110 Electrical Problem in 3611JS Cyclone

[Hogladyrider]

We have no electrical 110 power on one entire side of our new 3611JS Cyclone.

We are full timers enroute to Massachusetts. We left the dealership in Michigan on Saturday so returning to the dealer is not an option.

My partner has been in contact with Heartland who has provided the names of several places to have a tech look at the problem, however the places provided are no longer associated with Heartland and no can do according to them.

We have requested a copy of the electrical diagram for the RV but have yet to receive same.

It appears that all the outlets on the outage side are tied together to one GFI outlet in the bathroom....including the fireplace, TV and all the kitchen outlets.
Now when the GFI breaker trips and is reset there is no green light however there is power only to this one outlet. Yes it appears the GFI is faulty however the bigger issue appears that ALL these outlets should NOT be tied to this one GFI outlet.

If you sense the frustration in my typing you are correct. We did not experience anything this frustrating with our two previous Heartland products and especially since this unit was just delivered from the factory to the dealer one week ago!

Hoping we can get this fixed very soon so we can enjoy our new home on wheels while we workamp this summer and not have to give up our home for too long!

Susan

 

[boatto5er]

Are you sure you are getting full power from the shore power box? Have you tried the generator to see if you get the exact same issue? You could have a loose connection behind the GFCI, but you only want to look at that if you feel comfortable working with electricity (disconnect from shore power before looking). As to all circuits on one side being on the GFCI circuit, can't help. See if Heartland will authorize a RV service tech to come to you.

 

[danemayer]

Susan,

The fireplace should be on a separate 15 amp circuit breaker. Have you looked in the main circuit breaker panel to see if the fireplace breaker is tripped?

I'm a little unclear about the GFCI issue. Usually when GFCI outlets trip, you lose power at that outlet as well as at all downstream outlets. Seems like you're saying the GFCI has tripped but still has power. It's possible you might just have a loose wire on the backside of the GFCI outlet, but that doesn't explain how it tripped but still has power.

Putting these descriptions together, if you've stated the problem correctly, I'm guessing you don't have a GFCI problem.

When a large group of outlets and devices fails, the first thing to check is the shore power connection at both the pedestal and at the connection to the trailer. If one leg of the 50 amp service goes out at either location, you'll have a bunch of device and outlet failures.

A quick way to test this is to start the generator. If everything works, it's a shore power problem.

It could also be a problem in the transfer switch, but it's more common to have a problem at one end of the shore power cord.

 

[cookie]

Along with what Gus said you will need to turn off and back on your main breakers as well as the breaker at the pedestal. This will reset them if they are tripped. Just looking at them will not be a good indicator of a tripped breaker.
Do you have a generator? If so are the receptacles in question working when running the generator?
If no generator do you have the generator prep?
If you feel comfortable working on electrical you might also want to check the wiring on the back of the breakers.
Be sure you are unplugged from shore power and the generator is turned off.
There are a lot of things that could cause the problem you are having. The more information as to what you have looked at or tried will help find the problem.

Peace
Dave

 

[wdk450]

Call Heartland service again. Previous warranty policy has been that you can take your RV to ANY RV servicer you desire with prior authorization of Heartland, and they will re-emburse for warranty service. They have even kept lists of 3rd party servicers they have had sucessful results with in areas throughout the U.S. RVServiceReviews.com is also a helpful resource to find RV servicers that people have had good results with.

Good Luck with a speedy repair of this problem. I am wondering if maybe the generator transfer switch (which decides which route the incoming shore or generator power takes) might have 1 of the 2 power phases open. This switch routes the power even when the generator is off.

 

[Hogladyrider]

Thanks for all the replies!

Yes we agree the fireplace should be on a separate switch/breaker, but apparently it is NOT!

We have run the generator and there is still no power to the switches.

We have just yesterday settled into our site where we will be stationary for the next several months workamping. All the original electrical problems began the first day we left our dealer last Saturday and did not happen in just one campground.

Yes the GFI receptacle in the bathroom that has the reset and test button will reset and there is power to just this outlet only none of the other outlets marked GFI have reset and test buttons and have NO power. Also this one GFI receptacle now the "green" lite will not come on when the reset is pushed despite the outlet having power.

