plugging into city power plus latch story

[Jjona5]

Is there a guide to hooking up to city power? Can I do that without a battery in the RV or will the Univolt catch on fire or something? I haven't drilled the lock for the generator compartment but my lady would like to work on the inside so I think while I'm waiting on some engine stuff I might fix the AC(I know the fan has rusted off) so she can do interior work more comfortably in the Houston heat and I can do some plywood and carpet removal. I read I just unplug the the generator plug and then hook in the city power but is it polarized? Any special plugs or directions. I searched for power and electricity in our thread argosy pages but didn't find anything. I do have batteries but I'm not happy with the layout and plan on moving them to another compartment.

Oh and I had my lock rekeyed and repaired today for right at 20 bucks...and it came with 2 keys! Love a good locksmith and I've used this guy since I was a teen.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Jjona5

Is there a guide to hooking up to city power? Can I do that without a battery in the RV or will the Univolt catch on fire or something?

You don't need a battery in order for the univolt to provide power to the DC system in the coach. Just make sure the battery cables aren't touching anything!

I haven't drilled the lock for the generator compartment but my lady would like to work on the inside so I think while I'm waiting on some engine stuff I might fix the AC(I know the fan has rusted off) so she can do interior work more comfortably in the Houston heat and I can do some plywood and carpet removal. I read I just unplug the the generator plug and then hook in the city power but is it polarized? Any special plugs or directions. I searched for power and electricity in our thread argosy pages but didn't find anything. I do have batteries but I'm not happy with the layout and plan on moving them to another compartment.

The Airstream owners manual typically describes how to connect to shore power. On the Argosies there should be a plug located in the same compartment where the shore power cord is stored or on some early models it is in the generator compartment.


Regardless of where it is, in order to use generator power you would plug the shore power cord into this socket. The generator feeds power to this socket so when you plug in the shore power cord the generator then feeds the coach with 120 vac. To plug into shore power just plug the shore power cord into an appropriate outlet providing shore power and that's it. However, it's important that you maintain polarity.

In typical 120 vac wiring the white (neutral) wire is connected to the ground bus in the house entrance panel. That is the ONLY place the neutral wire is grounded in a house. When your motorhome is plugged into shore power the motorhome is considered an extension of your house which means the white (neutral) wire in the Argosy is NOT grounded. If it is grounded you could get shocked when touching bare metal.

When you are not connected to shore power but instead connected to your generator you'll find the generator ties the white (neutral) wire to the generator ground. So the bottom line, polarity is important so you want to make sure the pins of your shore power cord are connected correctly.

Oh and I had my lock rekeyed and repaired today for right at 20 bucks...and it came with 2 keys! Love a good locksmith and I've used this guy since I was a teen.

Sometimes you get lucky!

[Gregsch]

Yep! its just that simple. On these older coaches you either plug the 30 amp plug into the generator receptacle Brad pictured above or you plug it into the wall for shore power, that's it. Oh yea don't forget to plug the univolt into the receptacle on the side wall of your coach. No battery required.