Robbystone
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Re: Power Center smoking/melting help (WFCO 8955)
dougrainer wrote: You need to monitor your amp draw after you fixed the problem. Doug I think you're probably right Doug. I've been running the fridge on electric while my tanks are being re-certified (both came up at once, gotta love it, and the shop doing it is taking forever!) and with the electric heater, I'm sure I'm running real close to the limit and maybe a bit over it when I occasionally plug some other appliance in. Since this happened I've run a 12ga extension cord to a separate 120 (20A) line and have that powering my heater. I definitely feel like I dodged a bullet so I'm going to take this lesson to heart.502Views0likes0CommentsRe: Power Center smoking/melting help (WFCO 8955)
Well, everything is repaired, replaced and restarted and nothing is burning! I'm pretty happy with how things turned out. My total costs were, $1.54 for plastic cable connectors for the rear of the power center housing (so I could extend the wires), $4.98 for a new neutral bar, $2.72 for a 1/2oz tube of Noalox grease and about 3 hours of my time (which would have been less than an hour had I realized I needed the connectors on the first trip to Home Depot). So $9.24 (gotta love no-sales-tax-Oregon, lol) and I have power running again. Thanks so much to everyone who chimed in with the helpful advice!503Views0likes0CommentsRe: Power Center smoking/melting help (WFCO 8955)
Matt_Colie wrote: Robby, This is why the feeder was also damaged but not as badly. That says you were not actually overloading the systems design. I like that this makes it sound like I didn't screw it up, lol. I just bought a whole new bar (only $4.95) to be safe (thanks DrewE). I have some dielectric grease from doing spark plug boots but should I use something like Noalox (anti-oxidant joint compound) instead? It's all I could find at Home Depot and the teenage girls they had working weren't much help. Thanks everyone for your help; I love this Forum!502Views0likes0CommentsRe: Power Center smoking/melting help (WFCO 8955)
enblethen wrote: If you look at the second photo, the fourth conductor from the left seems to got the hottest. This is most likely the one the heater was on. You may need to get some wire and wire nuts to extend some of the conductors. Use electrical grease inside of the wire nuts. You are correct sir, thank you. I luckily look to have enough extra length of wire that I won't have to tag on any extensions. The neutral wires all seem to be nice and tight but could that just mean they were dirty or maybe that the heat fused them to the bar? I'm going to get everything all cleaned, rewired, greased and put back together and give her a shot (after I double check my insurance it payed up, hahaha). Thank again for the help.502Views0likes0CommentsRe: Power Center smoking/melting help (WFCO 8955)
Thanks for the replies. At the time of the incident I was running an electric heater (11.7A draw on a 20A breaker), the fridge on electric, a couple lights and my laptop charger. Nothing out of the ordinary. The batteries are fine and before I pulled the negative cables just to be safe, I still had 12v power (lights, etc.). So should I try to clip back to clean wire (i.e. cut the melted bits off) and coat with electrical grease after cleaning things up and give it a try?112Views0likes0CommentsPower Center smoking/melting help (WFCO 8955)
Thanks all for taking the time to read. I searched but couldn't seem to find anything but please feel free to direct me to another post on the subject that I missed. So last night I'm sitting up way past my bedtime typing emails for work in my trailer and catch a whiff of burning plastic on the air. I immediately head over to the power center and find it very hot and putting off a decent amount of smoke. I threw the main and went outside and unplugged (30A) shore power. This morning when I had enough light to see by, I pulled the cover off the converter and rather than the blackened inverter I expected, I found all the wires in the neutral terminal bar melted and blackened. I also checked the shore power plug in the daylight and noticed what appears to be some blackening on the terminals that I don't 100% remember seeing but can't say for sure wasn't already there (I know, I should pay better attention!). So, my question is, anyone have an idea what could cause this? We're full timing in this 2005 Keystone Springdale 295BHL for the 5 months I'm in town for work and haven't had a problem of this sort to date. I've been running an electric heater that has tripped the breaker a couple of times but aside from that I can't think of anything. My thought is to buy a whole new power center and replace it but I'd really like to sus out the cause of the problem first. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all!5.6KViews0likes17Comments- 132Views0likes0Comments
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