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bradleyoder · 05-04-2015, 12:33 PM

I have a 1985 34' Excella we just bought in Feb. Previous owner bought a 60 amp charger a while back and had been working fine. I installed a new 30 amp outlet at the farm where we have the trailer. When I plugged it in the first time, something popped/blew. Checked breaker, it tripped. So I reset it. Then, some of the breakers in the trailer tripped. I reset those. But the batter charger area under the front bench smelled of some electrical failure, and the battery has since lost its charge. I've reset all the breakers, and the A/C unit and wall outlets all work, but the low voltage things (after market LED lights, fridge, and furnace ignition), which are on the GFCI breaker, have all failed. The lights did dim for a while, which to me indicated battery depletion. I could really use some help trouble shooting. How do I test if the charger has blown? Anything else?

Thanks.

lewster · 05-04-2015, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradleyoder

I have a 1985 34' Excella we just bought in Feb. Previous owner bought a 60 amp charger a while back and had been working fine. I installed a new 30 amp outlet at the farm where we have the trailer. When I plugged it in the first time, something popped/blew. Checked breaker, it tripped. So I reset it. Then, some of the breakers in the trailer tripped. I reset those. But the batter charger area under the front bench smelled of some electrical failure, and the battery has since lost its charge. I've reset all the breakers, and the A/C unit and wall outlets all work, but the low voltage things (after market LED lights, fridge, and furnace ignition), which are on the GFCI breaker, have all failed. The lights did dim for a while, which to me indicated battery depletion. I could really use some help trouble shooting. How do I test if the charger has blown? Anything else?

Thanks.

Hopefully your new 30 amp outlet is a 3-wire 120VAC and NOT a 240VAC 3-wire outlet that most electricians will install unless given VERY SPECIFIC instruction not to do so!!!!

bradleyoder · 05-04-2015, 03:27 PM

Hmmm...Well, I was the electrician (read, guy that did the electrical work, decidedly NOT an electrician...) But the a/c and wall outlets work fine, so could that be it? And, I guess if it is a 240 then have I likely blown the charger?

FishinHatteras · 05-04-2015, 04:40 PM

Put your multi-meter on it and check your voltage @ your 30amp receptacle.
Hopefully you haven't fried anything, but if you smelled electrics burning....ahh, I don't like to be the bearer of bad news.
Keep its head up!
Gavin

cwf · 05-05-2015, 10:28 PM

you will need a new 'converter'. It converts AC to DC to run the trailer 12VDC and also charge/maintain your battery(ies)... There are several options available.

bradleyoder · 05-07-2015, 06:23 AM

Thanks y'all! I'll have to find a multimeter and check it out, but I'm fearing the same… Better to buy that converter somewhere other than an airstream dealer?

55AS · 05-07-2015, 06:31 AM

www.bestconverter.com

bradleyoder · 05-07-2015, 06:32 AM

Also, I know my plug is a 120 5V AC, only for RVs. So that's good. But how do I ensure that I don't fry my new converter? I'm not sure why there was such a jolt when I first plugged it in, and why that would be different than all the other plugs the previous owners used, but maybe y'all have thoughts on that...

bradleyoder · 05-07-2015, 06:32 AM

Thanks for link!

Tincampers · 05-07-2015, 07:03 AM

Did you plug it in with the circuit breaker on?

TG Twinkie · 05-07-2015, 08:48 AM

Describe what you did to install the 30 amp outlet.
Did you install a new breaker in the power panel to provide power to the new outlet?
Is it a single pole breaker? Or double pole?
How many wires are connected to the breaker? What color?
Where is the white wire connected in the power panel?
Did you wire the RV. Receptacle correctly? Most indicate where the white and black wire connect.
Can you post pics of both the power panel that provides the power to the RV receptacle along with the panel in the coach?

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bradleyoder · 05-07-2015, 03:55 PM

Dang. I wish I had seen this post before I left the farm, where there airstream is. I won't be up there untill Wednesday next week, but I can describe some things in words in the meantime.

I installed double pole 30 amp breaker in a vacant spot in the panel. I ran, through conduit, 10 gauge wire from the breaker to the weather protected outlet. It was a slim breaker, so I need to add some fillers, but I did take a picture of that and send to my electrician, and he said it was fine. There's a piece of metal on the back of those breakers that disallows you from installing it in a single breaker spot, so that it spans two for the double pole. My electrician, at least the electrician that I got advice from and who gave me the piece of 10 gauge wire, said it didn't matter whether I used white or black to either of the polls. I connected the ground wire to the ground panel in the panel box and ground spot on the socket.

