110/240 Volt power point junction box

[Richard Day]

I’m new to this forum, from Sydney. I have 2008 Sundance 5th wheeler. Dual power 110 and 240 volts. Power points converted to Australian system. None of the power points work. Electrician says a short in the neutral wire. He said single wire to each power point and said there has to be a junction box somewhere. Would anyone know where it is located? Air Cond, water heater and ceiling fan still work off 110 volts. Thanks, Richard

 

[hoefler]

Breaker box or power cord

 

[Bogie]

I don't know the layout of your RV, but lets' start with some basics and assumptions.

The first assumption is that the RV was wired from the factory for the US market.
Second assumption is that that wiring hasn't been altered significantly.

Your RV could have been built with either 30 amp 110 volt wiring or 50 amp 110 volt wiring. To my knowledge, no Heartland RV operates on 240 volts and no equipment was made to operate at 240 volts.

The 30 amp service would consist of a 3 wire connection with a power wire, a neutral wire and a ground. (A three pronged plug) See attached diagram.

The 50 amp service consists of two 110 volt circuits with two power wires, a neutral wire and a ground. (A four pronged plug) The attache diagram illustrates that circuit arrangement. Don't confuse this with 240 volt service.

Since Australian power is standard at 230 volts and you say you have 110 volts, a converter (230 to 110 volt reducer) must have been installed somewhere.

Best suggestion is to begin from the diagrams, determine which you have and have an electrician take it from there to get it to your requirements.

Also, since you are new here, you might want to peruse the "Tools" section of this forum in the header at the top. There a many useful documents there, though, to my knowledge, none that date back to 2008.

Hope that helps.

 

[Richard Day]

Thanks Bogie for your reply. Unfortunately I don’t think this helps much. What I’m after is the physical location of a junction box where the incoming power lead is distributed to all the power points inside the van. Once we find this the electrician reconds he can fix the problem. I’ve heard from one source that it may be located under the living room slide out but I’m away from home at the moment and can’t check. Im just trying to avoid pulling half the van apart to try and locate it. It may not be a physical box type set up. Thank you

 

[taskswap]

Many of them don't have such a box. Every RV or trailer I've ever owned has had the "shore power" as a jack on the exterior wall and a cable from the back of that running through the coach right to the AC/DC distribution panel, with no junction box in between. Interior outlets are wired from there. I suppose you could think of the electrical panel as the thing you're looking for?

With respect, has your electrician worked with RVs much? He may not be wrong about the neutral, but if he's not comfortable with how RVs are typically wired this could be a slog getting it resolved... RVs are "special" and often toe the line on many codes and standards so this probably won't be his last challenge...

 

[wdk450]

Do you have a generator? Codes in the US for free standing (portable) generators like used in construction say that the neutral should NOT be bonded to ground, but if you you use the same generator to power an RV with typical home-style AC wiring, then neutral (from the supply) should be bonded to ground.

 

[david-steph2018]

Check behind the rear basement wall in the front passthrough storage area. Barring that, physically tracing the wires from the breaker panel toward the incoming shore power plug would be the next option.