AC Electrical problem

[frscott]

I have a problem but with only half my trailer. My 1986 25' Sovereign has plugs working in the rear bedroom and the middle bath, but all are dead in the front in the kitchen and around the couch. I checked the breaker box and all is well, I thought maybe I have a bad breaker???? I assume there is only one box, as that is all I have found. All DC lights work fine, and the batteries are charging as well.

Scott

[Zeppelinium]

The bad breaker theory is the most likely.

But you could have a wire that's come loose from a socket. The two 115V circuits are daisy chained through the sockets, so a loose wire will take out all the downstream sockets on that circuit. Take the cover plates off and take a look. If the sockets are the type that have push-in connections, I'd switch to using the side screws.

Zep

[frscott]

Thanks! I will give that a try.

Scott

[Minno]

Could it be a GFCI outlet in the kitchen area? If that tripped, it will also cause all downstream outlets to not work. Same if it went belly up.

Chris

[HowieE]

First check the GFI to be sure it has not tripped.

If you have a voltmeter check the voltage on the wire side of the breaker to test the breaker.

If you do not have a meter unplug the trailer and switch the wires on the 2 breakers. Plug the trailer in and see if the problem moved to the other half of the trailer. If so the breaker is bad.

If the problem did not move to the other half of the trailer the problem is downstream of the breaker. Turn off the breakers and go to the receptacle closest to the panel open it and check the connection on the plug. If the connection look good turn the breakers on while the plug it pulled out of the wall box and test for voltage. At this point you should be using a meter or a cheap neon bulb tester, a couple of bucks at the Big Box Stores.

[vswingfield]

The breakers besides the GFCI are pretty cheap. I replaced all mine when one started getting warm. Cheap insurance. I haven't replaced the ground fault one, but there is a new one in a box sitting on top of the breaker box. Perhaps it will install itself.

In my Excella, the 15 amp GFCI breaker only controls the bathroom, bedroom, outside outlet, and outlet at the front (completely at the other end) under the couch for the Univolt. The other outlets are connected to a 20 amp regular breaker. The one in my kitchen is not connected to the GFCI one but to the regular 20 amp breaker. If this breaker were bad, I would have exactly the same situation you have.

Replace the breakers, they are 23 years old and it will be good insurance. You can hold off on the GFCI on if you want, they are a little pricey.

[Cantrell]

If you decide to have a look at the wiring at the outlets make sure the power is off. If they are like mine, there is no cover. It is a one piece outlet with little 'wings' on the back (the screws on the face of the outlet move those wings and hold it snug to the skin). I tried to take the cover off one once only to discover that it is a one piece unit--it somehow made contact with the interior skin and threw some sparks and popped the breaker. Thankfully, that is all that happened. There must be some reason they used these things (speed of installation, vibration resistance, whatever) but I don't care for them.
Just kill the power first before messing with the outlets.