electrical problem Help

[mfitz709]

Our coach all of a sudden loses land power for no reason and then in a few minutes comes back on! Not a breaker, I've looked for a short with no luck. Any ideas would be welcome, has this ever happened to anyone?
It kind of messes up our camping. Help please.

[gutfelt]

mfitz709 wrote:
thanks for all the advice, taking it to my rv mechanic next Tuesday. He believes its the power converter going bad.

as tinstar posted its nothing to do with converter at all>> best get a different RV mechanic if he told you that
forgot to ask does it do this on several different Rv shore power sources or did you only try one?

[Tinstar]

A power converter just converts 120 volts to 12 volts. I don't know how that could be causing you to lose all 120 power in the coach unless it's shorting something out. If it was doing that, I would think you would find a thrown breaker.

[mfitz709]

thanks for all the advice, taking it to my rv mechanic next Tuesday. He believes its the power converter going bad.

[gutfelt]

wgriswold wrote:

gutfelt wrote:

wgriswold wrote:
I had the same problem and it was a failing 30 amp fuse holder next to the pos post on the battery. Eventually it got burned enough to completely fail and then I found it. I replaced the fuse holder and the problem went away.

there wont be any 30 amp fuse holder that has anything to do with a 50 amp 120V system cutting in and out

No, 30 amp was mine but there might an analogous failure here.

no or at least I don't see the comparison

[doxiemom11]

Our EMS would frequently cut power because of low voltage or power surge. Called power company, they found something bad with the power source at the power pole - their wires and fixed it and we didn't have problems after that. It could sometimes be 3-4 times a day.

[wgriswold]

gutfelt wrote:

wgriswold wrote:
I had the same problem and it was a failing 30 amp fuse holder next to the pos post on the battery. Eventually it got burned enough to completely fail and then I found it. I replaced the fuse holder and the problem went away.

there wont be any 30 amp fuse holder that has anything to do with a 50 amp 120V system cutting in and out

No, 30 amp was mine but there might an analogous failure here.

[gutfelt]

wgriswold wrote:
I had the same problem and it was a failing 30 amp fuse holder next to the pos post on the battery. Eventually it got burned enough to completely fail and then I found it. I replaced the fuse holder and the problem went away.

there wont be any 30 amp fuse holder that has anything to do with a 50 amp 120V system cutting in and out

[wgriswold]

I had the same problem and it was a failing 30 amp fuse holder next to the pos post on the battery. Eventually it got burned enough to completely fail and then I found it. I replaced the fuse holder and the problem went away.

[gutfelt]

mfitz709 wrote:
Drew its 120 volts at the house. Even when plugged in to 50 amp service it does the same..

STBretired I believe is on the right track I bought a 2008 allegro bus 7 years ago; the first winter my power would go off and back on
for no reason; that summer I had a look in the ATS wiring and found the neutral was loose and had gotten real hot; repaired the wire and never a problem since

[STBRetired]

Examine your shore power cord closely for signs of heating which would indicate a poor connection or broken wire inside the cord. Pay particular attention to the plug itself looking for loose prongs or sign of heat.

Follow the cord to where it ends inside your MH. Look to see if you have an EMS system installed (Progressive Industries, SurgeGuard, etc). That might be sensing a voltage problem, or might be defective and false triggering. If you don't have an EMS, then the shore cord should connect to your ATS. There could possibly be a failing contactor or control board in the ATS. There could also possibly be a loose connection inside the EMS (if you have one) or ATS where the power cables connect. Make sure you disconnect from all power before you check those connections.

How frequently does it do this? Can you have someone listen to the ATS to hear if the contactor drops out when the power fails?

[mfitz709]

Drew its 120 volts at the house. Even when plugged in to 50 amp service it does the same..

[DrewE]

Is this 12V power (lights and stuff) or 120V power?

If it's 12V power, possibly there's a self-resetting circuit breaker that's cycling either from an overload or because it's old and worn out.

[Sam_Spade]

mfitz709 wrote:
Not a breaker, I've looked for a short with no luck.

Not a breaker tripping but maybe one going bad.
You NEED a meter to find out exactly where the power is disappearing.

It would not be a short you are looking for but an intermittent OPEN, a bad connection somewhere.

But if you have a power management system, the previous post applies. I would think/hope that if that was the problem that that system would make some alarms or light some warning lights.

[10forty2]

Sounds like you may have a electrical management system that is sensing a bad current source and is shutting it down to protect your RV. The EMS could also be bad. Or, you could have a bad transfer switch.