Today our 120 volt power just quit. We are in a very small town for an extended stay and no RV repair shop around. It was today, Saturday when this happened. We hired an electrician to help us solve the issue. It turned out to be a dead short at the connection to our power cable reel. Three of the four wires was loose. One was very loose, the insulation was burned and melted about five inches into the cable. The electrician says he doubts it was tightened good at the factory. We have been having problems with our under awning outlets tripping the breaker. I discussed this in an earlier post. Tomorrow I will see if this has corrected that problem.
Almost had a fire in our Bighorn
- Thread starter tljack
- Start date
good to know ...that dose it for me, after reading all the recent post about bad terminations I'm going to go thru my new 5th wheeler and examine and torque all terminations to try and head off a few problems... i think Heartland needs to walk back into the factory and slap a few electricians around... no excuse for the lack of safety because of lazy employees
RoadJunkie
Well-known member
WHAT!!! Perhaps some changes in quality control, but nobody needs to get a "slap".
Hopefully Heartland is monitoring and will take this issue to heart and modify their process to help ensure this type of problem does not happen again.
REALLY....figuratively speaking
RoadJunkie
Well-known member
Look, these are hard working people, not lazy, that are capable of making mistakes, as anyone can. I feel the comment was not helpful to the post, or the forum, figuratively or otherwise.
The OP's experience is valuable and I will now check my connections.
no such thing as a mistake when doing electrical work .... running you finger down the terminations or pulling on a joint goes along way from causing accidents
dave10a
Well-known member
I have several loose wire nuts in the junction boxes. One of them heated to a point that burned the wireing and opened the connection and loosing power- I was lucky that there was enough service loop to repair it. I would highly recommend that the wire nuts be double checked after taking delivery. I attribute my wiring problems to sloppy workmanship plain and simple. I don't know if Heartland teaches their electrical and plumbing people proper techniques, but they should retrain some in any event.
brianharrison
Well-known member
All of the wire nuts were taped in my unit from factory - a good technique for our rolling earthquakes.
Regarding terminal connections, maybe some have vibrated loose from going down the road, maybe some not tightened enough from factory. Each case is unique, IMHO. Good for the OP to share, and the rest of us to do our due diligence as we see fit.....
I wonder if it is time for industry, with feedback from end users - or industry watchdogs, to affect change in the RVIA standard (or others) to use special terminals (with special installation provisions, such as visual confirmation of proper countersink, tightening, and lock tight, nylon connections, etc) that ensure proper makeup and resistance to loosening. Nice wish, I know - probably like turning an ocean liner by dragging a paddle in the water.
Brian
Regarding terminal connections, maybe some have vibrated loose from going down the road, maybe some not tightened enough from factory. Each case is unique, IMHO. Good for the OP to share, and the rest of us to do our due diligence as we see fit.....
I wonder if it is time for industry, with feedback from end users - or industry watchdogs, to affect change in the RVIA standard (or others) to use special terminals (with special installation provisions, such as visual confirmation of proper countersink, tightening, and lock tight, nylon connections, etc) that ensure proper makeup and resistance to loosening. Nice wish, I know - probably like turning an ocean liner by dragging a paddle in the water.
Brian
The electrician that corrected our issue would tighten the connector, then wiggle it, tighten some more, wiggle, tighten etc. He said he always does this. I could see that after wiggling the wire came loose. Eventually it stayed tight.
danemayer
Well-known member
Brian,
Here's a link to a recent copy of the RVIA Magazine which lists the Board members on the next to last page. Maybe you could advocate for these changes with one or more Board members and ask them to get it assigned to the right committee for study.
Last edited:
scottyb
Well-known member
I constantly hear refernces about things getting vibrated or shaken apart. Really, how much vibration and movement is there inside a j-box crammed full of #6 wires, when these things are rolling down the highway? Personally, I find very little shifting taking place in mine, including items in the fridge. I had expected it to be much worse than it really is.
dbylinski
NE Reg Dir Retired
Take a ride in it once! You will change your mind! My ride was less than a mile at about 20 MPH. Not fun!
scottyb
Well-known member
one of my sons is dating a girl that installs and terminates the electrical panels in another one of the high end manufactures plants in Elkhart. paid minimum wage, only trained to do her specific job like an assembly line person... sadly isn't really required to take any pride in her job.... just see how many units they can get out the door... that and not being required to do a job properly is the problem with doing production type work.. its that little bit of extra effort to double check your work and not cut corners is what makes all the difference
Similar threads