Gary has looked at the GFI outlet, taken it apart. He is very knowledgable and it is just frustrating that Heartland still has yet to provide us with the wiring diagram that we requested.

We have contacted a local RV mobile tech now that we are settled to see when he can come assess the electrical situation. We have two days before we start our workamping jobs and hoping we can get it resolved, will keep everyone posted.

We are managing using the outlet that do work, making coffee in the bedroom and running an extension cord from the garage for the TV.

We are very happy to be out of the COLD and snow and at least we have 50 degree weather which is manageable for us Floridians!
Susan

 

[danemayer]

Based on past posts where people have asked Heartland, I don't think you'll be getting a wiring diagram.

If you're comfortable working on electrical wiring, cut off all power and check for junction boxes under the slideouts. It's not unheard of for there to be loose connections at those junctions. BUT, disconnect power before doing the inspection. Check both sides. Sometimes power is routed to one side and from there to the other side.

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

Just a guess
You could have an issue in the Transfer switch possibly. If you have the same problem with shore power and Gen power, It's probably the L-1 or L-2 leads from the transfer switch to the breaker box. Did you order the coach with the Gen or did your dealer install it ? Get a multi meter and start following the power in on both L-1 & L-2 legs and see where you loose it.
When you get to the transfer switch test then unplug the power and tighten everything up in the while it's open. same with the breaker panel.

- - - Updated - - -

Based on past posts where people have asked Heartland, I don't think you'll be getting a wiring diagram.

If you're comfortable working on electrical wiring, cut off all power and check for junction boxes under the slideouts. It's not unheard of for there to be loose connections at those junctions. BUT, disconnect power before doing the inspection. Check both sides. Sometimes power is routed to one side and from there to the other side.

Yes if it's just the power outlets in that slide only the I'm sure Dan has found your problem.

 

[Hogladyrider]

Update.....Gary has discovered there is a 15 amp breaker labeled fireplace and no power going to the breaker at all and yes we do have a fireplace.

We did not custom order the coach the dealer ordered the coach and it came with the generator installed from the factory it was not dealer installed.

It is the power outlets in the bathroom, kitchen, TV, fireplace (these are all on the entry door side of the RV), the bathroom is NOT in a slide. Then there are the power outlets on the opposite side of the RV in the slide out that also have no power.

We will keep pursuing based on your suggestions as Gary is very resourceful.

In our 09 Big Horn the transfer switch, we had no generator, was faulty and caused a major electrical burnout that we repaired on our own so I have faith once the issue is discovered we can resolve it.

Thanks for all your suggestions please keep them coming.

My job is to figuire out where we are going to put all our "stuff" going from 42' living space down to 28', not counting the garage - it isn't easy but I enjoy a challenge.
Susan

 

[NHCelt]

We just had a similar issue on our new Bighorn. In our case it was outlets powered under a circuit labeled slide. This circuit included the fridg. I found that there are junction boxes located on the frame. These service various circuits...on mine there were three circuits that had connections in these junction boxes; the microwave, fireplace and the slide. One wire nut connection in a junction box was loose...took me hours to figure out the circuits.


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[NHCelt]

I also found that

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[NHCelt]

Sorry....Don't just check the j boxes on the side with the problem...my bad connection was mid run on the opposite side of the slide.

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[wdk450]

If you ARE crawling around testing the wiring to find where the power cuts out, a Non Contact Voltage Detector (like this one from Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauke...S6383oBKudo_1TWMGjakSBoCqSTw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds ) comes in pretty handy showing you where there is voltage in a wire by the electromagnetic field it generates. No contact with the wire conductor is needed, just put the detector near the supposed hot wire.

 

[Mattman]

Turn off all your power. Push on all your breakers to ensure they are attached the bus. If you fell any snap in they may have been loose. You can also try to by pass the gfci all together if every thing Down stream is dead. Do you have 240 in your panel? Power at all your breakers? Use caution. Narrow it down to a feeder issue or a branch circuit issue. If you have hot power at the outlet by nothing works you lost your neutral some place along the way.
Just a few ideas

 

[danemayer]

Susan,

If there's no power at the fireplace circuit breaker, meaning your husband took a voltage reading at the back of the breaker, it would seem like the problem is either at the circuit breaker panel, or at the transfer switch.

The symptom where you have power coming into the GFCI outlet, but not coming out of it, would seem to be a separate problem.

