Electrical woes

[jbs80122]

After driving on some truly awful roads in Minneapolis, we arrived at our CG and found we had no power in our slideouts, none to the refrigerator. The only slideout ac appliance that works is the microwave. DC power not affected. CB 15 is tripped and will not reset. Inspecting the wiring in the curb side slideout, I noticed this wire seems like it wasn't secured properly at the factory and probably pulled loose up in the outlet box in the slideout, causing a short.
My plan is to find a convenient place on the wire and cut it (with all power off) secure and insulate both ends and then see if the CB will reset. If so, that means my theory is correct and I can focus on the one area. If not......
What suggestions do the forum members have? We're on a trip and can't afford the wait time for a repair shop.
Thanks
John

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[wdk450]

If you are anywhere near a hardware store, a non-contact voltage tester may be a big help on this job. With all power on, you can detect if there is power in a cable or wire by simply holding the voltage tester against the cable/wire.

Your plan of snipping the suspect cable for tripping the breaker is OK, but only do the snipping with all AC power to the RV disconnected. I assume you tripped and reset ALL AC circuit breakers manually. Tripped breakers (from mechanical road shock) may not LOOK tripped.

Also think about tightening the mechanical screw connections to the AC wiring at the circuit breakers. These come loose from mechanical vibration. Again do this job with AC power turned OFF. You may want to use your non-contact voltage tester on each of these wires after the tightening job is done, and the power turned back on.

Mobile RV repairers are out there in many places. You could ask your campground manager, or check RVServiceReviews.com for your area.

 

[Flick]

After driving on some truly awful roads in Minneapolis, we arrived at our CG and found we had no power in our slideouts, none to the refrigerator. The only slideout ac appliance that works is the microwave. DC power not affected. CB 15 is tripped and will not reset. Inspecting the wiring in the curb side slideout, I noticed this wire seems like it wasn't secured properly at the factory and probably pulled loose up in the outlet box in the slideout, causing a short.
My plan is to find a convenient place on the wire and cut it (with all power off) secure and insulate both ends and then see if the CB will reset. If so, that means my theory is correct and I can focus on the one area. If not......
What suggestions do the forum members have? We're on a trip and can't afford the wait time for a repair shop.
Thanks
John

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Under that slide you should find a junction box where your ac wires are tied together. It could be a wire nut that has come loose causing a hot wire to go to ground, therefore tripping your breaker and not letting it reset. Sometimes a wire nut looks ok but a wire has pulled out. But clearly, it appears you have a hot wire somewhere that is touching ground. If the junction box is not in that location, look elsewhere along the frame.

 

[cookie]

Flick beat me to it. That's the route I would suggest.

Peace
Dave

 

[danemayer]

Zooming in, it looks like the wires have been damaged where they enter the bottom of the slide, probably from repeated flexing. I had a similar problem with 12V wiring at the rear of the slide.

So I think you should start there. You'll need to get rid of the damage, and protect the repaired connection from future flex damage.

After repairing the damaged wire going into the slide, assuming your breaker is no longer tripping, with power OFF again, open the junction box and check connections inside.

 

[jbsiii]

So my theory was correct. I got to a location where we could get help if needed, and cut the wires shown in the photo, and the circuit breaker now resets, restoring power to the fridge, the tv, and the other outlets. This leaves me with the one outlet behind the loveseat. Of course, this means I'll need to remove the loveseat to get access to the outlet to fix it. I checked the HUG section, and there's no guide for the Thomas Payne furniture used by Heartland. I also checked the Lippert website, and found the loveseats listed for sale, but no docs. Does anyone have links to installation guide, etc?

Thanks!
John

 

[danemayer]

So my theory was correct. I got to a location where we could get help if needed, and cut the wires shown in the photo, and the circuit breaker now resets, restoring power to the fridge, the tv, and the other outlets. This leaves me with the one outlet behind the loveseat. Of course, this means I'll need to remove the loveseat to get access to the outlet to fix it. I checked the HUG section, and there's no guide for the Thomas Payne furniture used by Heartland. I also checked the Lippert website, and found the loveseats listed for sale, but no docs. Does anyone have links to installation guide, etc?

Thanks!
John

Check junction boxes under both living room slides first. While it could be the outlet, it's more commonly a junction box problem. Check with power disconnected.

And if the furniture is not getting power, it's more commonly a problem with the connector underneath.

 

[jbs80122]

I wasn't clear enough. The power to all other outlets is restored, including the outlet right next to the outlet that had the short. For some reason, heartland installed two outlets right next to each other. The loveseat was plugged in to one of then. It's more plugged in to the other one, and works. But I'll still need to remove the loveseat to get access to the outlet in order to fix it. Hence the need for instructions on removing it.



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