BIG Electrical problem

[patodonn]

First, I don't think this is Keystone's fault..and "All's well that ends well"

Visiting my brother-in law's place in Florida. He had the electrician run a 110v circuit to a 30 amp plug at his planned new garage concrete pad, where we "berthed" the Monty. after hooking up, when we turned the CB to "on" at the "house" side of the electrical connection, the house CB popped. The result at the Monty was smoke coming out of the belly, just next to the stairs, and from inside at the Converter/CB panel.

After checking everything, the electrician "boss" found that his helper had wired the "neutral" and the "hot" sides of the plug backward. We burned (fried" is more descriptive) wires in the "house" junction box to the connection,, and the wires in one complete circuit in the Monty which ran from the Monty's CB panel to the fridge and then out to the dining room slide.

Fortunately, one 15 amp CB in the Monty popped, as did the house CB. The electrician spent one afternoon and the next morning checking circuits and rewiring the Monty and the house J-box. I helped with most of it, because he doesn't know his way around RVs very well.

I learned (a. Never be the first unit to hook up to a new circuit. (b. Lots more about taking belly panels off and looking at Monty wiring than I really wanted to in 90 degree heat, 90% humidity. (c. The value of a ohm/voltmeter and (d. Circuit breakers are GOOD things.

All OK now, fried only one circuit, apparently didn't blow out any electronic stuff. Converter is doing it's DC jobs OK.

If it had to be, it couldn't have happened at a better time/place. Nice place to stay for an evening or two, no press for time to go anywhere, and the responsible party there right away to fix it.

I've had mixed opinions re the cause. First, the CB in the house says "60". Since this was meant as a garage "feeder" later, did we have 60 amps into a 30 amp circuit? Could that have contributed to the fried wires? Could the simple reversal of neutral and hot inputs at the plug have caused the problem? A Monty tech said it could, a couple of other folks said it shouldn't have. Did a short develop that day while towing only one hour to this location and all this just happened as a coincidence with the reverse-wired outlet?

All a "done deal" now but any insights from eleictical gurus appreciated.

Best to all,

[Montana_2779]

Glad to hear a sticky problem was resolved quickly!! We read several of these kinds of stories before moving into our rig. My first purchase after the Mountaineer (before we even took delivery) was a circuit tester and voltage meter. We use them religiously! Best $15 I've spent, to date!

[stiles watson]

Your are right, Pete. I, too, invested in a circuit tester. I use it every time before connecting the shoreline. The first time I used it, I found reverse polarity. The tester is bright yellow and sits right in the top of my tool kit and testing is on my setup checklist. Certainly glad that all is repaired, patodonnn. Happy RVing....

[sreigle]

Wow, that does not sound like much fun, PJ! I'm glad none of the electronics were hurt. Now I know who to contact if we need help!

As for the 60amps to 30, I guess now that the wiring is correct you could hook up again and see what happens. I wouldn't think hooking up to 60amps would hurt a thing any more than hooking up a 30 amp rig to a 50 amp outlet (with adapters for the plug). You just would blow the Montana main before the CB in the house. Remember the 60 amps is how much you can draw on that circuit and has nothing to do with power provided to the rig.

[Countryfolks]

patodonn;
A CB is a current limiter, the 60 A is the amount of current it would take to trip the CB. The 15A CB tripped because 15+ amps started to flow across it. Trailors are wired someswhat differently than a stick house. The reversal could cause the problems you had, which was a short. I doubt you had a short develop in the 5er. You and/or the electrician probably would have found it if one was there, during your repair efforts. Besides that it works now, if it didn't, I would guess you would still have problems.

Skip

[tweir]

Electricity & Smoke is not a good thing...!I've been wiring trucks/busses & boats for nearly 40 years and the "smoke test" makes me cringe. Hopefully no damage to your unit.

[mobrownies]

The breaker and the wire have to be sized correctly. If a 60 amp breaker is put upstream of wire that is only rated at 30 or 40 amps, then the wire will burn before the breaker ever trips. This is a great way to start house fires. It needs to be the other way around, with the wire rated for more than the breaker. It also keeps voltage drop to a minimum.

I try to always check the wiring at the outlet before I park the trailer. A simple circuit tester will let you know if the wires are reversed and if there is a ground. It is suprising to see how many are not wired properly.

I heard an interesting theory once about electricity actually being just smoke. If you let the smoke out appliance or wires -- they won't work anymore