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Old 05-25-2018, 06:36 PM   #1
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2017 30' Flying Cloud
Corona , California
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Please help a newbie!

A couple questions:

1) I have an at home parking spot for my 2017 30' Flying Cloud, and had an electrician install an outlet with a 30Amp plug. At first he ran 220 to it, and I blew the converter. So he reduced it to 110 (recommended by my Airstream shop), and after I brought the RV home from being repaired, I plugged it in but had no power. Any suggestions? I'm worried I blew the converter again. The light on the plug did not turn on when I plugged it in.

2) Is there a way for me to check if I blew the converter again? So I dont have to tow it 45 minutes back to the shop?

3) When parked at home should I keep it plugged in?

4) When parked at home do I keep the batteries in Store or Use?

5) When do I turn the inverter on? When using battery only, correct?

6) Finally the GFI fuse will not reset. Suggestions?

Sorry for 5 questions. Help much appreciated!
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Old 05-25-2018, 08:56 PM   #2
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1) I have an at home parking spot for my 2017 30' Flying Cloud, and had an electrician install an outlet with a 30Amp plug. At first he ran 220 to it, and I blew the converter. So he reduced it to 110 (recommended by my Airstream shop), and after I brought the RV home from being repaired, I plugged it in but had no power. Any suggestions? I'm worried I blew the converter again. The light on the plug did not turn on when I plugged it in.

Get an outlet tester. Lowes and Home Depot carry them.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Southwire-A...ester/50129728

Get a 30A to 15 A adapter. Walmart may have them, or an RV shop.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-Pow...&wl13=&veh=sem

Plug the adapter into the receptacle your electrician installed. Plug the tester into the adapter. The lights will tell you if it is working and installed correctly. This is a good setup to test campsite power before you hook up your trailer.
If theLED on your power cable isn't lit, either it blew when it was connected to 220 or there is still something wrong where you are plugging in. Check for tripped breakers in the house and the trailer.


2) Is there a way for me to check if I blew the converter again? So I dont have to tow it 45 minutes back to the shop?

If the tester says the 30A outlet is OK move the tester to an outlet in the trailer. If it works check all the breakers. As long as you only have 120 at the receptacle it is more likely your outlet is wired wrong than the converter is blown.


3) When parked at home should I keep it plugged in?

It depends. Sorry, but you need to know what converter you have. If it is a true 3 or 4 stage converter you can leave the trailer plugged in and in USE. If not you can leave it plugged in but in STORE mode. Every week or so put it in USE for 8 hours or so. This will keep the batteries charged without overcharging them.


4) When parked at home do I keep the batteries in Store or Use?

See #3


5) When do I turn the inverter on? When using battery only, correct?

Yes, but be aware it will drain batteries quickly.


6) Finally the GFI fuse will not reset. Suggestions?

GFIs will not reset unless the have power. This is another clue that there is a problem in your shore power setup, not the converter.



Al
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Old 05-25-2018, 09:10 PM   #3
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First thing you need to do is find you a new electrician before he burns something down. He should have easily known better than to run 220 with even a moducum of inspection. Might check all your breakers and fuses first. You would think that main breaker should have tripped if it didn't melt the contacts together with that kind of a jolt.
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Old 05-25-2018, 09:35 PM   #4
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'The U7', well...welcome to the forums. Sorry to hear about the issues. 'Al and Missy' gave you some good advice to get you started.

It took me a few years of checking RV park hook-ups and finding problems before I finally broke down and bought a Progressive Dynamics EMS-PT30X.

That allows me to hook up and not worry about AC power. The PD unit runs through an ~2 min. diagnostic before switching on and then protects the trailer for a number of electric power source issues.

(PD also has a unit for 50amp service.)

I hope you have good news to report sometime soon.
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Old 05-25-2018, 11:04 PM   #5
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Agree. Stress the 2 minute diagnostics...at first I did't think it was working. Would not hook up without it
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Old 05-25-2018, 11:11 PM   #6
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Al & Missy gave you good overall advice, but they linked to the wrong adapter.

