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10-22-2016, 09:55 AM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Solvang, California
Trailer: 2016 21' Escape (usetaowna a 19, a Burro and 2 Casitas)
Posts: 842
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Partial power failure. Any suggestions?
We have a 3 month old 21 with factory installed inverter, surge suppressor, and all plug inverter transfer switch.
On our last trip 2 weeks ago, we lost 110VAC power at a campground. Refrig and air conditioning kept working. 12VDC was fine. Reace said the inverter is wired to exclude the air cond and refrig and suggested resetting the two inverter breakers under the dinette seat. Presto! AC power came back. (Neither of those two inverter breakers had tripped by the way).
Welllll, we're at the Lake Casitas Rally and the problem repeated itself but resetting the inverter breakers isn't doing the trick anymore. Again, neither tripped. Refrig and air conditioning are working (yeay, it's 98 degrees outside!). 12VDC is fine. A couple of the great minds took a look and determined the inverter workers fine.
Any ideas?
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Some who wander are not lost...
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10-22-2016, 09:59 AM
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#2
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Site Team
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Portland, Oregon
Trailer: 2014 Escape 5.0 TA
Posts: 11,023
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Greg, I've lost power just as you describe. Did you reset the gray breaker box? It's under one of the dinette seats (driver side on mine) where power comes into the trailer. Here's a thread: http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f9/gfci-7713.html
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Donna D.
Ten Forward
2014 Escape 5.0TA
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10-22-2016, 10:06 AM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Solvang, California
Trailer: 2016 21' Escape (usetaowna a 19, a Burro and 2 Casitas)
Posts: 842
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Donna D.
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I did, it worked the first time but isn't solving the problem any more. Neither were tripped at when I reset them.
Now power comes on for just a split second and goes off again. We noticed that durind the day, the power came and went without us touching the breakers
Greg
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Some who wander are not lost...
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10-22-2016, 10:08 AM
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#4
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Site Team
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Portland, Oregon
Trailer: 2014 Escape 5.0 TA
Posts: 11,023
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I ended up needing to replace one of those breakers. Lowes had what I needed for <$10. Thanks to Dave (Dave&Kathie) and his multi-meter, the solution was found. And no, the bad breaker didn't show it was tripped either. I hope your problem is just as easy to fix!
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Donna D.
Ten Forward
2014 Escape 5.0TA
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10-22-2016, 10:12 AM
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#5
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Solvang, California
Trailer: 2016 21' Escape (usetaowna a 19, a Burro and 2 Casitas)
Posts: 842
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Donna D.
I ended up needing to replace one of those breakers. Lowes had what I needed for <$10. Thanks to Dave (Dave&Kathie) and his multi-meter, the solution was found. And no, the bad breaker didn't show it was tripped either. I hope your problem is just as easy to fix!
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Cool, that's an easy fix, worth trying. I've never had any mechanical problems worthy of an RV repair shop. I was just thinking, heck we don't even have one within 75 miles of home! Hope that does it.
G
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Some who wander are not lost...
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10-22-2016, 10:31 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Baytown, Texas
Trailer: 2017 21' Escape - upgraded version
Posts: 2,697
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My guess would be an electrical connection that's a little loose. A volt meter used to trace exactly where the power vanishes would be a help.
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10-22-2016, 11:31 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2009 Escape 17B 2020 Toyota Highlander XLE
Posts: 17,136
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tdf-texas
My guess would be an electrical connection that's a little loose. A volt meter used to trace exactly where the power vanishes would be a help.
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I'll second that. Had an issue similar at home. It was a slightly loose connection in the breaker box. Didn't have to replace anything.
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What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
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10-22-2016, 02:46 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Solvang, California
Trailer: 2016 21' Escape (usetaowna a 19, a Burro and 2 Casitas)
Posts: 842
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Thanks alll, I jiggled the wires at the secondary breaker panel and it caused the microwave to flicker. Looks indeed like a loose connection. Whew!
Happy trails!