I did not wire the trailer. We bought it in February and it was all ready to roll, having been used by a family for about two years.

It seems that I've wired correctly, because all my wall outlets work properly, and the air-conditioner works. But, of course, we have some pause here because of the converter possibly being fried.

Anyway, if any of that is helpful, great, otherwise I will take some pictures when I get back up there.

xrvr · 05-07-2015, 04:24 PM

I think white or black does matter. Jim

TG Twinkie · 05-07-2015, 05:22 PM

It sounds to me like you connected both wires (white and black) to the circuit breaker. Which means you have 240 volts to the coach.
The white wire in the power panel should be connected to the NEUTRAL buss NOT THE CIRCUIT BREAKER! Only one pole of the circuit breaker is used. The BLACK wire should connect to the circuit breaker.
The RV receptacle is labelled as to where the black and white wires go.
How did you test the outlets in the coach?
If what I described is what you did. Then the converter was exposed to 240 volts. If you have an air conditioner.
DON'T TURN IT ON UNTIL YOU GET THE PROBLEM RESOLVED.

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bradleyoder · 05-12-2015, 09:59 AM

Hmm. Well, I have turned the air conditioner on. And it does seem like there might be a hiccup with it. I tested the wall outlets by just plugging an iPhone charger and an extension cord. The CFL in the extension cord lantern did blow. So now I'm having concerns that I may have damaged the air-conditioner too. Thankfully it seems like there's enough room for error in the iPhone charger that it didn't blow my phone up.

idroba · 05-12-2015, 10:54 AM

The iPhone charger likely is a multi voltage unit, which automatically adjusts for the input voltage. iPhones are used world wide, so they, and many other small low wattage "wall wart" chargers are built that way today. My razor for example is good from 90 to 250 volts as it's input.

I expect you have 240 volts at your new trailer outlet, and you fried a number of things.

bradleyoder · 05-12-2015, 12:14 PM

10 four. Since the fridge and furnace are low-voltage with their electrical stuff, is there any hope that I have not fried those? That the converter is the thing that took the hit and prevented it from going through to those appliances?

idroba · 05-12-2015, 03:17 PM

The refrigerator control system is 12 volts, so you have not damaged that part of it, but if it was on automatic 120 volt detection you could have had it turn on the heater element and could have toasted that part only. But if you didn't have the refrigerator on at all, probably you are OK on that. The heater is about $40 to $50 if it needs one.

Same with the water heater. I hope you did not turn it on electric, if so you may have damaged the heater element in it. Replacement heater for it is probably about $20 if needed.

The furnace and water pump should be fine.

If you tried the AC unit, it may have toasted. Same with the microwave.

lewster · 05-12-2015, 08:13 PM

Don't forget that the 120VAC operational side of the fridge runs thru the control board and a 120VAC surge could easily take out that part of the refer's board. The water heater electric element is 12VDC relay controlled, so if it was not on electric, chances are that you missed that bullet.

bradleyoder · 05-12-2015, 09:55 PM

Thankfully I didn't have the water heater on (that I know of! We don't have water to the trailer yet, as it's not in its spot up on the hill near where we're going to build a house. The well is going in this week). Good points about the refrigerator. I was a little ambitious with my testing things, so I likely could've damaged the refrigerator since I fiddle back-and-forth between Auto and gas on the controls. Anyway, I'm a try to wire that thing properly once I get there tonight or first thing in the morning… New converter doesn't arrive till Thursday, so I'll have to hold my breath for a bit.

So, in the meantime, with double voltage coming through, I have no idea whether I could've damaged the breakers themselves. Is that a possibility? I mean, when I first hooked up the plug and plug things in and something blew, I reset some breakers, but they've had that 240 V current (because I haven't changed it yet) and I wonder if I could have fried them themselves. I used to teach this stuff, for crying out loud (high school science), but I couldn't pull the current to voltage to resistance relationship equations out of my cobwebs at the moment if my life depended on it! Ah, the cost of education!

(In other news, $22 for an Allen wrench screw and nut kit for ONE foldout stair screw replacement. Holy smokes!)