Newbie with plugging into house question

[justinae]

Hi. First post here. I am getting acquainted with my grandfather's RV. It's a 2009 Sprinter Roadtrek. Not sure of all the specs to say but it has two deep cycle coach batteries and is based on 30 amp plugin.

I am trying to plug into my house circuit and can't seem to run anything. I initially plugged into a GFCI circuit and then read that that doesn't work so I've plugged into a 20 amp circuit that is not GFI protected and has absolutely no other draw on it. The batteries in the RV are low on their charge and perhaps that is the issue?

Anyway, it's no longer tripping the breaker, but I can't seem to run anything besides a fan and some lights, which I assume are just running off battery power. The fridge won't let me switch it to AC.

Is there a way to run off the 20 amp house circuit if I just limit the use to small draws, like TV /DVD and a light? Will the 20 amp eventually charge the battery? I wonder what the cost of doing that from the house is.

Looking forward to learning from all you seasoned RVers.

Thanks!
Justin

[bsinmich]

Grandpa's meter from the 70's is probably still good for voltage. If you are try8ing to find resistance there is usually a small AA battery used for that someplace in the meter. My meter is from that era, or older but I am also a great grandpa but it still works great. Check the batteries for at least 12.6V after they have been sitting without the charger on them. If they show the 12.6 the next day your batteries are probably still good enough. If the voltage has dropped to 11.? you are probably due for new batteries. If you also have an electric water heater in there do not turn it on without water in the tank. They have a life expectancy of about 20 seconds if there is no water to keep them from burning out. You can guess how I know this. Fortunately they are not expensive to replace.

[justinae]

Ok all, I've got an update after being out for a few days.

I took it to a local place to have the batteries looked at. The water level was below the plates. They topped them off and said to charge them up and I have a 50/50 chance they'll survive. When I got home I plugged it in (used a heavy extension cord this time) and the air conditioner fired right up. I was even able to turn the AC, fridge and fan on at the same time.

I learned that I have a Tripplite system and sat with the manual for a while. I reset the system as it suggested when batteries have been discharged too far. I don't know if reseting the system worked or if adding water worked or if it's just RV juju.

I set the Tripplite to "charge only" mode and will leave it plugged in overnight to fully charge the batteries. How do I know if the batteries are going to hold that charge very well though? Is there some sort of test or do I just have to turn stuff on and see how long it lasts?

Thanks again for all the help. Feel like I've gotten a good crash course in RVing.

[relaxin]

if you plan on keeping the unit, spend a couple bucks and get an RV plug installed
heck I have 3 of them, in in front of my house on the driveway, one behind the house one on the front of my shop where I normally store the unit, I will be adding 2 more in the near future,

[relaxin]

is the electric eliment on on the HWT????

[time2roll]

justinae wrote:
Not using an extension cord. I'm using the cord that came with the RV and a 15/20amp adapter. I have a no contact volt tester that just tells me if it's hot or not and it does read that it's hot.

OK

Plug is hot?
Cord it hot?
Cord entry is hot?
Transfer switch is hot?
Main breaker is hot?

Some place you will need to discover Hot or Not at some connection. The fix the item. You may need to dig a bit.

[JLTN_James]

Since the AC system works when the generator is running, we can assume that everything downstream of the transfer switch is good.

Is it a manual transfer switch? Start simple and try changing it's switch position.

Automatic transfer switch?
Plug into shore power. Check for voltage at the cord input to the swtich. If you don't have voltage at the transfer switch cord input, then you probably have a bad shore cord.
If you have power at the cord input, check for voltage at the output of the switch (feed to the AC breaker panel). If it's working properly, you should have voltage at the output terminals. If you don't have voltage, then start the generator and retest the output terminals. You should have power at this point since the AC system operates with the generator source. At this point, I'd verify that it's an automatic transfer switch and start looking for a replacement.

Try out the old multimeter. What have you got to loose? Even if a brand new, calibrated meter shows 118Vac and the old one shows 113Vac, it's still good enough for this kind of work. Check it by plugging into an outlet in the sticks & bricks first. My analog meter is over 25 years old and my digital meter is at least 15 years old.

[mlts22]

Is everything running normal when the generator is running (AC, microwave, fridge, water heater, etc.?)

If that is the case, it might be a bad transfer switch.

[tenbear]

To check out the multimeter measure your car battery's voltage. It should read 12.6 or so if the car has been driven recently but not within the past couple of hours.

[pianotuna]

Hi Justinae,

I'd suggest the trickle charger. An 8 or 9 hour drive might be enough to get the battery bank up to about 85% state of charge.

justinae wrote:
Hot and neutral are not switched.

I do have one of grandpa's old multimeter's, but it's from the 80s or 90s and not sure I trust it. I have a Klein voltage tester but basically tells me if there is voltage or not.

I don't have to do anything to start the generator except make sure the LPG valve is open then push the start button you see in the photo.

I agree that the batteries might be dead, or at least very low charge. I do have a trickly charger. Should I hook that up or perhaps take a Sunday drive? If I drive to charge the batteries, how long does it usually take?

Thanks again for all the help so far, this is great.

[Gau_8]

Sounds to me like a bad transfer switch.

Suggested Reading!

[justinae]

Hot and neutral are not switched.

I do have one of grandpa's old multimeter's, but it's from the 80s or 90s and not sure I trust it. I have a Klein voltage tester but basically tells me if there is voltage or not.

I don't have to do anything to start the generator except make sure the LPG valve is open then push the start button you see in the photo.

I agree that the batteries might be dead, or at least very low charge. I do have a trickly charger. Should I hook that up or perhaps take a Sunday drive? If I drive to charge the batteries, how long does it usually take?

Thanks again for all the help so far, this is great.

[tenbear]

justinae wrote:
I reset the breakers in the RV. Nothing changed. The microwave doesn't turn on when plugged in but I would think that 20 amps is enough to run the microwave. It does turn on when I fire up the generator.

To use the generator, do you have to change the plug so that it plugs into the generator? If not, you have a transfer switch which could be bad. Hopefully someone with a transfer switch can give you some hints.

I tried viewing your pics but apparently you have to sign in to your account to view them.

[tenbear]

justinae wrote:
Snip...
Also, I'm supposed to have the Inverter turned ON while plugged in so the batteries charge right? I hope that's not a dumb question, probably is. 🙂

The inverter takes the 12vdc and outputs 120vac. It is designed to run some 120vac things when not plugged in. It should not be necessary to have on when plugged in.

The converter gives you 12vdc from the 120vac. It is used to charge the battery and power all the 12v things when plugged in. If the lights get brighter when you plug in, the converter is working.

Do you have a multimeter or a 120v test light?

[ericsmith32]

Possible reversed hot and neutral at the plugin? Does the plugin work normally... maybe it asked but didn't see it? The RV may be more sensitive to the switched legs versus the lights etc. Electricity is a strange creature.. had to track 5V AC on the chassis this weekend turned out to be something back feeding on neutral on the circuit it was on.