This one is 30A RV male to a 15A female socket you can plug a regular outlet tester into for testing a campsite 30A outlet. It's a useful setup if you're not using one of the more advanced surge protector devices like RivetED recommended.

Consider Cowdiddly's advice carefully. Your electrician is not the first one to make this mistake, but if he installed a TT-30 RV receptable that's clearly labeled for 125V and wired it for 240v he's... not very thorough or cautious, let's say. If he did that to *MY* installation I'd have a lot more to say that was a lot less nice, even if I caught it with my meter before damaging my trailer.

One more thing I'll add to, your question #5 about the inverter: You only need to turn the inverter on when you're not connected to shore power *AND* you need to use a 120v device like the TVs or a device you've plugged into one of the inverter-supplied outlets. If you're not actually using 120V AC devices when you're off-grid, you should have the inverter off to save your battery capacity. I run mine to supply my CPAP at night when off-grid, for example.
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Old 05-26-2018, 09:50 AM   #7
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You never found an electrician - a real one would have never created this problem .
Get a half-way decent multi-meter and learn how to use it .
Its hard to answer questions with out facts , you need to do testing to find facts .
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Old 05-26-2018, 10:26 AM   #8
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The electrician has installed a thousand dryer plugs and one RV plug, with similar looking receptacles.
Another candidate for the "I know everything, don't try to tell me how to do this" award
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Old 05-26-2018, 11:40 AM   #9
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Incorrrect Electrician install

Quote:
Originally Posted by The U7 View Post
A couple questions:

1) I have an at home parking spot for my 2017 30' Flying Cloud, and had an electrician install an outlet with a 30Amp plug. At first he ran 220 to it, and I blew the converter. So he reduced it to 110 (recommended by my Airstream shop), and after I brought the RV home from being repaired, I plugged it in but had no power. Any suggestions? I'm worried I blew the converter again. The light on the plug did not turn on when I plugged it in.

2) Is there a way for me to check if I blew the converter again? So I dont have to tow it 45 minutes back to the shop?

3) When parked at home should I keep it plugged in?

4) When parked at home do I keep the batteries in Store or Use?

5) When do I turn the inverter on? When using battery only, correct?

6) Finally the GFI fuse will not reset. Suggestions?

Sorry for 5 questions. Help much appreciated!
First, I would ask the "Electrician" for his insurance company name. Call and file claim. Have everything fixed by insurance company. This is purely his fault. I would not let that person back on my property.

Follow advice about learning how to use a multimeter. Check and check again. Hope your Airstream can be put right again.
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Old 05-26-2018, 11:46 AM   #10
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A 220 volt circuit is a 4-wire circuit that can service a 50 amp outlet. If your electrician has already run a 220 volt, 4-wire circuit to your outlet, I would suggest that you install a true 50 amp socket in your outlet and then get a 4-wire, 50 amp to 3-wire, 30 amp reducer to plug into your 50 amp outlet. You would then plug your 30 amp cable from your trailer into the 30 amp socket of the reducer. That way, you would have the ability to service either a 50 amp or a 30 amp cable from whatever RV you have now or may acquire in the future.

As for your not having any current now, I would agree with the other comments you have received, particularly, getting a cheap, as in $10 to $20, multimeter and seeing what you have & don't have coming out of your outlet. It may just be wired wrong.

Lastly, as others have said, your electrician was incompetent.
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Old 05-26-2018, 03:48 PM   #11
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Welcome to the forum.

Quote:
Originally Posted by The U7 View Post
At first he ran 220 to it, and I blew the converter. So he reduced it to 110 (recommended by my Airstream shop), and after I brought the RV home from being repaired, I plugged it in but had no power.
Agree with contacting the electrician's insurance company. This was a dangerous life-safety mistake that no licensed electrician should make.

Was your electrician licensed? To check: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/ECU/Elec...ECUStatExp.htm

If you receive anything but sincere apologies, a complete refund, and the name of the electrician's insurance company, file a formal report with California Department of Industrial Relations.

