Foretravel Owners' Forum

Foretravel Motorhome Forums => Foretravel Tech Talk => Topic started by: Gilgal on August 24, 2018, 06:27:34 am

Title: Electrical - plugged in, no power...?
Post by: Gilgal on August 24, 2018, 06:27:34 am
4am and the wife nudges me that the power just went off. Meaning, the air conditioner stopped. Waited a few mins and then went outside to check the surge protector; shows power on both legs.

Came back in, turned off/on the thermostat, ran through all three a/c units and nothing. AND the 110 outlets aren't working, nor is the microwave (same reason I suppose).

Could have had a temporary power loss at the pole but not coming back on in the coach.

Any help?
Title: Re: Electrical - plugged in, no power...?
Post by: nitehawk on August 24, 2018, 06:51:27 am
Check your GFI
Title: Re: Electrical - plugged in, no power...?
Post by: Gilgal on August 24, 2018, 06:58:09 am
The only GFI I can find inside the coach is in the bathroom and it is not 'flipped'. In fact, seems to not have power to it as it won't test.

Is there a 'master' of some sort in the electrical bay? 
Title: Re: Electrical - plugged in, no power...?
Post by: Ralph on August 24, 2018, 07:24:16 am
Your A/C's, microwave, most 110 circuits are not on a GFI....
You say your surge protector shows power on both legs...is that incoming power? Possibly it isn't letting it pass through for some reason...you might check this by bypassing it temporarily by plugging directly into the pedestal.
If no problems there, the second place I would look would be the transfer switch.

Ralph
96 U270


Title: Re: Electrical - plugged in, no power...?
Post by: turbojack on August 24, 2018, 07:57:23 am
Not sure what coach you have but first check the connection at the coach. I have had where the twist lock was not twisted enough and came loose, thus killing power.

May be too early to start generator but see if you have power then.

As stated above, next place to look is transfer switch. Once you pull the cover off if the problem is there you might be able to see the problem.
Title: Re: Electrical - plugged in, no power...?
Post by: Roger & Susan in Home2 on August 24, 2018, 09:53:30 am
Check the curcuit breakers, in many coaches at the foot of the bed.  Simple stuff first
Title: Re: Electrical - plugged in, no power...?
Post by: Gilgal on August 24, 2018, 09:54:48 am
Thanks for the input.

Checked the breakers first thing...all ok.

Disconnected the SurgeGuard at the pedestal, still nothing. We have an '06 and the transfer switch is mounted against the wall in the electrical bay.

The cover is secured and doesn't look like they want me in there. I don't see anything on the outside of the box to allow 'reset' or something like that. What am I missing?

Have placed a call to James at FT and hope to get a call from him this morning.
Title: Re: Electrical - plugged in, no power...?
Post by: amos.harrison on August 24, 2018, 10:10:12 am
What is your incoming voltage?  Either too high or too low will cause your protector to operate as it should.
Title: Re: Electrical - plugged in, no power...?
Post by: Pierce & Gaylie Stewart on August 24, 2018, 10:26:23 am
Does your inverter work now? If it's your transfer switch, you can pull the cover and check for voltage with a tester, then disconnect shore power and make sure the inverter is off and use emery cloth then fine wet or dry, crocus cloth on the points. It's easy but you need to make sure no power is present or it could kill you. Check CBs at the foot of the bed (in ours).

With a heavy load and too small extension cord, ours kicked off for thirty minutes sometimes. Until I cleaned it.

Pierce
Title: Re: Electrical - plugged in, no power...?
Post by: Roland Begin on August 24, 2018, 10:36:32 am
If your incoming voltage is OK what turbojack said.

Roland
Title: Re: Electrical - plugged in, no power...?
Post by: Gilgal on August 24, 2018, 03:03:05 pm
Thanks all. Spoke to TRC about the issue and for everyone's benefit, here's the skinny:

A. Shore side relay is fried. So much so that the black and white 6awg wires are crispy.
B. TRC tech support, Steve (very knowledgeable and friendly) tells me that the ONLY way that this particular issue can happen is if the connections were not tight. The wires arc and burn.
C. The model number (40350) of the transfer switch that I have indicated that a prior owner installed the unit - it cannot be original to my year model.
D. Since I also use a Surge Guard 34850 at the pedestal, Steve tells me that that unit does everything the 40350 ($800) does and that I can opt for the model number 40100 ($200) if I continue to use the 34850. The only thing I lose is remote display when there are problems ; but the remote wasn't installed by whomever installed the current unit.

While the idea of the remote is nice, it'll mean a $700 bill PLUS time to figure out and run the remote display. Probably gonna get the basic one AS LONG AS I'm not losing any features that are unique to Foretravel.

Any comments or thoughts?