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Old 08-01-2022, 04:40 AM   #1
T&D Arnold
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Battery drain on shore power

Yesterday we moved our 3121 a total of 15 miles. We have been living in our RV for 8 weeks while the new garage was built on our new property. We have had zero issues for 8 weeks. No longer a true statement.1. Front AC (bedroom) won’t turn on. When changing function on thermostat you do hear 2 clicks from the unit on the roof but there is no fan and no AC.
2. At 5 AM after being hooked to shore power for 20 hours we got the low battery beeping. Battery power had dropped to 10.7. Battery disconnect is in the ON position.

The more we think we know the less it seems we do. I understand that AC units ‘go bad’ so I’ll have that checked by a service tech. Why are we draining the battery while hooked to shore power? How can 2 significant things go wrong in a 15 mile move? Suggestions to troubleshoot?
 
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Old 08-01-2022, 05:23 AM   #2
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Sounds like you may have lost one leg of your power. First thing I would check is the power coming into the 5'er. With a VOM I'd start at the pedestal, then the breaker box in the 5'er. Good luck and let us know what you find.
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Old 08-01-2022, 06:18 AM   #3
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I agree with jimcol. Sounds like you lost the hot leg the a/c and converter are on. Are you on 50 amp service? 30 amp?
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Old 08-01-2022, 07:00 AM   #4
T&D Arnold
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I agree. We are in our new RV garage with new 50 AMP service. I think something is wrong with the pedestal power.
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Old 08-01-2022, 07:24 AM   #5
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The contractor is on his way to troubleshoot the power issue. I’ll update when we have more info.
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Old 08-01-2022, 07:45 AM   #6
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Okay here is the result. The new power pedestal has correct power. The power cord had no issues. As we were reconnecting the power cord to the side of the RV we saw the light flick in the ‘convenience’ area. Further inspection revealed a connection internal to the RV that was just barely hanging on. Everything tightened up and now the front AC unit comes on, the RV battery is charging, and life is good again. Had we not had the light on in the convenience area we may have chased this for a long time.
Thanks everyone!
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Old 08-01-2022, 08:05 AM   #7
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I may have misread your intent about hooking power to your fiver. But ... It is best practice to attach the power cable to the RV, make sure the breakers are off and plug cord into power pedistal, then turn on breakers at or to pedistal all in that order.
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Old 08-01-2022, 08:20 AM   #8
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Oh absolutely. We always turn off the breaker before removing the power cord from RV or ensure it is off before plugging the RV in to the pedestal.
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Old 08-01-2022, 08:43 AM   #9
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Actually you probably got lucky things happening as they did. That bad connection would probably have eventually led to overheating and burning that wiring point.

Curious where that loose connection was. It is a good idea to go into your circuit breaker/fuse panel and tighten every connection point, ac hot, neutral, ground, and 12 vdc, with all power off to be safe. Many of us have found numerous screws there not properly tightened.
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Old 08-01-2022, 09:16 AM   #10
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When we went to loosen the ring that keeps the power cord secure to the rig we noticed the lights flicker. So we shut off power to the rig and removed the screws from the plug. If that light hadn’t been on (it was daylight and we had good visibility without it) we wouldn’t have gotten our first big clue to where the problem might be.
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Old 08-01-2022, 10:32 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by T&D Arnold View Post
When we went to loosen the ring that keeps the power cord secure to the rig we noticed the lights flicker. So we shut off power to the rig and removed the screws from the plug. If that light hadn’t been on (it was daylight and we had good visibility without it) we wouldn’t have gotten our first big clue to where the problem might be.
There have been a number of reports on here about that plug/receptacle overheating and burning wire connections and ruining the plug and/or receptacle.

Curiosity question. When you plug your cord into the trailer do you twist it to lock it in?
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Old 08-01-2022, 11:39 AM   #12
T&D Arnold
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Well honestly I have seen the hubs do both. I’m going to ‘assume’ that the twisting (and bouncing down the highways and byways) are the likely culprits.
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Old 08-07-2022, 01:29 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by T&D Arnold View Post
Yesterday we moved our 3121 a total of 15 miles. We have been living in our RV for 8 weeks while the new garage was built on our new property. We have had zero issues for 8 weeks. No longer a true statement.1. Front AC (bedroom) won’t turn on. When changing function on thermostat you do hear 2 clicks from the unit on the roof but there is no fan and no AC.
2. At 5 AM after being hooked to shore power for 20 hours we got the low battery beeping. Battery power had dropped to 10.7. Battery disconnect is in the ON position.

The more we think we know the less it seems we do. I understand that AC units ‘go bad’ so I’ll have that checked by a service tech. Why are we draining the battery while hooked to shore power? How can 2 significant things go wrong in a 15 mile move? Suggestions to troubleshoot?
Unless you have Lithium batteries, that battery is finished. It sounds like you are not keeping them charged so use your VOM and start at the battery positive lead (BE VERY CAREFUL TO NOT TOUCH GROUND WITH THE CABLE). Remove the cable from the battery and see if the converter is charging or not. If not, work back from there and hopefully it's just a fuse or a loose wire finally shook off.
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