Greg
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10-22-2016, 03:05 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: St. Thomas not BVI., Ontario
Trailer: 2014 Escape 5.0TA / 2016 Ram Eco Diesel 4X4
Posts: 8,035
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greggo
Thanks alll, I jiggled the wires at the secondary breaker panel and it caused the microwave to flicker. Looks indeed like a loose connection. Whew!
Happy trails!
Greg
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Hi: Greggo... I hate it when my connections get loose!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
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Quote Bugs Bunny..."Don't take life too seriously, none of us get out of it ALIVE"!!!
'16 Ram Eco D. 4X4 Laramie Longhorn CC & '14 Escape 5.0TA
St.Thomas (Not the Virgin Islands) Ontario
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10-22-2016, 05:53 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Solvang, California
Trailer: 2016 21' Escape (usetaowna a 19, a Burro and 2 Casitas)
Posts: 842
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Yep, sometimes playing with it a little does the trick...
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Some who wander are not lost...
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10-23-2016, 05:29 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 1979 Boler B1700
Posts: 14,935
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greggo
... Reace said the inverter is wired to exclude the air cond and refrig and suggested resetting the two inverter breakers under the dinette seat. Presto! AC power came back. (Neither of those two inverter breakers had tripped by the way).
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The actual problem has been found, and it does make sense that snapping the breakers off and on would jostle the connections in that sub-panel (or secondary breaker box).
For future reference, many people don't realize that the handle of a breaker which has tripped is only moved partway to the "off" position - it can be easy to miss that the breaker has tripped if you can't see the breakers clearly, so I feel along the handles, which makes the tripped one stand out. If a breaker trips without moving the handle at all, that's definitely defective... and would be surprising.
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10-23-2016, 07:00 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Central, Pennsylvania
Trailer: Escape#5 2022 E19
Posts: 26,268
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Yes, it is always good to turn the breaker off and then back on when checking, regardless of how it looks
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Jim
Sometime life gets in the way of living.......
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10-23-2016, 07:24 PM
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#13
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Site Team
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Canyon Lake, Texas
Trailer: 2015 19 "Past Tents", 2021 F150 Lariat 2.7L EB
Posts: 10,222
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They also wiggle a bit when they've been tripped. When the breaker is on or off there's no wiggle.
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"You can't buy happiness, but you can buy an RV. And that is pretty close."
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10-23-2016, 08:51 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Benton County, Iowa
Trailer: 2013 Escape 21 Classic Number 6, pulled by 2018 Toyota Highlander
Posts: 8,234
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Tripped breakers
Always looking for the positive, even when I've done something stupid. When I was 18 I worked in a grey iron foundry grinding slag off of Link Belt Speeder crane counterweight castings. Too much tom catting and too little sleep resulted in grinding the end off of my right ring finger. It healed in time but remains sensitive to this day. Whenever I check
breakers in a panel, especially in the dark I wiggle the flipper with that ring finger as I go down the row of breakers, I'm about 90% accurate finding the tripped breaker on the first check. Saves turning them all off and then back on. Ruined my piano playing career though.
Iowa Dave
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10-23-2016, 09:05 PM
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#15
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Site Team
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Canyon Lake, Texas
Trailer: 2015 19 "Past Tents", 2021 F150 Lariat 2.7L EB
Posts: 10,222
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And your hand modeling career was ruined too Dave! [emoji23]
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"You can't buy happiness, but you can buy an RV. And that is pretty close."
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10-26-2016, 05:48 PM
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#16
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Solvang, California
Trailer: 2016 21' Escape (usetaowna a 19, a Burro and 2 Casitas)
Posts: 842
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Here's the culprit
Kinda scary, the culprit was a hot lead never tightened at the secondary (as in inverter) breaker box. Thanks to Bill McKeag for figuring this out and repairing it.
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Some who wander are not lost...
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10-27-2016, 12:05 AM
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#17
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Trailer: 1979 Boler B1700
Posts: 14,935
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greggo
Kinda scary, the culprit was a hot lead never tightened at the secondary (as in inverter) breaker box.
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A "hot" lead, with white wire to a bus bar? That's presumably the neutral wire, not the line (or "hot") wire, which should have black insulation... maybe just a terminology glitch. Of course it doesn't change the severity of the issue, as the same current goes though either connection.
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