Strange Electrical Issues

[the_persuader]

I have a 2005 Crossroads Cruiser 28RL that I full time in. Today, I noticed the refrigerator pilot was trying to light repeatedly while on AC power. I checked the voltage at the refrigerator and it fluctuates from 50 volts down to 20 volts and back. There are 3 additional outlets that do this on the opposite side of the trailer, but the other outlets are fine.

Not seeing any obvious voltage issues in the breaker/fuse box.

All other electrical works - ac, microwave, lights, etc. I am having a hard time finding any wiring diagrams for my RV. Any help/ideas here?

[westend]

Depending on how much good wire is left on the neutral wire will dictate how to handle this problem. Pulling wire through a built RV is not a good solution. There are too many obstacles to pull through. You can go around the obstacles and fish wire either underneath the RV or through the ceiling cavities, dropping down to the bad connection location.

If you have just a few inches of wire that need replacing, I'd suggest to install a shallow old work box where the the wire is good and run a short piece of wire back to the location where the wire was removed. This box can contain just the junction of the neutral wire ends or you can choose to supply it with the load wire and ground, installing another receptacle.

[wnjj]

the persuader wrote:
Found the issue. The neutral wire on that circuit melted insulation at rand on intervals and I guess it's grounding out against the exposed ground wire. Not sure how far down the wire it melted.

Now I need to figure out how to fish new wire through this trailer and redo that circuit.

Grounding out wouldn't do anything but trip a GCFI breaker (if you're plugged into one). Neutral and ground are at the same voltage potential. If the wire was hot enough to melt, there was a poor connection. The resistance from the connection becomes an electric heater (and drops the voltage at the destination as you experienced).

I don't know how far that wire goes or if it's attached well but you may be able to pull a new wire while pulling the old one out. If the old one doesn't move and you can't get access to where it's attached you may have to consider other options (through the floor and back up, behind cabinets, etc).

If melted spots are limited to where you have access you can consider cleaning up the poor connections and then use electrical tape over the bare spots. The wire itself is likely fine.

[the_persuader]

Found the issue. The neutral wire on that circuit melted insulation at rand on intervals and I guess it's grounding out against the exposed ground wire. Not sure how far down the wire it melted.

Now I need to figure out how to fish new wire through this trailer and redo that circuit.

[wa8yxm]

If those outlets are "Related". the most likely cause is a screw loose.

Many Rvers have a few screws loose. like the ones that hold the wires in the power distribution center.

Another cause is space heaters.. The outlets in RV's are ****, heavy loads (Space heaters are about 12 amps) tend to draw enough current that the wires overheat where they connect to the punch down connectors inside the quick box outlet.. Replacement with a proper outlet and box is the solution here.

[myredracer]

These kind of problems are hard to diagnose without being there.

One thing I would try is to shut the breaker off supplying the fridge circuit. Then take a hair dryer or other appliance with high wattage element and plug into all the other receptacles and see if the voltage drops much. If it doesn't change much, that narrows the cause down to the breaker supplying the fridge circuit and anything downstream from it.

I would shut off breakers one at a time and figure out exactly which receptacles on are the fridge circuit. Sometimes the factories do a lousy job of connections inside the SCD RV type of receptacles. They employ "tabs" that get the wires pushed down into them. There is a correct tool for this but sometimes one or more wires can barely be hanging on and make a bad connection. When you have determined which recepts. are on the fridge circuit, pull them out one by one and remove the covers (power off of course) and inspect the connections.

I don't think it would be a defective breaker but that's not impossible. You *might* have a wire that wasn't properly connected at the breaker. I found one that was completely loose.

When you do find the problem and fix it, don't forget to report back! 😉

[the_persuader]

I'll inspect the breakers/wiring in the breaker box.

I checked voltages on the outputs on all the breakers and they were constant 120v. Also, I had disconnected the fridge electrical and the voltage is still fluctuating on whatever circuit that is.

I'll dive into it more once I get off work. Thanks for the replies and any additional insight is appreciated.

[boogie_4wheel]

Loose connection on the circuit. The fridge draws power and pulls down the voltage, so the propane side tries to light. Since the fridge is no longer on the 120V power, the voltage on the circuit creeps back up. The fridge sees that AC power is available and tries to switch over, and the cycle continues.
Turn off the 'Auto' on the fridge to force it to gas operation. Shut off the circuit breaker for the outlets with the issue, then check all connection points and prove that they are tight (on the CB, and on the back of the outlets).

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Unplug.

Remove the breaker panel cover. Meticulously inspect all wires for possible overheating. Use a flashlight and reading glasses if necessary.

Tighten all buss bar and breaker screws.

Then see what happens...

[gatorcq]

Normally a loose Neutral will give a High Voltage reading. Corroded / bad connection normally give a reduce voltage.

[Diesel_Camper]

I think you have a loose neutral wire inside your rv electrical panel.

More info on loose neutrals Here

[time2roll]

Check the exterior outlet for corroded connection.

All the outlets that are misbehaving are on a single circuit and are at or down stream of the issue. No diagram needed. Switch the breaker off to discover what else is on that circuit.

[Gonzo42]

You probably have a bad connection possibly where there is a terminal but I would suspect you have a circuit breaker that is failing. If you can identify the correct circuit breaker and the voltage on one side is steady but the other varies the breaker is likely bad.

On the other hand there may be some device on the circuit like an appliance that is providing a fluctuating load and is about to fail or burn up.