I recently ran into an issue where all of the non-GFI outlets in my camper stopped working. After some (okay a lot) of trouble shooting I found the problem and thought I would share it here.
I first noticed I had no power to the refrigerator in the outside kitchen so I got out the multi- meter and discovered I had voltage in all the outlets labeled "GFI" but no voltage in any of the non-GFI outlets. Assuming a bad connection somewhere, I began checking continuity between all of the non-GFI outlets which I had so this led me to the panel. My electrical panel does not include a separate circuit breaker labeled for the outlets however I did notice one breaker was double tapped using a pig tail connection. Turns out the factory connected these outlets to the same breaker as the power converter which is where the problem started. The power converter uses aluminum wire which will cause the copper wire from the outlets to oxidize when connected together. I cleaned up the end of copper wire and connected it directly to the circuit breaker and power returned to all the outlets.
The factory used a compound such as Noalox in the wire nut to try and prevent oxidization of the copper conductor however it did not perform very well. It appeared there was more of it on plastic portion of the wire nut then actually in the connection which could have contributed to the problem. A more permanent solution is either use a special termination like "Alumiconn" to connect the aluminum and copper wires together or to add a separate branch circuit breaker if you have space in the panel.
Not sure if anyone else has run into this issue but I hopefully this helps if you do.
I first noticed I had no power to the refrigerator in the outside kitchen so I got out the multi- meter and discovered I had voltage in all the outlets labeled "GFI" but no voltage in any of the non-GFI outlets. Assuming a bad connection somewhere, I began checking continuity between all of the non-GFI outlets which I had so this led me to the panel. My electrical panel does not include a separate circuit breaker labeled for the outlets however I did notice one breaker was double tapped using a pig tail connection. Turns out the factory connected these outlets to the same breaker as the power converter which is where the problem started. The power converter uses aluminum wire which will cause the copper wire from the outlets to oxidize when connected together. I cleaned up the end of copper wire and connected it directly to the circuit breaker and power returned to all the outlets.
The factory used a compound such as Noalox in the wire nut to try and prevent oxidization of the copper conductor however it did not perform very well. It appeared there was more of it on plastic portion of the wire nut then actually in the connection which could have contributed to the problem. A more permanent solution is either use a special termination like "Alumiconn" to connect the aluminum and copper wires together or to add a separate branch circuit breaker if you have space in the panel.
Not sure if anyone else has run into this issue but I hopefully this helps if you do.
