Have no electrical power and no propane on one side of coach

[majordad]

Need help, 1800 miles from home, I have lost the 120 volt power on passenger side of my 2001 Fleetwood Discovery and the propane does not work to the heater or refrigerator. The other day I started the coach as the batteries were low and let it run for about 15 minutes. I also Reset the a/c out 1 and 2 on the inverter and when I checked the bathroom lights, they came on. I releveled the coach and shut off the engine. As it got dark, I turned on the heater and it was working fine. Came back later to put the boys to bed and heater was blowing cold, ignition failure on the hot water heater and again no lights in bathroom..
Any advice as to what is wrong, we need the heater going home as it will be colder.
Merrill

[CA_Traveler]

What batteries were low? Chassis or house? Your post implies the house batteries are not being charged. Low house batteries can cause various and strange problems.

A $10 voltmeter is your friend and can REALLY HELP understand the problem. Per your post a 15 minute charge from the alternator is a bare minimum charge as it can take several hours to get the batteries up to mostly charged. Hence the lights etc when out again.

Please post the battery voltage of both banks.

Loss of AC could be a GFCI or some other loss of AC possibly on one leg of the 50A. Again a voltmeter is your friend. However probing AC can be dangerous and I recommend you get help for AC checking.

majordad wrote:
The other day I started the coach as the batteries were low and let it run for about 15 minutes. I also Reset the a/c out 1 and 2 on the inverter and when I checked the bathroom lights, they came on. I releveled the coach and shut off the engine. As it got dark, I turned on the heater and it was working fine. Came back later to put the boys to bed and heater was blowing cold, ignition failure on the hot water heater and again no lights in bathroom..

[cavie]

Majordad, did you find the Battery Disconnect at the door. Your lights are 12 volts. Your furnace has two 12 volt circuits, One for the fan motor and one for the control board. The same 12 volt circuit for the control board is shared with the WH.

[midnightsadie]

if you don,t get it fixed? might ask some one in your camp. or look up a rv mobil tech in that area. gfi should click when reset. let us know if you get it fixed,might help some one else in the future.

[rgatijnet1]

cavie wrote:

And some folks just try to help the newbies learn a language they are new to and know nothing about.

And some folks just like to post and still offer no help to the newbie with a problem. Right now he is trying to get his electrical issues fixed. Don't you think it would be best to get the problem fixed and then have a vocabulary lesson later? :R
He is 1800 miles from home, it is cold there, and he does not have his furnace.

[cavie]

Old-Biscuit wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:
Whatever the official name of the "salesman switch" is it doesn't completely disconnect the house battery from all of the loads. Mine disconnects some common loads like lights but not the refer and not other safety items.

Maybe it should be called "Battery Draw Reduction Disconnect Switch".

Even my 2 Monaco installed Battery Disconnect Switches (real mechanical switches) don't disconnect all loads from each battery bank. But the Battery Disconnect Switches I installed do indeed completely disconnect the batteries from all loads.

Correct terminology or not "Salesman Switch" uniquely identifies the small switch by the door that activates the latching solenoid near the batteries that disconnects some loads.

Salesman Switch
COMMON nomenclature used by MANY folks

Some folks just love to appear superior by denigrating others

And some folks just try to help the newbies learn a language they are new to and know nothing about.

[rgatijnet1]

Yes, but not likely for a bad inverter. Check the simple things first. Do you have a voltmeter to check that both 120 volt legs of your 50 amp service have power. This could be something as simple as the campground 50 amp breaker, or a loose wire in your power cord at either end. If you do not have a voltmeter, try to find someone that does and have them check to make sure that you have 120 volts at EACH input leg of your main circuit breaker in your electrical panel. It could be a bad transfer switch a loose wire but all of that is just guessing without a voltmeter. My coach had a GFI circuit breaker in one of the basement compartments which is easy to overlook.

If I used the wrong word for anything, I hope someone will correct me rather than helping the OP. :R

[majordad]

IS IT POSSIBLE FOR THE INVERTER TO BE BAD ON ONE SIDE AND GOOD ON THE OTHER

[RLS7201]

Some one on the internet mistakenly call the battery disconnect switch a salesman switch because they saw a salesman using it and now it's an internet truth. Geeeeeesh......

Richard

[Old-Biscuit]

CA Traveler wrote:
Whatever the official name of the "salesman switch" is it doesn't completely disconnect the house battery from all of the loads. Mine disconnects some common loads like lights but not the refer and not other safety items.

Maybe it should be called "Battery Draw Reduction Disconnect Switch".

Even my 2 Monaco installed Battery Disconnect Switches (real mechanical switches) don't disconnect all loads from each battery bank. But the Battery Disconnect Switches I installed do indeed completely disconnect the batteries from all loads.

Correct terminology or not "Salesman Switch" uniquely identifies the small switch by the door that activates the latching solenoid near the batteries that disconnects some loads.

Salesman Switch
COMMON nomenclature used by MANY folks

Some folks just love to appear superior by denigrating others

[CA_Traveler]

Whatever the official name of the "salesman switch" is it doesn't completely disconnect the house battery from all of the loads. Mine disconnects some common loads like lights but not the refer and not other safety items.

Maybe it should be called "Battery Draw Reduction Disconnect Switch".

Even my 2 Monaco installed Battery Disconnect Switches (real mechanical switches) don't disconnect all loads from each battery bank. But the Battery Disconnect Switches I installed do indeed completely disconnect the batteries from all loads.

Correct terminology or not "Salesman Switch" uniquely identifies the small switch by the door that activates the latching solenoid near the batteries that disconnects some loads.

[cavie]

dougrainer wrote:

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Switch the 50 amp breaker on the RV park power pole. You may have lost just one leg of the input power. The salesman switch shuts off basic power inside the coach and sometimes gets bumped to the off position. Most are right near the front door.

They are NOT called Salesman switches. They are called Battery Disconnect Switches. Doug

You are 100% correct Doug. Unfortunately the Majority of MH owners don't know any better. I don't think it is ever gonna change. I would love to hear one of them go to a hardware store and ask for a salesman switch.

It's like MH owners saying they have an RV and the rest of us have......I don't know, tents with wheel I guess.

[MarkTwain]

A long shot but----I had lost power to one side of my 5th wheel, after have the tech check all electrical systems, he went and unplugged the 50 amp shore line cord and then pushed it back on . The problem was that when I plugged in my shore line cord, I did not push it in all the way!!!! Easy fix but another one of those operator dumb mistakes by me!!!!

[dougrainer]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Switch the 50 amp breaker on the RV park power pole. You may have lost just one leg of the input power. The salesman switch shuts off basic power inside the coach and sometimes gets bumped to the off position. Most are right near the front door.

They are NOT called Salesman switches. They are called Battery Disconnect Switches. Doug

[enblethen]

Many Fleetwood products have a solenoid to turn the propane off at the tank. Check propane detector to insure it is on

[rgatijnet1]

Switch the 50 amp breaker on the RV park power pole. You may have lost just one leg of the input power. The salesman switch shuts off basic power inside the coach and sometimes gets bumped to the off position. Most are right near the front door.