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]

rk911 wrote:

majordad wrote:
Turning on the generator has given me back the missing power, so do you think the transfer switch is failing. We are in a rest area 150 miles from the New Mexico border and heading home.

bad or possibly loose or corroded connections. that would certainly explain the power loss.

The cord plug is another likely candidate for failure.

The best way to know is to check the voltages and isolate the problem.

[wa8yxm]

Forgot about this true story.... When I was "Stuck" in GA for a while I made a few friends. One of them knocked on my door to tell me his neighbor had no electric in half his coach (His was wired so L-1 fed one side L-2 the other) As we walked back to the problem coach I ask if he had an INVERTER.. he did not know.

He unlocked a compartment. the battery bay.. So I had him unlock the one next to it. Sure enough there was a very nice inverter (Tripp-Lite) and one of the breakers was TRIPPED.. I reset. he went inside and his wife ask "Does he think he can help" the husband said "He's already fixed it" and so I had.

NO as for the Propane... Can't help you there.

[rk911]

majordad wrote:
Turning on the generator has given me back the missing power, so do you think the transfer switch is failing. We are in a rest area 150 miles from the New Mexico border and heading home.

bad or possibly loose or corroded connections. that would certainly explain the power loss.

[majordad]

Turning on the generator has given me back the missing power, so do you think the transfer switch is failing. We are in a rest area 150 miles from the New Mexico border and heading home.

[Executive45]

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.

Since you apparently 'fixed' it once, your issue seems to be easier to decipher. It would appear resetting the inverter, (if I read your post correctly) fixed it the first time. Check those and see if they need to be reset again. If so, you'll need to find out why they are tripping. First place I'd look would be at your friends' pedestal. Many people, electricians as well, don't understand or use the correct equipment when installing RV pedestals in their homes. The suggestion of running off your generator is good advice. Your batteries need to be fully charged also....Dennis

[joelc]

If you have no propane to the fridge and it is on a slide, check under the slide to see if you have a pinched line. I had this problem one time to my stove. There is an angle bar there where that folds when the slide moves.

[cavie]

majordad wrote:
Thanks for the many suggestions.
I should have been more specific, we are staying with family here in Texas. I am plugged in to a 30 amp plug just to keep things charged up, that’s why I was trying to run the appliances on propane so as not to take too much electricity and that is how I came to find no 120 V power on passenger side of coach, save for 1 outlet in the bedroom. I am going to try and locate transfer switch in the morning before we leave and check voltages. Will let y’all know what I find, but the kids have to be back to school Tuesday so we gotta get going.

Merrill

You have a GFI or inverter tripped.

[Chris_Bryant]

Old-Biscuit wrote:


Salesman Switch
COMMON nomenclature used by MANY folks

Some folks just love to appear superior by denigrating others

In the 45 years I have been an RVer, along with 27 working in the industry, this forum is the only place I have encountered that term.

Just sayin’.

[Scottiemom]

Unplug and fire up the gennie. Does everything work?

We had a problem this week here in our park. Power went out one morning. Completely. We checked all our stuff and couldn't find a problem. Had the maintenance guy come out. He plugged in a big honkin' thing to the pedestal and it glowed correctly so he told us something was wrong in our coach. He didn't open the power panel up or anything. We plugged back in, everything ran for about 1 minute, then out again. We bypassed our power management system so we could use some stuff, but our front A/C was out, electric side of the water heater and W/D would still not work. We called a mobile guy. In the meantime, we unplugged from the pole and ran the gennie. EVERYTHING worked. So when the mobile guy got there, he tried the transfer switch and it was all good. Pedestal tested okay. Plugged in again, ran for about a minute, then all shut down. THEN he tested the pedestal again and it showed one leg of the 50 Amp out. He went and got the maintenance guy who kept grumbling it was our equipment. But he pulled the panel. . . Wires all looked good, then he pulled the meter. Looks like it had been on fire. One leg of the base was corroded and deteriorated and then he found a really bad wire. So he replaced all that and all has been great since.

It's not always your equipment, but we checked it all first. That's why I say disconnect and fire up the gennie. If everything works, it could be the power itself.

Dale

[down_home]

tw days ago i tried to use a small heater t save propane, lost aal ac except heat pumps and house batteries would only charge with engine alternator.checked the breakers for microwave and plugs all was good. someone had glued the panel down over the large panel of breakers behind the charger converter. ^&%*&%*&.
On top of the converter charger was three little buttons one was extended. pushed it and heard fan on converter charger come on and unit singing. all the circuits came to life and unit quieted down. The prayer was probably the trick. Mobile tech was on his way after a cold day Thanksgiving. Saved a bunch of money.

[rgatijnet1]

This may sound like a stupid question but is the 30 amp plug that you are using wired for an RV or for some other appliance?
The reason why I ask is that some 30 amp outlets are wired with 220 volts for things like a dryer, welder, etc, and not wired for 120 volts that is required for an RV.
If the 30 amp outlet has a double 30 amp breaker, instead of a single 30 amp breaker than that is your problem.

[larry_cad]

majordad wrote:
Thanks for the many suggestions.
I should have been more specific, we are staying with family here in Texas. I am plugged in to a 30 amp plug just to keep things charged up, that’s why I was trying to run the appliances on propane so as not to take too much electricity and that is how I came to find no 120 V power on passenger side of coach, save for 1 outlet in the bedroom. I am going to try and locate transfer switch in the morning before we leave and check voltages. Will let y’all know what I find, but the kids have to be back to school Tuesday so we gotta get going.

Merrill

If you are using a 30 amp adapter in a 50 amp coach, it is very possible the adapter is defective. Get a new 30-50 amp adapter and it likely will fix the power problem.

If your batteries are low, someone suggested your propane shut off solenoid may be off, not letting propane to flow.

Finally, I had to repair a Magnum inverter that had a bad circuit breaker, leaving it with only one output circuit and the other one dead. May be a bad inverter circuit breaker.

[majordad]

Thanks for the many suggestions.
I should have been more specific, we are staying with family here in Texas. I am plugged in to a 30 amp plug just to keep things charged up, that’s why I was trying to run the appliances on propane so as not to take too much electricity and that is how I came to find no 120 V power on passenger side of coach, save for 1 outlet in the bedroom. I am going to try and locate transfer switch in the morning before we leave and check voltages. Will let y’all know what I find, but the kids have to be back to school Tuesday so we gotta get going.

Merrill

[doxiemom11]

We call ours a battery disconnect - never heard anyone else call it a salesman's switch and we have been full-time and around many rver's for 9 years. Maybe only in a certain area of the country ? -- Anyway - we had that happen and it was the campground power source - circuit breaker. There were thousands of ants in the power pedestal and somehow they were cutting 1 leg of the power off. CB pulled - inside of power pedestal treated, dried out and new circuit breaker installed - our power worked fine.

[gfs1943]

OP, where are you? I doubt if you're close to me (Whitney, Texas), but if you are, give me a shout and I'll see if I can help.