Electrical Outlets don't work

[jimso]

I have a 33' MONTY travel trailer and most of the electrical outlets quit working. I have checked the elec panel and replace one of the circuit breakers but that didn't do it. All fuzes have been removed and checked 3 times! The outlets that do NOT work are the ones near the floor plus the ones for the two TV's The GFI outlets DO work. The one outlet that is hooked into the slide works. Is there some other fuze or circuit breaker in the system? Any suggestions?

[H. John Kohl]

you might state model and year. Our 07 - 3295 has two GFI circuits. Are the outlets all on the same side? Are they on a slide. I know you said both TVs.

I would suggest checking the tightness of all the screws (hot and neutral) behind the circuit breaker. You state you replaced one so I guess you are comfortable working on AC circuits and know the required safety issues. Make sure Monty is unplugged when work on it.

You may have to pull each outlet that does not work and check for loose wires.

Hope this helps. Good luck and let us know what you find.

[Tom S.]

Have you checked the power source (the place you are plugged into) to make sure you have 110 on both sides? If you lose one side, half of your outlets won't work. If that checks out, check out your cord where it plugs into the trailer to make sure you are getting power through it. If that is OK, and you have a voltage stabilizer, check that it is putting out 110 on both sides. Last, I would pull the circuit panel box out and make sure you have two 110 hot lines coming in and they are securely connected.

PLEASE NOTE!!!! If you are not familiar with electricity, either have someone else do these checks for you or hire someone!!

[Pete Hanson]

I hesitated to write this as I had a similar problem last year which turned out to be a loose connection behind one of the outlets. It was a royal pain to find it because there is not a lot of logic to the wiring plan of these rigs. It depends on what day of the week it was built and who ran the wiring........there is no standard routing. I manually pulled each outlet that was failing out of the wall until I found the bad connection. Use a circuit tester to map out the failing outlets if you haven't done so all ready. The other suggestions in this post are all good ones to check out as well.

[jwedell]

If you have a volt meter check from the hot leg to the ground. If you loose the neutral the outlet will not work but one side of the outlet is hot (a lot of owners get shocked by that). Also I have used a trick over the years, plug in a buzzer or light and firmly but not too hard hit each outlet in the 5er. If a wire is loose at the outlet the tapping usually makes sudden contact and the buzzer or the light will flicker (if it does that is the problem outlet). In any event good luck and please be careful. When in doubt unplug the trailer.

[jimso]

I have checked all the plugs by removing them and all seem OK. Power to trailer is OK as appliances work and GFI plugs work. The power distribution panel seems OK and circuit breakers and fuzes are good. Still no power to any of the wall sockets EXCEPT for the GFIs and ONE that is in the slide out.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Check junction boxes below the slides for water??

[KTManiac]

I would try replacing the GFCI recepticle with a new one. I had the same problem in one of my house circuits, replaced the GFCI, and all was well again.

[VanMan]

What KTManiac said - especially since you said you have power "TO" the GFICs but not beyond them. The year and model would still help. We have a 2000 305FKS travel trailer. I had a "funny" problem last year and it turned out to be a push-button reset breaker in a junction box on the floor under the kitchen sink at the back of the cabinet space. I didn't even know it was there! If I recall correctly it was a DC problem, but there may be something like that for AC also.

[Chip]

These electrical problems are hard to find.

I just solved mine. I had a similar problem. Sometimes they worked and sometimes they did not. Finally figured out it was all on the L1 line.

Started tracing that and checking all connections and found the L1 hot line into the surge protector was very loose. Tightened that and problem solved. It was loose enough that I could easily have had a fire from it. So glad I found this.

I am going to map out where all lines go from the breakers and which side they are on. Hopefully it will help me problem solve electrical issues faster in the future.

Chip

[jimso]

Problem solved! After trying several of your suggestions, out of sheer frustration, I smacked the circuit breakers REALLY hard-and guess what, I have power to the plugs! Obviously something is/was loose behind the panel. I would like the thank all those who took the time and responded to my plea-Monty folks are the best!

[bncinwv]

There are two steps to solving most problems. Obviously the second step solved your problem!! The steps are:

1) When all other options have been exhausted, read the manual.
2) When there is no manual (read Montana units), the last alternative is:



Bingo

[Tom S.]

quote:Originally posted by bncinwv



2) When there is no manual (read Montana units), the last alternative is:

Isn't that the truth!!!!! I would be happy with a build sheet that listed all the various components and their model or part numbers! IMHO, this is one of Keystones biggest failures.