Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 14, 2025 ...

Bathroom issues... lighting and power :(

November 04, 2022, 11:28:27 am

Greetings!
My life has changed tremendously since I created this account in 2017. My husband, who bought our 1993 Grand Villa M3300 (FRED) in about 2004 (I'll have to look at the title for exact date) has since died. He originally bought the rig to travel from the Texas Hill Country to see his son at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, and to take his young daughter on summer trips. He maintained everything. Even after sitting for a year untouched and winterized, it cranked right up.

I have remarried and my husband is much too tall for the rig, so we are selling it. It's a 1993 and in better shape than most, but my late husband left many little things tinkered with and undone, and took all of his technical knowledge with him. He was a natural at it - me and my Mr. are not. Someone on a Facebook page suggested I come here and I remembered that I had an account.

I have all the original manuals but they may as well be in Latin, which I don't read or speak. We lived in it for three years, but he did all the tricky stuff - I just filled the water tanks.

Just as we listed the rig for sale, the lights/power in the bathroom stopped working. I put in all new light bulbs so that's not the issue. I've tried to "test and reset" the GFCI plug next to the new toilet we installed, but it won't click. 

1. Where is the fuse for the bathroom located?
2. Can we use a regular GFCI plug in replacement?
3. Is this something I can do, to avoid forcing my 6'4" husband to squeeze into the bathroom and work on it? I hope so.

I got to about Page 58 on the forum, looking for the information before I posted, and I couldn't find the fuses/didn't feel confident in where to look (I couldn't find a fiberglass panel on a bulkhead in a bay that looked like I could take it apart). We aren't going to send this old gal to her new home without bathroom power.

Please and thank you!!!
Krysta

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Re: Bathroom issues... lighting and power :(

Reply #1 – November 04, 2022, 11:53:43 am

Krysta,

Is your coach plugged in to shore power, or are you running the generator to supply AC power?

Our '93 U280 has the 110V circuit breaker panel mounted in the bedroom bed base, at the foot of the bed.  I would guess your coach is similar.  It's a large metal circuit breaker box with a hinged door.  Open it up and see if any breakers are tripped.  There should be a paper pasted inside the cover showing what is on each breaker.

As for the GFCI receptacle, If you need to replace it I would take it to a electric supply shop and ask them what to use.

Links below to 110V circuit diagrams.  Should be a close match to your '93 M3300 (FRED), and may be helpful.

https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?action=media;sa=item;in=3266#viewitem

https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?action=media;sa=item;in=3267#viewitem

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Re: Bathroom issues... lighting and power :(

Reply #2 – November 04, 2022, 12:31:37 pm

You should also have a 12V fuse box, possibly mounted on the bed base, or near the 110V breaker box.  The 12V box is black plastic with a hinged door.  Open it up and see if any fuses are blown.  You can check the fuses visually, or by using a multimeter to check continuity through the little holes in the top of the fuse.

On our coach, fuse #2 (15 amp) controls the 12V circuits in our bathroom, including lights and vent fan.  See diagram linked below:

https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?action=media;sa=item;in=3274#viewitem

Photo below of the bed base in our coach.  The 110V metal circuit breaker box was gray - I repainted it brown.  Ignore the manual shore/off/gen selector switch - it is not OEM but was added during a upgrade.

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Reply #3 – November 04, 2022, 01:21:29 pm

Plugged in to shore power. No breakers in the box were tripped- I was hoping that was the problem when we first discovered it... but alas, not that easy.

I will look for the 12V box and report back. Unfortunately for troubleshooting, the rig is under cover at our commercial space about 45 minutes from where we live (although only 19 miles).

I very much appreciate your response and hope that's the almost-easy fix... thank you!!!

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Reply #4 – November 04, 2022, 02:18:23 pm

I have a newer coach but you may have 2 separate problems. 

When you say power is not working, do you mean the 120V outlet?  If the GFI will not reset, it could be a couple of things.  The outlet could be bad.  Or you could have a ground fault somewhere on the circuit.  If a ground fault, you will need to find it and fix before the GFI will reset.  Do all your other 120V outlets work?

Also, my lights in the bathroom are 12V.  Do other 12V fixtures work?  Your owners manual should have a wiring diagram that someone can help you trace down the problems.

Rich

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Reply #5 – November 04, 2022, 02:30:30 pm

The bedroom, closet, kitchen and living area lights and plugs all work - it's just the bathroom lights and plug. I'm very interested in finding the fuses!!!

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Reply #6 – November 04, 2022, 02:39:36 pm

As stated above

The bathroom lights are 12Volts.
The bathroom plug in120V and it should be a GFI plug.  There are two different systems and are going to be different problems

If the plug is bad you can get a new one from Homedepot or lowes.
If the bathroom plug trips when you push the reset button there either the plug could be bad or you have a ground fault somewhere down the line.  Before doing anything go and turn all of the breakers off and then back one.  If one feels different when you turn back on you might need to turn back off and push hard in the off direction until you hear the breaker click, then back on.

To trouble shoot first go and check all plugs that are not working (even down in bays) and make sure nothing is plugged into them.  If still have problem then gets a little more complicated.  With coach unplugged and inverter turned off pull the plug out and with a tester see if you have 120V when you plug the coach back in. If you do not have 120V there then you will need to go and remove the  breaker  box cover and make sure  that 120v is coming out of all of the breakers.  You would go between the breaker and neutral bar with a tester to verify 120V.

If GFI has 120V between the back and white on the (marked) line side, then disconnect the the black and white wire that are connected to the load side of the plug. Power back up and  see if reset button works and if plug has power.  If no power then replace gfi.  If all works good then problem is down stream from there and plugs need to be pulled apart until problem is found.

Electricity can cause death if you touch or do the wrong thing. Do not do any of the above unless you feel confident and know what your are doing to keep from getting shocked or burning down the coach.

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Reply #7 – November 08, 2022, 08:32:32 pm

Thank you ALL for your wisdom and advice!!!

IT WAS A BAD FUSE!!!

I'm so excited that it was such an easy fix!!!

I've been shocked before so anything electrical makes me very leery - I shut off the main breaker before pulling the fuse (which was a little difficult to pull but came out)... sure enough, the "line" was broken, it was #2, so I pulled #3 and tried it in the #2 slot and the lights all came on!!!

Grabbed a package of fuses at our local mechanic shop for $2.50 and have extras now. I didn't ask my husband to do it because I wanted to be the one with bad knees and bad eyes on the wood floor LOL Took one for the team 🤣

Thank you all!!!
😊Krysta

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Reply #8 – November 08, 2022, 10:25:56 pm

Doesn't it feel great when you solve a problem. It is especially great (and unusual) when it only costs $2.50. 

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