Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Go Back   Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum > MOC Technical Forums > Maintenance
Click Here to Login

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 01-04-2008, 04:19 PM   #1
txkrumm
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Livingston
Posts: 575
M.O.C. #5920
Question re: electric junction box

Howdy all. Here is a question for the boys....
Since I have been here in CA, I have been using what seemed like a LOT of electricity. The dial out on the meter would just spin and spin; even when there was nothing actively running in the camper except the fridge/freezer.
Park maintenance agreed something was wrong with it. The electric man came over today and said it was running on 120v. He changed it over to 240 and said it should help, but he thought it looked like it was "surging" at times and that something in the camper could be making it do that. He suggested that the batteries might be the culprit. Does this sound right? I know nothing about electricity, except that I have to have it!
Let's hope the electricity bill goes down...
thanks,
t
 
txkrumm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-04-2008, 06:15 PM   #2
HamRad
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Bakersfield
Posts: 5,316
M.O.C. #15
Steve and Tara,

That sounds really weird. The only thing I can think of that might be drawing a big load would be your hot water heater. If you have the electric element on it might be causing a big draw. But I know next to nothing about electric either. We have some electric folks here on the MOC and hopefully one or more of them will step up and straighten me/us out.

Please let us know when you find the problem.

Dennis
HamRad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-04-2008, 10:59 PM   #3
H. John Kohl
Montana Master
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: New Bern
Posts: 4,294
M.O.C. #311
Send a message via AIM to H. John Kohl Send a message via MSN to H. John Kohl Send a message via Yahoo to H. John Kohl
I lost my converter. The regulator failed and over cooked the battery. The only way to tell what is causing the power draw is to use your circuit breakers and isolate the circuits buy shutting a breaker off one at a time and see what happens with the current draw. The change from 120 to 240 should not make a difference because your trailer is still only 120.
Good luck and let us know what you find.
H. John Kohl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2008, 12:25 AM   #4
Ozz
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: K.C.
Posts: 11,731
M.O.C. #5980
John is right on, could be a bad battery, converter throwing a charge into it, (over charge) but the largest loads are resistance, hot water heater being one, electric heater, another.
Turn everything off, then on, one by one and watch the meter.
You really need an electrician, or someone with an amp meter to check your trailer out, checking each load.
Ozz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2008, 02:18 AM   #5
richfaa
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: North Ridgeville
Posts: 20,229
M.O.C. #2839
We have the progressive industries PT-50C surge protection That gives a digital readout on both legs of the 50 amp power at the CG. Power pedestal and records the current the camper is drawing. You post would indicate something wrong at the pedestal and the PT-50C would have helped in determining that. We can tell you that the hot water heater on electric(3400) draws 12 amps, The furnace 10 amps,the on board vacuum, 8 amps. The fridge does not draw much at all. With the hot water tank on propane, fridge on electric, and normal power usage in the camper, Tv on , Various lighting, etc we will draw 2 amps on leg 1 and 4 amps on leg 2. Our electric bill last month, In Centrial Florida,The furnace may have run 2 or three nights, we ran a electric heater most every every night on high, 9.62 amps(the bird) and ran the hot water tank on Electric all month ..the bill was 73.42. Now I think that is high for a 400 square ft Camper.
richfaa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2008, 02:24 AM   #6
Ozz
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: K.C.
Posts: 11,731
M.O.C. #5980
Ours was $126.00 at .13 a KWH, 1 freezer, H.W. tank, two refrigerators, A/C some days, heat some nights, no propane useage except cooking. Mine is high, but no propane furnace use.
Ozz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2008, 04:16 AM   #7
txkrumm
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Livingston
Posts: 575
M.O.C. #5920
Thanks all. Steve doesn't come to visit until the end of Jan, so I will just have to deal until then....
I don't think it is the hot water heater. I turned it off when I left for CA on Nov 17. The only thing running was the fridge and the little stand alone freezer. Everything else was off and unplugged. My bill for the month of Dec was $67 and I wasn't even here! Park guys are really good and have been just charging me a flat 50. Steve says he unhooked the battery before we left.
Could the problem be the converter?
t
t
txkrumm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2008, 05:46 AM   #8
rogue
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Merlin
Posts: 668
M.O.C. #7368
If the Battery is not connected, and the circuit breakers are labeled, find the one marked for the Converter or battery charger, and turn it off, then check the dial on the meter. If it slows down, than either you are trying to charge the battery (which is disconnected) all the time, or you have a bad converter. Hope that helps.
rogue is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2008, 05:52 AM   #9
Ozz
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: K.C.
Posts: 11,731
M.O.C. #5980
$67 isn't bad.
How is your new career going?
Ozz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2008, 06:57 AM   #10
Broome101
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Conover
Posts: 995
M.O.C. #1832
If batteries were not connected cannot be converter because it has nothing to charge, it cannot see battery voltage resistance to give it any charge. If hot water heater heater was flipped off as well, soemthing else is pulling a load.
Broome101 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2008, 12:11 PM   #11
mtheo
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: merced
Posts: 983
M.O.C. #6171
Tara
I agree with Bob, trip one breaker at a time and see if there is a big change. Should be able to at least tell which circuit is eating the juice. You said Steve disconnected the batteries. Did he do it by the switch or remove the cables, and possible one cable is shorting out.
Where in CA are you.
Mark
mtheo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2008, 12:18 PM   #12
txkrumm
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Livingston
Posts: 575
M.O.C. #5920
Don't know about the battery; will have to check.
I am in southern Ca; San Bernardino/Colton area. After the rain quits falling; I will check each breaker and see if I can ascertain the "guilty" breaker.
Keep you posted...
t
txkrumm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2008, 12:28 PM   #13
Leaseit
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Lawrenceville
Posts: 279
M.O.C. #5356
Does the converter use a full bridge rectifier or a thysistor rectifier?? IF its a thysisor bridge, i'd bet the converters where the drain is.
Leaseit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2008, 01:01 PM   #14
SlickWillie
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location:
Posts: 2,376
M.O.C. #6575
If it is the converter, seems you would hear the cooling fan on it running all the time. IIRC, the fan runs proportional to the amount of current draw. You know, those electric meters do go crazy sometimes. I would have them pull the meter and swap it with one from another lot.
SlickWillie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-08-2008, 07:05 AM   #15
EagleRunner
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Spokane Valley
Posts: 222
M.O.C. #5255
This may appear as a dumb question, but have you tried disconnecting your shore power cord from the park pedestal to make sure it is not the park service that is the problem? If the park pedestal has a meter and you unplug from that pedestal that meter should stop. If it doesn't then it is either the meter or the pedestal itself that is shorted. Don't rely on the park maintenance to disprove the park equipment. Chances are they will side on the park's equipment over yours.