73/gus
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Old 05-26-2018, 06:11 PM   #12
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Just because the electrician has a license. It doesn't mean he knows what he is doing.
Many licensed electrician only know how to wire a house or commercial building. Not how to wire an RV receptacle whether it be 240 volt or 120 volt.
Sorry for your troubles.
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Old 05-26-2018, 10:34 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gklott View Post
Welcome to the forum.

Agree with contacting the electrician's insurance company. This was a dangerous life-safety mistake that no licensed electrician should make.

Was your electrician licensed? To check: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/ECU/Elec...ECUStatExp.htm

If you receive anything but sincere apologies, a complete refund, and the name of the electrician's insurance company, file a formal report with California Department of Industrial Relations.

73/gus
Can't agree more in the ins claim. The licencing site should also have one carrier details. Sounds like there was no permit nor inspections...jus saying.
Bob

Just as aside, my tester lives in a visible but little used dupe. So it's on and a heads up that for whatever reason I haven't lost the A.C. or one of the rule circuits (or that the GFCI hasn't tripped..in my case accidently). It is also my final test that the 2:15 minutes of silence until the progressive test is complete and has successfully lapsed. Love the PD surge protector with the lifetime warranty but hate the challenge reading the display in the daytime.
Bob
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Old 05-29-2018, 10:05 PM   #14
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Inverter facts

Let’s say you need 1100 watts to run something
At 110 V you need about 10 amps
In order to supply 1100 watts from an inverter using a 12V battery, it would require about 100 amps from the battery. So you can see how an inverter can quickly run down your battery.
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Old 05-29-2018, 11:51 PM   #15
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Just to clarify, the Progressive Industries unit (which I join the others here in recommending) doesn't spend two minutes and fifteen seconds testing the circuit. It does that instantly, and won't pass current through to your rig if it sees incorrect wiring, too low or too high voltage. The two minute delay is solely to protect your air conditioner from restarting too soon after a momentary power failure, because that could damage its compressor.
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Old 05-29-2018, 11:58 PM   #16
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I’d get a 30amp dogbone adapter and then run an ordinary extension cord to some other outlet on your house that’s known to work. If trailer powers up and 120v works then you know the problem is on your house side. If it doesn’t work it needs to go back to the shop.

I assume the dealer tested this before it left the shop the last time so I suspect the problem is on your house and power isn’t getting to the new outlet.

The 240v surge could have blown out the LED on your 30A power cable so don’t trust it right now. That overvoltage could have damaged more than the converter, the transfer relay comes to mind. I assume the dealer would have checked this but who knows. Try plugging into both of the power sockets on your trailer if it has two.
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Old 05-30-2018, 05:41 AM   #17
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Ck the transfer switch in the trailer, a known soft spot for issues.

When the 'electrician' questioned my request for a 30a 120v line I did some research and decided that for our non-camping power demands a 20a dedicated outlet would work for us. I bought the proper supplies and DIY the job.
Runs thru a dogbone adaptor & EMS PT-30C.

Bob
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Old 05-30-2018, 10:41 AM   #18
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Thank you all!

You guys are all awesome! Thanks for all the advice. I have a new electrician coming on Thursday who has experience with RV hook ups. I will let you all know how it goes.

Thank you again!
The U7
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Old 05-30-2018, 11:14 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paprika View Post
Just to clarify, the Progressive Industries unit (which I join the others here in recommending) doesn't spend two minutes and fifteen seconds testing the circuit. It does that instantly, and won't pass current through to your rig if it sees incorrect wiring, too low or too high voltage. The two minute delay is solely to protect your air conditioner from restarting too soon after a momentary power failure, because that could damage its compressor.



Paprika, thanks. I wondered why it would cycle thru the display a number of times, yet no power. Makes perfect sense.
Bob
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Old 06-03-2018, 10:31 AM   #20
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Afapter

I’ll bet that surge protector is ripe for a thief. Any way to avert theft?
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