JJM5017
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Re: Nash 26J Electrical Issue
Hello all. This update is much overdue however until last night I was still spinning my wheels so to speak. 12V System. I traced the 12V and everything seemed to be in good working order. This camper doesn't have an inverter but instead just a charger/load manager which is physically plugged into the camper's 110volt system. The draw seemed to be related to a few things. One was an exhaust fan that was broke however the motor was still running. The second was related to the camper's 110 volt which I'll get to in a minute (110volt hot was tied to frame). For now I have basic lights, the ability to run the camper off of LP, kitchen exhaust and possibly the 12v pump (still working on the electric prior to plumbing). During the process I lost the stereo (car type stereo with built in speakers). It will accept/eject a CD so it must have one of the 12V supplies (I believe cars typically have one feed all the time while the other feed is tied to the ignition) and the inline fuse is still good. 110volt. I meant to take a picture of the breaker panel but it was rather interesting. While everything looked cleanly installed something was very wrong. I had a main feed coming in through a 30amp breaker into a bus bar which then fed into 5 breakers all with romex feeds coming out. What was odd is that there were several 6, 8 and 14 gauge wires also hooked directly into this bus bar (not through a breaker). One of the 8 gauge wires I traced was a direct ground to frame. So I had hot coming into the bar then directly grounding into the frame out of the bar. Strange stuff. I could not trace the rest so I just disconnected them all and safe'd them all. After that I had no issues plugging the shore cable into the dedicated outlet without tripping. When I isolated each breaker both of the general purpose were kicking off. After checking each outlet I found one which was completely fried (as well as I found a roof leak which caused it). After removing the outlet from service and splicing the lines I got one of the two general purpose working which fed half of my 110 outlets (from rear bedroom all the way through front kitchen GFCI but skipping every other outlet). The second general purpose was a bit trickier as it fed the outlets in between from rear bedroom (where the panel is located) to front kitchen area as well. Every outlet looked fine however I had an obvious short. After isolating the wires from panel to first outlet I was able to keep the breaker on. Any attempt to connect the next outlet would trip it so I assumed that's where the problem was. However when I jumped to the factory in wall romex to next outlet using a temporary feed it continued to pop the breaker despite eliminating the backfeed to the broken connection. Essentially I have more then one short in that line. Since this line feeds the battery charger outlet and refrigerator 110 outlet (as well as two outlets I can live without) I'm planning on running an exterior grade 12-2 (sheathed along the frame) and running two new outlets for both while safing off the factory outlets/wiring. My questions are and I apologize for not having a picture to accompany; does anyone have any idea why any wires other then the romex connected to the breakers would be tied into the hot bus bar? I can't find anything that these lead to (they quickly run into a wall) and I believe I checked every appliance and/or outlet without finding the other end. Also why would someone run a ground from the hot to the frame? Do you think this is a case of someone not knowing what they were doing (it was a clean install and not a typical hack job) or am I missing something? I did a search but had no luck finding a wiring diagram for this camper. Does anyone have a suggestion on where I can find one? I still have to clean up the electric and trace a few 12v wires to light fixtures that aren't working (it doesn't look like any critters got in the walls/ceiling but I sure am having a lot of shorts) as well as I now have to do some wall repairs where the one outlet was. The roof leak looks like it was repaired but I'm going to check that thoroughly once the weather here dries up. My next move is going to be the plumbing. I already started reading up on treating all of the tanks but hopefully that will go smoothly. Once again thank-you all for your insight.449Views0likes0CommentsRe: Nash 26J Electrical Issue
Thank-you all for your suggestions. I'll check the emergency break pin, polarity at the battery and trace back the 12v wire looking for either a disconnect switch and or a draw (sounds like pulling all of the 12v fuses, checking for a draw and then adding one by one may be the quickest route) when I get home tonight. If you all don't mind I'll post a picture of the back of the distribution panel tonight. Everything looks untampered from the factory but I recall seeing something that didn't make sense in regards to the main feed coming into the panel and it's relation to the bus bar. Originally I suspected the adapter as well (and it may still be an issue) but I'm having the same results when I plug the shore line into a dedicated 30 amp RV outlet (which was installed and tested last night). Either way while I don't plan on using the adapter often I do plan on borrowing one from a friend to test as soon as I can. It appears to be a propane water heater which visually looks to be in good shape. I'll take another look tonight though as I haven't done anything with the plumbing yet (unit is dry for now). Again thank-you all449Views0likes0CommentsNash 26J Electrical Issue
Hello all. I'm venturing into the RVing world and am hoping to get some of your expertise with an electrical problem I have run into. A little back ground. I purchased a 2002 Nash (Northwood) 26' tow behind that has been sitting for a while. It's in great shape but I bought it without the ability to check the utilities (which I knew going into the sale). Anyway upon getting it back to my house I discovered there are some electrical problems which are getting rather difficult to trace. Here is the turn of events. The battery was stone dead when I got it and after trying to revive it I finally gave up and purchased a new one. In the meantime I attempted to plug the 30amp RV plug into a 20amp household outlet (to run some tests before using a 30amp generator) and the trailer immediately kicked the GFCI. Regardless of whether my breakers were all of or any on as well as regardless of whether the ac/dc converter was plugged into the trailer 110v outlet. After doing some research on here I assumed it was either a ground fault or a just a bad idea to plug into a household outlet (by household I mean a fairly new pole barn in which everything is GFCI'd). Next I pulled the breaker/fuse box, checked all of the wiring including the shore power cord and found no issues. When I plug the ac/dc converter into a 110 extension cord from the pole barn I get all of my 12volt items (refrigerator, lights, stereo, heater, etc). When I unplug the ac/dc converter and run off my new fully charged deep cycle battery I am getting nothing (but there is a rather large draw on the battery as it dropped from 12.8 volts to 12.5 with all known devices turned off in the matter of 30 seconds). I have since run a dedicated 30 amp RV outlet but am still having the same issues as before. Essentially I have good 12 volt power when the ac/dc converter is plugged in directly but otherwise have no power in the trailer (from battery or from 110v). I began tracing all of the 12 volt and may have found a few contributing factors (bad connections) but nothing that has made a difference. My next step is to pull all of the 110 volt outlets and check for a neutral/ground issue. Is there something I could be overlooking since I'm getting nothing from the battery or RV shore line? If my ac/dc converter (I say converter because I'm still not sure it also inverts or if it only charges the battery) was bad that still wouldn't explain why I am having the shore line power issues, correct? I'm in this for the long haul so if there are any suggestions on what I should check next I am all ears. I have a fairly decent understanding of electrical systems but have no past experiences with campers and am fairly handy so I am willing to try it all. Thanks in advance for your potential help!2.8KViews0likes8Comments
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