POWER PROBLEMS

[Larry-P]

Here's the basics:
2011 5th Wheel 3455SA
50amp service EMS 50amp surge protector.
Have Monty set-up at permenment site.

Yesterday (July 3) the refigerator suddenly says "no AC" & went to gas. Minutes later the A/C shut down. Lights began dimming/over bright then totally off.
All this time the EMS said power was fine from main box.
Power suddenly comes back on in 5 wheel (never off at main box). Frig now says "LI oP" (high temp limit sw open). The end of frig.
Lights begin dimming again, A/C slows then speeds up.
Battery not being charged.
I switched the EMS power plug from 50amp to 30amp (with adapter). The A/C seems to run slightly better & the battery seems to have starting charging again.
The top of the main meter box outside starting getting really warm when connected to the 50amp plug but cooled when connected to the 30amp plug.
In past weeks we would be reading with only 2 lights on, no A/C, fans etc & suddenly the lights would dim & then come back to normal. When reading in the bedroom, when 1 light was turned off the other would get brighter. Both these cases happened when connected to shore power. Am I correct in assuming that when connected to shore power lights should not dim because battery is always being charged ?
I am not too knowledgable on this matter & these may be dum questions & statements, but I'm trying to learn what is what.
In any case, the wife & I turned all power off including the battery disconnect, locked up & we are now home. We're going back tommorrow to try & get something fixed.
Any help is appreciated.

Thanks, Larry P

[racerjoe]

sounds to me you might have lost your converter. If everything checked out outside. did anyone else near you have any trouble or just yours?

[Larry-P]

Other sites on both sides of me were empty so I don't know. What bothers me is the dimming of lights with nothing else on. Also, were would the converter be on the model 3455SA. I took the stairs vent off & could'nt see anything there. How do you find the darn thing ?

[bigmurf]

Are these lights 12 VDC or 110 VAC?
Why don't you hook up to another pedistal?

[snfexpress]

I would venture that one or more wires going to the 50 amp receptacle in the pedestal is either not tightened down, corroded or too small in size. Any of these situations could cause heat and an amperage drop when under load.

As bigmurf suggested - try another pedestal, even if you have to get an extension cord (that is if you don't want to move).

[Art-n-Marge]

If your EMS is only a surge protector it won't help these problems you are having because it sounds like you are having brownouts, not a surge - maybe you should provide the model of EMS you have so others can comment further. On the other hand even if the EMS was a fancy power conditioning unit this problem sounds like it's after the EMS and inside the rig, just like racerjoe suggests.

If it is the converter a bad battery can also cause harm to whatever 12v devices are turned on because the battery may draw down other 12v sources like another battery or the converter. I don't know your rig layout, but in mine, if I remove the back panel in the basement the converter is behind the panel near the back of the power distribution panel.

btw - there is no such thing as a dumb question or statement for any forum. If it gets information and answers then that's the goal. Only answers and information are dumb but hopefully the forum members will keep everything straight.

Do you have a Volt meter? Physically disconnect the battery(ies) and measure them without being connected to anything or each other and it should read about 12.7 or 12.8 volts. Then reconnect it and if connected to shore power should read about 13.8 or higher. Anything less and that's bad. If the batteries were reading 12.7/12.8 and now reading less something is bringing them down like a bad converter.

You might also try isolating any 110v devices and lights by turning off 110v circuit breakers starting with the converter and see if the problem follows what you turn off. You'll need to know what lights are 12v (in my rig most of the installed lights are 12v) and what lights are 110v (anything that takes a plug) since they are NOT all the same. When you say the lights are dimming are you only talking the 12v ones (another hint it could be the converter)?

[Carl n Susan]

A couple of points.

* Your converter is integrated into the power distribution panel. There is no separate box to find.

* 12V lights operate at varying voltages. As the voltage increases, the lights get brighter. Lower the voltage and the lights get dimmer. While called a 12V light it really operates from 11.6 to 14+ volts depending on the charge level of the battery and the action of the converter. If the battery is fully charged the converter is doing nothing. When it determines the battery needs to be charged, it will provide 13+ or 14+ volts. It is not uncommon to see the 12V lights brighten up when the converter kicks in.

* The A/C behavior is indicative of low 120V power. The 120V power also drives the converter. Low power to it will result in weird results on the 12V output side.

I agree with snfexpress and bigmurf, you have a pedestal power supply problem. Start there and see if the situation improves.

[Larry-P]

You guys are the best. Thanks for all the help. I'll check the above mentioned items tomorrow when we get back out to the site.
As an FYI, I just had someone add the 50amp plug to the outside box. Could be not everything is reight out there.

Larry P

[DQDick]

A true EMS would give you information on it's readout of what was wrong if it's in the pedestal and if the voltage was dropping would shut the rig off altogether to save your equipment.

[snfexpress]

quote:I just had someone add the 50amp plug to the outside box.

Did they pull another wire to provide true 50 amp service or did they just kludge the receptacle by pig-tailing off the 30 amp side?

[sambam]

On our '10 3455SA, the power converter is under the desk in the kitchen.

[K0LCB]

I had similar problems a few years ago. I found a loose neutral wire

[Exnavydiver]

If after you find the power problem your fridge still says L1op (I am assuming that you have a 1210 norcold) you can reset the little black box inside the lower access panel for the fridge by running a heavy magnet over the little red light after you cut the power to the fridge. Then turn power back on to fridge and it should come back on. If you look on the Norcold site for trouble codes it says that L1 op is not end user repairable, our repair man told me that is all they do to reset the units.. Good Luck!

[Bigboomer]

Larry, not sure which surge protector you have but if it does not have line monitoring like the Progressive it will not protect you against low voltage.

Once I hooked up our hardwired Progressive EMS it immediately displayed both 50 amp incoming lines and showed low volts on the line powering the a/c and when it dropped enough it shut the power off. After about a minute it fired back up. If you only have surge protection and you have what sounds like pedestal issues it will protect your rig.

A loose wire or bad plug on the pedestal will wreak havoc on your coaches electric system and could fry your a/c and converter, or worse.

Get a hold of the campground and get them to fix that pedestal.

Keep us updated.

Les