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kgarrett9999's avatar
kgarrett9999
Explorer
Jun 28, 2014

Dead Electric....Ugggg

Finally got somewhere with internet service. We've been on the road for over a week now with our new trailer.

I had made a weekend test run with it and everything seemed ok, but the first stop on our 2 week vacation, went to connect the electric and NOTHING. Got out the multimeter and began doing some testing. Power at the post was good. Power through my 50-amp power cord was good. None of the breakers in the trailer were tripped. Checked the power coming into the bottom side of the breakers, one of the two 50-amp circuits was dead. Of course it was the side that runs everything except the water heater and 2nd AC (which I don't have). Pretty sure that one of the hot leads came off of the back of the trailer's 50 amp connector. Unfortunately there isn't enough slack to get to the back of the connector.

After scratching my head a bit, I decided to swap the incoming leads at the breaker. Got almost everything working. Of course my water heater isn't working on electric, but also the 12v charging system isn't working. Didn't notice that until the next morning when I happened to check the battery level. Oh well a stop at Walmart for a charger fixed that issue, but still not sure why the trailer's charger isn't working.

Afraid to mess with it any further since I have it working enough to finish the trip. Will definitely be making a trip to the dealer after vacation is done. Got another trip planned in a few more weeks.
Seeking Advice
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Jul 07, 2014
    One of the secrews securing the wires on my Marinco Inlet was loose.. I tightened once I figured out how to access it.

    Symptoms matched yours.

    Have seen the exact same on a Marinco 50 amp outlet (The part that goes on the end of the cord) only that RV had all six screws inside the cover loose.. the )@(#R outlet fell off in my hand.. Could have killed me had I not been being careful.. The owner had a few words with his dealer when he got home.
  • kgarrett9999's avatar
    kgarrett9999
    Explorer
    Jul 07, 2014
    Lynnmor wrote:
    I would like to suggest that everyone check those connections at the back of the inlet. Mine were not tightened at all. Could have started a fire!


    This was our first major trip in the new travel trailer and we found a large number of fasteners that weren't tightened. Antenna crank fell off in my hand. Found knob to open bedroom skylight vent laying in the bed and didn't find the screw for a couple of more days. Almost all of the screws holding the bottom metal flashing were loose. Many of the fasteners also don't have anything substantial to grip even if they are all the way in. The various thin pieces of material that make up a travel trailer don't give much for the screws to bite into. And many of the screws I've noticed aren't installed straight and therefore don't grip like they should.

    Extremely poor quality control in the travel trailer industry. Apparently they make a profit any way.
  • Lynnmor's avatar
    Lynnmor
    Explorer
    Jul 07, 2014
    I would like to suggest that everyone check those connections at the back of the inlet. Mine were not tightened at all. Could have started a fire!
  • kgarrett9999's avatar
    kgarrett9999
    Explorer
    Jul 07, 2014
    Well, finally made it home from vacation. My temporary fix worked for the remainder of the trip.

    Once I got home I took the time to investigate further and found that a lug on the back of the external 50 Amp connector was loose. After tightening it up all power is restored to all items including the 12v charger.

    I probably should have put locktite on everything while I had it open, but didn't think about it till I had it all back together. Oh well, I'll throw some in the toolbox for next time.
  • john_bet's avatar
    john_bet
    Explorer II
    Jun 28, 2014
    You did not mention if you had a transfer sw or not. If so you might want to check it for a loose connection. Also you said your cord was good at the female end, but I have seen connections that were good at no load, but were just bad enough to not let power thru under load. One thing you can do to help verify it is between inlet and load center is to disconnect cord from trailer, put a jumper across the two hot terminals and go to the other end and ohm it out. Again it might show ok at no load but not pass power, but worth a try. Just some thoughts.
  • Matt_Colie's avatar
    Matt_Colie
    Explorer II
    Jun 28, 2014
    You have almost answered your own question.

    If power wasn't getting to the breaker, then either the breaker in the post is bad (you said you checked it) or you shore power cable is bad somewhere along the line. Did you check your end of the shore power cable? (It sounds like you have a surface mount male and an extension cord.) If the extension cable is a made-up and not a molded plug, disassemble it and you will probably find the problem. If that doesn't get it, then that surface mount male is where it is....

    Good Luck
    Matt
  • kgarrett9999's avatar
    kgarrett9999
    Explorer
    Jun 28, 2014
    Power wasn't getting to the breaker and when I swapped the hot leads at the breaker box the breaker worked.

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