No 110 Volt! - Montana Owners Club

scmdba · 04-03-2005, 09:46 AM

Well spring finally arrived and we brought the Monty home to flush the antifreeze, disinfect the water system, organize the basement, and generally play with our new toy. I hooked up the shore power, looked inside, and could find no evidence of 110V activity anywhere. Funny, it worked fine mid Feb when we picked it up from the dealer! Plugging in the trailer had tripped the GFI in the garage. We had a lot of rain yesterday so I took apart the marine connector. No water or anything that looked amiss. I can connect and not trip the GFI if the master 50amp breaker is the only thing on but if I turn on any of the 15 or 20 amp circuits, it goes out. Any suggestions from the expertise in this forum? I have been reading posts here for about a year and am always impressed with the ingenuity and insight to be found. Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Countryfolks · 04-03-2005, 11:52 AM

I'm not sure, but I don't think the rig is supposed to be connected to a GFI circuit. Try it on a different circuit in your garage.

Skip

Emmel · 04-03-2005, 02:47 PM

Steve, did you check to see if any varmits might have built their nest somewhere they shouldn't have? If you want two more eyes, call me and we will see what we can find!

scmdba · 04-03-2005, 03:14 PM

Countryfolks, you're so right. After I sent the post, I wondered if this might be the case. Sure enough. I hooked up in the house on a standard circuit and I could set the clock on the microwave. Yeah! Thanks for the help. Regards, Steve

Countryfolks · 04-03-2005, 03:20 PM

Steve; Happy to hear things worked out.

Skip

Montana_2785 · 04-04-2005, 02:33 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by scmdba

Countryfolks, you're so right. After I sent the post, I wondered if this might be the case. Sure enough. I hooked up in the house on a standard circuit and I could set the clock on the microwave. Yeah! Thanks for the help. Regards, Steve

Steve, while this may "work" the GFCI is telling you that there is current going from HOT to GROUND (via the ground wire or grounded via the frame) instead of to NEUTRAL like it should. I would start trying to isolate by turning off all the breakers then turning them back on one-by-one to find the problem (or if it is new, have the dealer do it.)

If something is leaking current to the frame, it is possible to get a nasty shock when it is wet outside. There was a guy several years ago on a different forum that ran into that problem.

Bottom line, PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOUR GFCI IS TELLING YOU!

Eric

Chester · 04-04-2005, 04:27 AM

FYI, when our Monty is parked at home (much of the summer) it is plugged into a GFI and has always worked. Like Eric says I'd look a little further.

Countryfolks · 04-04-2005, 05:59 AM

Since it does work with the GFI, I totally agree with Eric. Check the GFI socket in the garage also, they go bad sometimes.

Skip

Gene Chaltry · 04-04-2005, 07:02 AM

I also have mine hooked up to a GFI and have had no problems. Good luck in finding what it is and keep us posted.

skypilot · 04-04-2005, 09:36 AM

I have a Mountaineer that has / had similar problem. Found that if the battery is discharged, the converter/charger circuit is enough to trip the GFI. With a charged battery (or only slightly discharged battery) I don't have the problem at all. Dealer has researched and their solution was to ensure that battery is either charged or trip the internal circuit breakers, plug in, and then reset circuit breakers. Also, had both commercial electrician and local power company check GFI circuit (it is exterior to the house so power company opened meter box to GFI circuit breaker box to ensure nothing in there amiss).

Montana_2428 · 04-04-2005, 11:47 AM

Eric is SO RIGHT! A GFI device looks at the "current" flow on the
black (hot) line and also the neutral (white) wire. This flow should
be equal on both the black and white wires at all times. If there is
a difference, the GFI trips.

You do have a safety issue, please be careful.

Don and Michele

scmdba · 04-04-2005, 04:12 PM

Many thanks to all who have responded. I won't be able to get back to the 5er for a few weeks now. Yesterday was my only shot. Business to California next weekend. Asheville, NC the one after that. We plan our first outing 4/23 and I will be able to bring the trailer home on the 22nd. I will definitely do some more testing with the electrical circuits. With the price of gasoline, I would like to find all the problems I can the first outing and only make two 100 mile round trips to the dealer.

VanMan · 04-05-2005, 06:59 AM

Eric Roellig stated "There was a guy several years ago on a different forum that ran into that problem."

Hey !! I think that was me !!

On a "pre-Monty" TT, I got a pretty good zap after doing some roof leak repairs. Not knowing much about electricity, I got on the "other" forum. After finding out what to look for, I realized I had used a long "regular" extension cord that had been cut and repaired several times while using a hedge trimmer (don't we all do that?) never paying any attention to polarity + the little round ground prong was missing (I had probably cut it off to fit a "two holer" outlet). It can be VERY dangerous !! and we can be VERY stooopid !!

Montana_1683 · 04-05-2005, 09:25 AM

If you don't have 110V, but do have 12V. Your power converter may be bad. I had this happen once when I owned a Prowler TT. It was working fine one day and the next day nothing but 12V. It is a simple fix; not necessary a cheap fix. Pull out the converter and take it to a reputable dealer and they can check it for you.

Gary

scmdba · 04-22-2005, 04:25 PM

Well the Monty came back to our house this evening and I confirmed that there is a problem with tripping the GFCI. Can someone give me a few tips about what to look for in the breaker panel? For example, where should the white, black, and green wires attach? Where should the ground wires be? I haven't opened the panel yet because it got dark and I WILL NOT have the shore power attached when I look inside the panel! I intend to open it tomorrow morning and poke around. I found an RV wiring schematic through Google but if someone here has been inside (and I suspect you are out there), I would welcome any advice. Thanks in advance!

Montana_2785 · 04-23-2005, 03:44 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by scmdba

[...] Can someone give me a few tips about what to look for in the breaker panel? For example, where should the white, black, and green wires attach? Where should the ground wires be? [...] I intend to open it tomorrow morning and poke around. [...]

Steve,

The 110V breaker panel will be just the same as your stick home breaker panel WITH THE FOLLOWING EXCEPTION. Your stick home panel will have the neutral (white) and ground (green) wires tied together in the panel. The RV breaker panel is considered to be a sub-panel. In a sub-panel the neutral (white) and ground (green) wires will NOT be tied together.

If you don't see any problems inside the breaker panel itself, then turn off all the breakers and start checking the circuits one by one.

Lots of luck, this is the kind of problem that can drive you to drink

Eric

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