So I'm confused by what you're reporting.

Are you taking voltage readings and seeing odd readouts? For example, voltages higher than 120V in some places. Lower than 120V in others.

 

[Smokeater]

Hi Susan, So sorry to hear you are having electrical problems. I have attached this photo of the plug that Heartland is using in all our units. Our 3585RL is a 2014, bought new by us. The other day, our Bighorn vacuum quit working. While plugged in to our home, the Ground Fault, 50amp supply breaker kept tripping. After tracing the problem, I opened up the plug in box to see the devastation inside. Don't just believe with your unit that it is something simple. Please be sure to trace everything. Our problem could have been much worse if it had not been for our in home breaker. None of the Fifth Wheel breakers tripped at anytime! Good luck, Dave

 

[Hogladyrider]

Update on our electrical situation......finally a local RV tech who specializes in electrical came out to assess the situation. He replaced the GFI outlet and we now have electrical outlets that work, HOWEVER, the tech will be writing a detailed e-mail to Heartland warranty describing what he feels needs to be done as there are too many outlets tied into this one GFI outlet as well as the fireplace.

The fireplace has its own 20 amp breaker in the panel box however there are NO wires connected to it....the fireplace has been daisy chained into the GFI circuit putting too many items on this circuit.

For now we have the fireplace unplugged and we are not using it.

We now have to sit and wait on Heartland and the RV Tech to determine a permanent fix for the situation but at least now we are able to move the coffee pot from the bedroom tot he kitchen and we no longer are running extension chords.

We realize it is not just a Heartland issue, it is a quality control issue throughout our entire country. Just because we have spent a good amount of money on something it is silly of us to think that it should operate properly!

Thanks to all for your input and continued support, I will try and keep this thread up to date.
Susan

 

[JohnD]

We realize it is not just a Heartland issue, it is a quality control issue throughout our entire country. Just because we have spent a good amount of money on something it is silly of us to think that it should operate properly!

Thanks to all for your input and continued support, I will try and keep this thread up to date.
Susan

Nope . . . it is up to us . . . the purchasers of the Heartland brand to let them know what is right and what is wrong.

We have what I think is a design flaw with our 2015 Heartland Prowler P292 . . . and I have let the factory know about it!

 

[wdk450]

Update on our electrical situation......finally a local RV tech who specializes in electrical came out to assess the situation. He replaced the GFI outlet and we now have electrical outlets that work, HOWEVER, the tech will be writing a detailed e-mail to Heartland warranty describing what he feels needs to be done as there are too many outlets tied into this one GFI outlet as well as the fireplace.

The fireplace has its own 20 amp breaker in the panel box however there are NO wires connected to it....the fireplace has been daisy chained into the GFI circuit putting too many items on this circuit.

For now we have the fireplace unplugged and we are not using it.

We now have to sit and wait on Heartland and the RV Tech to determine a permanent fix for the situation but at least now we are able to move the coffee pot from the bedroom tot he kitchen and we no longer are running extension chords.

We realize it is not just a Heartland issue, it is a quality control issue throughout our entire country. Just because we have spent a good amount of money on something it is silly of us to think that it should operate properly!

Thanks to all for your input and continued support, I will try and keep this thread up to date.
Susan

If you have a breaker on a new RV that is labelled "Fireplace" and there are no wires connected to it, this has GOT to be a violation of the National Electrical Code. The other wiring stuff your RV servicer describes also sounds like NEC violations to me. I think you should make direct contact with Heartland Service (or even the service manager) about getting the wiring in your RV inspected and corrected to comply with the build plans. Always have your rig's VIN number at hand when contacting Heartland service.

 

[danemayer]

Sounds like the tech found 2 problems: a defective GFCI outlet which he fixed, and the fireplace not wired to a dedicated breaker. Is there a reason the tech didn't run a wire from the breaker panel to the fireplace outlet to correct the 2nd problem?

Emails are not always as effective as a phone call, especially if something needs attention right away. And having a 3rd party in the middle of your communications with Heartland may just add confusion and slow things down.

You should call Heartland Customer Service yourself at 877-262-8032 / 574-262-8030. Have your VIN # ready. You can discuss the tech's findings and let Customer Service advise you on how to get the electrical wiring corrected.

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