Inop Converter Shore Power Breaker(s) question ...

[TG2500]

Hi - I have a 2010 28' International. I recently moved into a new house and had the electrician install a 30amp trailer outlet outside my house. Unbeknownst to me, the electrician doesn't read and hooked the 30amp plug to a 220V circuit instead of 110V.

I discovered this when I plugged in my trailer for the first time and saw smoke/sparks come from the Paralax 7300 panel.

The electrician (who came over quickly and sheepishly admitted never having read the directions or the box that came with the outlet) fixed the circuit, saw that my 110V GFI breaker was fried and replaced it. After that, we powered everything up and all seemed to work and be fine.

No problems for a few days (we are living in the trailer now while our house is still under construction) until I noticed my battery level is very low. (both the solar control panel and the monitor show it less than 50%.

Upon further inspection, I discovered the converter was fried. One of the large resistors (I think that's what they are) was busted open. I installed a new 7300R replacement converter/charger (the lower section) and all seems ok but, even after having the new converter running for several housrs, my batteries are still going down and I don't think the converter is working properly.

I'm trying to troubleshoot and need a little help. Even after replacing the converter/charger, something is wrong - I don't think the 12V panel is getting power from the converter thus, even though I'm hooked to shorepower, I think the house batteries are still supplying 12V power inside and not getting a charge so running down.

I checked all the 100V breakers and 12V fuses in the power panel and all are good. Are their other breakers/fuses I need to check? Way under the front couch is the wiring where the 12V comes into the trailer though I'm not familiar with this part of the electrical system and don't know what breakers/fuses may be present. There are 2 on the top of the battery disconnect that I checked and they are fine.

My 100V system works fine - no problem with AC, 100V plugs, etc.

With my 110V running, if I put the battery disconnect to "store", I loose all 12V power in the trailer - if I have the 110V connected, shouldn't the converter provide 12V power so internal lights, etc. stay working even if the switch is in "store" mode? USE mode is OK/STORE mode kills all the 12V even if 110 is connected.

Solar seems OK. I'm getting a good amount of charge from the solar during the day but not enough to bring them back to 100% and, as soon as it's gets dark, even though I have the 110V plugged in and a new converter/charger, my batteries are still running down.

Any suggestions on how to test to see if the converter is working properly?
How to isolate the batteries from the system to see if the converter can provide 12V power to the coach? Also any suggestions on other places where fuses/breakers may have been damaged would be welcome.

Fortunately the weather has been good the last several days so my batteries are getting charge from the solar panels though the family (3 of us) is living in the trailer so there are still 12V demands all day and, once the sun goes down, the charge slowly goes down.

All suggestions welcome!

Thanks

[Phoenix]

You wouldn't believe how many times this has been reported on this forum (or maybe you would).

A licensed, bonded and insured electrician should have liability insurance to cover any damage he caused. Personally, I would get a commitment from him to pay, then take your Airstream to a dealer or RV repair center to have it thoroughly checked out.

While you can troubleshoot it yourself, there could be extensive damage caused by running 220 volts to your 110-volt electrical system, converter, wiring, circuit breakers, fuses and any appliances that were connected and turned on at the time (e.g., microwave, television, refrigerator, etc.).

A qualified technician can tell you everything that needs repair or replacement, instead of you continuing to discover devices that are damaged over the next few days or weeks, or on your next camping trip, long after the electrician that caused this problem is gone.

Just a suggestion...


Note: When installing new wiring (in this case, an RV outlet), voltage, polarity, safety ground, etc. should be verified with a voltmeter and/or other circuit testers before first use.

[TG2500]

Found the problem. After a lot of time with the voltmeter and using the parallax troubleshooters on their website, I discovered that the surge of voltage must have created a short in the 12V fuse panel. Fortunately, all the RV supply store had in stock with the Parallax "upgrade" kit (to upgrade 6300 to 7300 series) which, in addition to a replacement converter, has a replacement 12V fuse panel. I replaced the fuse panel and all is well!