If the problem is your's, when you throw the breaker for the converter does the problem go away? Are you still getting power to the 12v lights? If you are, the batteries are still connected. Disconnect them and see if the current draw is back when you switch on the converter. Make sure you isolate the battery cables so they don't short out. If the current draw comes back when you apply power to the converter, then the converter is the problem. A shorted primary should trip the breaker so I doubt the rectifiers are shorted in the converter. Could have a shorted secondary or capacitor that is leaking current. Either way, the converter will need to be replaced.

If switching the breaker to the converter does not affect the the draw, then the converter is not the problem you need to look elsewhere. I would then throw the main breaker to see if that removes the current drain. If it does not, then you have a short between the shore power and the breaker panel.

Hope you are able to find the problem and fix it.

Good luck!


EagleRunner is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Electric breaker question Mel Maintenance 12 03-19-2013 04:57 AM
Electric awning question bncinwv General Discussions about our Montanas 9 09-14-2010 12:58 PM
Electric Hot Water heater question dmaxmountaineer General Discussions about our Montanas 17 10-05-2009 02:50 AM
Electric Awning Question berridge General Discussions about our Montanas 3 11-19-2008 04:24 PM
Electric Brake Question Montana_136 Montana Problems, Problem Solving & Technical Help 0 03-10-2003 01:03 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Montana RV, Keystone RV Company or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:31 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.