electrical connections

[swanny]

i read an article about rv insurance claims, number one claim was for fire. mostly around the refrigerator area. then the other day a post appeared about wiring fires in and around the front compartment. fires seemed to be cause by poor connections and bad grounds. then the hot wires burn the hydraulic lines which leads to nothing good.
so first i pulled the wires out of the junction box under the pin. lots of wires and loose connections. found two wires i could just lift out of the factory connections. so i cut all factory connection off and replaced with a good quality wire nut. taped it back up and tucked them back in the box.
next the ground wires. i was always told NOT to ground to a dirty or painted surface. well every ground wire was grounded to a painted surface, ah, at least the ones that were tight. also retightened the connections with linesman pliers. all grounds are now on a clean metal to metal surface.
next i am going to re-route all the tangled wires and make them safe and neat and put rubber grommets in the hole they pass through.

I also pulled the fuse and electrical panel out and would like to report everything was good!!!!! just a lot of wires tangled together. it looked like a bucket of worms in there.

almost forgot i took the shore power plug apart and guess what, the connections were not tight. matter of fact they were very loose, now fixed.

to everybody who has a new unit or one that hasn't been checked, PLEASE DO SO it my save your Montana and maybe your life.

"safe" is very relaxing

[HamRad]

Swanny,

Excellent idea. We ended up doing almost the same thing. But not nearly as good a job as you have done.

HamRad

[simonsrf]

swanny,

There's more than just a few of us that could use your talents!

So, when are you going to be leaving PA for the west coast?

[swanny]

it's not really that hard. just re-do all their "i don't care stuff". like a lot of things we buy. the people who manufacture it figure they won't be using it so they don't care.
i am thnking about going to our community college to take a 2yr coarse on rv repair. it can't hurt. and to Simonsrf, what's with the signs. people around here get arrested for that type of prank
thanks if i can help i will and i'll keep ya'll posted on what i find and don't find.

[bsmeaton]

Good show Swanny -

Electrical issues are not very forgiving, are never convenient, and can produce catastrophic results from something as minor as a loose connection. If not fire, then burned out appliances, shorted wiring, or just plain loss of function. You've made your chances better for success.

[ols1932]

Most, not all, electrical fires emanate from loose neutral wires (the white ones). When loose, current will flow and jump from wire to connector and when this is done enough, heat is generated and eventually fire. That's why a lot of us advocate taking some time, opening your converter panel and tightening all the white wires. They are all connected to a common bus. Disconnect your incoming shore power and/or turn off your main breaker before doing this to avoid the possibility of a a slip up.

Orv

[simonsrf]

All good information. Thanks.

The signs are what we found in Dothan, AL......no wonder I was confused.

[richfaa]

swanny.. You did a good thing.That mess under the pin box was causing us false trailer disconnect errors. We did eveything you describe early on because of what we learned on this forum..EXCEPT..we did not drop the under belly(lazy) and we did have that melt down which would probably have been avoid IF I had... The value of this Forum can not be measured.

[jcaengr]

Rich, I too am having false disconnect error messeges. What did you do to correct that issue? JC

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

swanny.. You did a good thing.That mess under the pin box was causing us false trailer disconnect errors. We did eveything you describe early on because of what we learned on this forum..EXCEPT..we did not drop the under belly(lazy) and we did have that melt down which would probably have been avoid IF I had... The value of this Forum can not be measured.

[Pete Hanson]

One place that amazed me was where the wires pass through the front bulkhead into the battery area. The hole the wires pass though is left with jagged and very sharp metal edges and the wires were just laid across the edges without any additional protection. Some were even pretty tight against the metal. I took some pipe insulation and lined the edges of the hole so now the wires are resting on foam instead of razor sharp metal. I couldn't believe it.

[swanny]

Yes I found a lot of that also. Another area you will be amazed at is behind the basement wall. I used a lot of foam pipe insulation on things and wire ties. Do check it you'll be glad you did.
almost forgot my shore power connection wires were loose.