IOTA 12v Distribution Panel Help - Montana Owners Club

Herk · 08-16-2007, 08:15 AM

Hi all! I'm not sure where to start so... anyway. We had a storm pass through last Monday evening with lots of rain etc. I went out to the Monty after work last night to finish up on a project I've been working on and found out that the refrig., ceiling fan/light, wall outlet & light weren't working. Some of the 110v lights were working as well as other things like the microwave. The Monty was connected to a 30amp source. First thing I checked was the fuse/circuit breakers and nothing was tripped or fuses blown. I removed the 15 amp fuse for the refrig. and the LED light comes on. I tried removing other fuses but they didn't light up the LED. My question is this, I'm not sure how things are suppose to work but it didn't make any sense to me to have the LED light up after removing the fuse! I would have thought that the LED would light up if the fuse was blown. I've did some research about how this panel works but haven't had any luck. Do any of you fellow MOC'er have any experience or knowledge about how this 12v panel works or maybe a source for an owners manual on it?

I also did check the shoreline connector to the Monty and it was pretty wet... water ran out of the plug! I dried things out a bit and changed to a different cord. Didn't help, but later on in the evening, all power was restored. Which is another puzzling issue...?

I hope my explanation is clear, if not please feel free and I'll try again. Thanks.

49merc · 08-16-2007, 11:15 AM

When you remove the fuse that is the same as a blown fuse. The light should come on.
Bob

JH Sechelt · 08-16-2007, 11:22 AM

Could be something wrong with your 50 to 30 amp adapter.
Unplug the cord (at the trailer) and check the cord with a circuit tester to see if both 110V circuits are hot. sounds like one is not.

J&D

kerry · 08-16-2007, 11:42 AM

I think this is how it works for the 12v fuses and the LED's. If, for example, the fuse is for a light, the switch for the light has to be on. Meaning, if you turn the switch on, and the light doesn't come, if the fuse is blown, the LED will be on. If the switch is off and you pull the fuse, the LED will not light. If the switch is on and you pull the fuse, the LED should light up. Hope this makes sense. Kerry ( the LED is an indicator of power loss on an active circuit )

Bob & Lee · 08-16-2007, 11:47 AM

Our friends had what sounds like the same problem his DW washed the back of the RV and let the water run all over the plug-in and he lost part of his power inside after he dried it out the power returned and the plus should be water repelent or proof.

H. John Kohl · 08-16-2007, 12:39 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by kerry

I think this is how it works for the 12v fuses and the LED's. If, for example, the fuse is for a light, the switch for the light has to be on. Meaning, if you turn the switch on, and the light doesn't come, if the fuse is blown, the LED will be on. If the switch is off and you pull the fuse, the LED will not light. If the switch is on and you pull the fuse, the LED should light up. Hope this makes sense. Kerry ( the LED is an indicator of power loss on an active circuit )

This is the way I understand the LEDs also. If there is a demand for 12VDC and the fuse is blown or pulled the led will light. If there is no demand for 12VDC on the circuit the LED will not light.
If the circuit is not "complete" the LED will not light.
Cheers,

DarMar · 08-17-2007, 05:02 AM

Denny, we just had something quite similar happen last weekend. After doing all the things you did I was baffled. Finally located the GFI plug above the kitchen counter and it wouldn't stay reset which led me to believe I had a faulty GFI. After checking all other kitchen plugs I decided the plug in between the dining table and sofabed was on the same circut. When I went to check it I found water coming out of it. I took apart the wall plug and cover, used a blow dryer on it and of course was able to reset the kitchen GFI. Fridge then worked on electric as well as everything else you mentioned. Turns out we had a leak from the roof of the slide. The tape running along the edge up top was not completely sealed and the driving rain forced moisture into the wall and down to the outlet.

Herk · 08-21-2007, 11:02 AM

Thanks all for your insight to my problem. Our continuing saga: Everything seemed to be working fine prior to leaving for our weekend camping trip. We got to the site and one of the first things we do after getting the trailer leveled is to plug in the shore power. We decided to use the same power cord that worked the night before. Turned off the 30amp circuit breaker on the post, plugged in the trailer, turned on the breaker and it tripped immediately. Needless to say it was the same power problem we had previously! We ended up running an extension cord from the refrig. to the 20 amp service on the camp site power so that we didn't have to scramble to find other coolers and eat a gallon of ice cream. I determined that the only line/breaker in the trailer was the 15 amp Kitchen breaker. As we tried troubleshooting the problem we isolated the refrid., the resettable gfci plug etc. but in checking what was on the "problem child" circuit we found that there were 11 items running on the one 15 amp circuit! Way to go Keystone! ... needless to say, our Montana is currently sitting at the dealership in their queue for repair. I'm not an electrician but I have worked in electronics and I cannot believe that Keystone (or the Feds) would allow this practice but obviously they did. The more I look at our Montana's issues the more I wished I'd took up flying or bird watching or...!

richfaa · 08-21-2007, 11:20 AM

There is little regulation in the Rv industry.. Our LED lights never worked under any conditions and keystone finally replaced the entire Converter. How about Both Air Conditioners being on the same 50 amp leg,,brilliant......

BB_TX · 08-22-2007, 09:34 AM

Apparently Keystone does not have a rigid wiring quality control department and/or engineering drawings to wire from. You may have read my recent post where I found my refrigerator to be wired into the circuit from the switch that controlled my ceiling fan/light instead of the GFCI outlet in the kitchen. Switch on - refrigerator worked. Switch off - refrigerator quit. Also sometimes I could inflate/deflate the air bed and sometimes I could not. That was baffling for a while. Actually that switch controlled the ceiling fan/light, the living room slide outlet, and the rear outlets in addition to the refrigerator (that I know of). Everything but the refrigerator made some sense. Dealer rewired it correctly.

littlespud · 09-19-2007, 12:24 PM

I had the same problem with the circuit as you, I have a 05 3400, and I have location the problem in the Panel. I pulled the panel after hours of following the wires through different plugs, water pump, and heater switch. I pulled on the wires behind the panel by chance, and the circuit came on, I pulled the other way the circuit went off. I had it to the dealer to find it first, and it always worked, so they were no help, not there fault. I pulled the lead out cut if off, put additional shims in the connector, haven't had a problem since. But your right, this is a lot on that one circuit.

littlespud · 09-19-2007, 12:26 PM

I had the same problem with the circuit as you, I have a 05 3400, and I have location the problem in the Panel. I pulled the panel after hours of following the wires through different plugs, water pump, and heater switch. I pulled on the wires behind the panel by chance, and the circuit came on, I pulled the other way the circuit went off. I had it to the dealer to find it first, and it always worked, so they were no help, not there fault. I pulled the lead out cut if off, put additional shims in the connector, haven't had a problem since. But your right, this is a lot on that one circuit.

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