
No power to coach, or to that leg of coach
Tripped breaker (you said you checked but did you do it visually or did you use the tactile test (Try and reset it) Some breakers do not clearly show "Tripped" all the time, but they usually FEEL tripped).

Screw loose.
Bad wire.

I am fond of saying many RVers have a few screws loose.. One of the circuit breakers in my RV took over two full turns before I felt any resistance it was that loose... In addition I had a loose screw on my power inlet.. On two other RV's I've found loose screws on the power cord outlet end (on one all the screws in the power cord were loose, all six of 'em, the end came off in my hand).

Finally.. I have had one case (mine) of bad wire.. This is very very very rare.

(NOTE: unless the wire runs straight from the breaker to the GFCI... there may be a bad connection at any point where there is a connection.

[Lobstah]

When you say that you checked the GFI and there's no voltage, where are you checking? In the plug, or on the wires going TO the plug?
My GFI was tripped, killing the entire circuit which fed 6 outlets. Wiring ran from the breaker panel to the GFI in the bathroom, from there to an outlet by the bedroom sink, from there to an outlet down below the sink in my wetbay, and from there back to the kitchen counter outlet, from there down below the cabinets to feed my converter, and from there to the last outlet in the circuit, right below the kitchen cabinets in my basement bay. THAT last outlet was filled with water/corrosion.
Once I disconnected the outlet (keeping wires separated) I could reset the GFI and all was good.
I replaced the outlet and everything has been fine since.

The point is that if you have a bad outlet/short further down the chain, and you install a new GFI, it won't energize until the problem is fixed. It was easy to figure out which wires were the "feed" wires on my GFI when I took it out of the wall. If I disconnected the wires that were leaving the GFI for the next outlet in the circuit, it would energize, so I knew the fault was further down the line.
So kill the breaker feeding the GFI, then pull the GFI back out and disconnect the wires leaving the GFI for the next outlet, then energize the breaker and see if you can reset the GFI. If you can, like I said, it's further down the line.

Jim

[2ndhom]

garry1p wrote:
When you installed the GFCI there is a LINE side and a LOAD side.

They will only work if the incoming AC goes to the Line and the Load goes to the downstream outlets.

If you wired it backwards (hot on the neutral)then it would immediately trip.

Yep ......

[garry1p]

When you installed the GFCI there is a LINE side and a LOAD side.

They will only work if the incoming AC goes to the Line and the Load goes to the downstream outlets.

If you wired it backwards (hot on the neutral)then it would immediately trip.

[OnaQuest]

If you can't find the problem by Tuesday morning, have your rig VIN and FIN ready, and contact Fleetwood Customer Service. Request all the electrical, plumbing and heating diagrams applicable to your coach. They will e-mail them to you almost immediately. The circuit diagrams are fairly detailed and will show general routing layout.

[enblethen]

Look under the slide for a connector pulled apart or a cable that has been pulled tight.

[SkyCop4U]

but not all

[trop-a-cal]

Circuit Breakers, GFI's spark when connected to power and when they disconnect. That spark builds up carbon on the metal elements and the carbon causes voltage to drop and is perhaps causing your GFI's to think there is a short. The first thing that indicates bad circuit breakers and or GFI's is a smell of the encasement around them to oxidized and finally melt. That is present in may RV's due to the overloading and low voltage coming from the shore supply,( plug in to power ). Start at the supply in point, and clean the contacts on the RV male plug terminals. Then check the electric connections at the RV circuit breaker box, including the tightness of the wire hold downs, and the breakers themselves and where the connect to the main breaker entrance bars. Sometimes if you shake the breakers, (when they are out), you can hear the inside components move around and hit each other, which means the spring motion is too loose due to age and use. Of course do all that when power is off, shore and generator.

[SkyCop4U]

yes

[enblethen]

Are the bad receptacles on a slide?

[SkyCop4U]

Ok... still no good. I can tell you the GFI (over the bathroom sink) has nothing coming out. That means it only protects itself. There is no electric going in. Wires are cold. Three other plues are also dead. All on the same side of the coach.

[Executive45]

First question: Did you have power to the bad GFI prior to messing with the electrical?

IF the second GFI is connected to the first one, you may not have the neutral connected properly. Start there and check your wiring. If that checks out then you'll have to start at the bad GFI and work backwards. Test each receptacle until you find a 'live' one. This is assuming you know all the plugs on that circuit. Once you've found that live one, turn off the circuit breaker and check for a loose wire in that box. Remember each circuit has two wires, the white neutral wire, which goes to the silver screw, and the hot, which can be any color other than white or green. That one attaches to the gold screw..your power travels out from the elec panel through the black wire and returns through the white one, completing the circuit. Any break in that system will cause any outlets downstream to stop functioning.....Dennis

[enblethen]

Just looking at circuit breakers don't mean they are really on.
Turn all the circuit breakers off applying light pressure toward off. Then turn main breaker on, followed by branch breakers one at a time.
Verify that the fuses and circuit breakers are good in the inverter. Check fuses for inverter with meter. Reset the circuit breakers in the inverter. make sure the inverter is powering up and is on.