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Topic: Plugs don't have power, make diagnosing easier for the shop mechanics (Read 1132 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Plugs don't have power, make diagnosing easier for the shop mechanics

Reply #20
Turn every breaker off then on

Re: Plugs don't have power, make diagnosing easier for the shop mechanics

Reply #21
In the kitchen are you getting a voltage reading for each leg on the digital display? Up in the cabinet?
If you have only one showing you might not be powering both legs of the 50 amp, none showing would be no power.
If you are stepping down wire sizes and just using a 20 amp receptacle on the side of your house with a converter for your 50amp cord it may be a defective adapter or you may have a tripped GFCI In your house.

Re: Plugs don't have power, make diagnosing easier for the shop mechanics

Reply #22

Rick, electricity isn't all that complicated. Yes, it can be dangerous IF you touch things you shouldn't, but most testing can be easily and safely done.

The first step is to follow the electrical path. Do you have electricity at the plug, the point at which you are plugging your coach in? That might be an outlet on the side of your garage or a campground's electric pedestal. Your meter will tell you that. No power there means no power in the coach.

Assuming that you have power coming into your coach, your next step is to figure out where you do and don't have electricity. Again, a meter is helpful, but you can accomplish the same thing with any small item that can be plugged into a standard outlet and will work only when plugged in. Check every outlet and note which ones work and which ones don't. Don't forget to check the refrigerator. If you have a residential unit, it only works on 120 volts. Make sure that your inverter and generator are OFF, then open the door. If the light comes on you have power there. If it doesn't you don't. Look for 120 volt lights, too. You may have one in the dining area, and another one over the range. Do they work? Be sure to look in the basement, too. You may have a separate converter that turns the 120 volts into 12 volts. Don't confuse that with the inverter, which turns 12 volts into 120 volts. Check the air conditioners, too. Just turning on the fan is enough.

Once you know which things work and which don't you can focus on the non-working things. What do they have in common, besides not working? Are they all on the same circuit? If so, you may have a tripped circuit breaker. Reset the breaker for that circuit and check again. You may have more than one circuit that has tripped, so be sure to check for that. This is a good time to update your manual to list everything that is on each breaker.

You may have more than one GFI outlet, so just because the one in the bathroom is on doesn't mean that there isn't another one in the basement somewhere that has tripped. You can buy a small tester that will let you know exactly which outlets are protected by the GFI. This is the one I have:  Bastex Socket Tester with GFCI check. Receptacle Tester for Standard AC...

You can get them at Wal-mart, too, or even some grocery stores. Point is, they are cheap and readily available, so you should have one in your coach all the time and another one at home. To test the GFI you just plug the tester into an outlet and push the button on the top. If it trips the GFI you know that the outlet is protected by the GFI. If it doesn't, it means that either the outlet is wired into the circuit before the GFI or it is on another circuit. BTW, this is an ideal test device to carry around and plug into outlet to see if they have power or not, since the lights will light up if power is present.

Okay, now you know how to test, so let's move on to what to do about an outlet that doesn't work.

If resetting the breaker in the panel doesn't work, and the outlet isn't protected by a GFI, you may have a bad outlet or a broken/disconnected wire. Turn off the breaker for the outlet in question and verify with your meter or tester that the outlet is dead. Take off the cover plate and look inside the box. A flashlight may be a help here. Do you see a wire that looks like it isn't attached to anything? You may have found the problem. If not, remove the outlet from the box and check the connections. There should be enough wire to pull the outlet away from the box a few inches, but not more than that, so don't get carried away. Do all of the wires appear to be firmly attached? If so, put the outlet back the way it was and go on to another outlet. Remember that wire costs money, so the outlets will be wired one after another, starting at the breaker box and ending with the one farthest away from the breaker box.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to see much more of the wires than the little bit in the outlet box. For some reason, mice seem to like the taste of the sheathing on electrical wires, and dealing with their damage is beyond what I'm going to talk about tonight.


Back to your original question, how long have you had this coach? Have the outlets ever worked? If yes, when did they stop working? What happened then? Sometimes answering those questions will lead you to the problem faster than starting at the outside connection.

Oh yes. Do the outlets work when you are disconnected from shore power but running on the generator? If that is the case, your transfer switch may be the culprit.

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Re: Plugs don't have power, make diagnosing easier for the shop mechanics

Reply #23
There is a lot of useful information here. 
I have saved it all.
But all of my plugs are working now.
Like I said, I  tried turning the breakers off and on at home but the plugs still didn't work(120 volt).
But the mechanic at the shop while plugged into 50 amp service did the same thing (turned the main breaker off and on) and someone that brought power back to all of the plugs.

Re: Plugs don't have power, make diagnosing easier for the shop mechanics

Reply #24
Ahah!! Another testimonial to the existence of electrical gremlins!! I knew it. They do exist! And they have plagued me for years.

Re: Plugs don't have power, make diagnosing easier for the shop mechanics

Reply #25
Something to consider - breakers get weak with age and heat.

The breakers at the foot of the bed are subject to more heat than those in a house.  We had to replace several in our 2003 at roughly 10-12 years of age because they would trip while we were going down the road.  Now, they wouldn't exactly LOOK tripped, but there would be no power on the circuit, and flipping the breaker off then back on would solve the problem (until the next drive on a rough road).  If you looked closely, you would see the tripped one was ever so slightly not engaged, but it would take a full OFF then ON to re-engage it.

They aren't that difficult to change out (just be sure you're unplugged and that the generator and inverter are off) and the breakers FT used are readily available at places like Lowes (just change like for like, brand, width, and configuration).

Re: Plugs don't have power, make diagnosing easier for the shop mechanics

Reply #26

The following is what I replaced a weak breaker with on mine. It is the same type, size, etc., just a different mfg. There were two, so I replaced both. I do not remember which circuit.

Siemens QA115AF 15-Amp, Single Pole, 120-volt, Plug On Type, Branch Feeder Style AFCI Breaker

Siemens QA115AF 15-Amp, Single Pole, 120-volt, Plug On Type, Branch Feeder...

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Re: Plugs don't have power, make diagnosing easier for the shop mechanics

Reply #27
The following is what I replaced a weak breaker with on mine. It is the same type, size, etc., just a different mfg.

Siemens QA115AF 15-Amp, Single Pole, 120-volt, Plug On Type, Branch Feeder Style AFCI Breaker

Siemens QA115AF 15-Amp, Single Pole, 120-volt, Plug On Type, Branch Feeder...

That's also an Arc Fault breaker.  Typically used in homes (used to be just bedrooms, now I believe it is code for all breakers in new construction as of 2020).  They can be considered "safer" in that they will trip if an arc is detected, but they are also much pricier (up to 10x the cost of a "regular" breaker)

You do need to make sure the breaker you get fits the breaker box used by FT.  Not all are interchangeable.
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Re: Plugs don't have power, make diagnosing easier for the shop mechanics

Reply #28
That's also an Arc Fault breaker.  Typically used in homes (used to be just bedrooms, now I believe it is code for all new construction).  They can be considered "safer" in that they will trip if an arc is detected, but they are also much pricier (up to 10x the cost of a "regular" breaker)

You do need to make sure the breaker you get fits the breaker box used by FT.  Not all are interchangeable.

They may have been installed by FT at the time of an upgrade to a stacked washer and dryer in 2003, by the original owner. In 2017 I returned to a Splendide 2100XC as wife wanted storage we had in two previous Monaco Signatures above the combo units. I just replaced like for like breakers.