While dry camping this past weekend Missy plugged a
12v cigarette lighter to usb adapter into the bedroom lighter receptacle and the lights went out. On closer examination of the adapter I discovered the entire body was metal and there was only about 1/8” separation from the hot end to the negative side body. The hot end apparently engaged while part of it was still in contact with the ground side of the outlet.
I immediately checked all the
12 volt circuit breakers. No buttons were apparently popped up but I pressed them all anyway to be sure. No joy.
I assumed one of the splices I installed when I moved the electrical panel had failed and proceeded to check them all. That’s 4 hours in a cramped position I’ll never get back. I corrected one questionable splice but still no lights on that circuit.
In desparation I got out my meter only to discover that circuit 1 had no power. The button was not visibly raised. I pressed it with no result, so I got a toothpick and pressed it again. I heard a click and the lights came on. There was no percepible movement of the button and after being reset it looked just like it did tripped.
Moral of the story - there is no visual clue that a
12 volt breaker is tripped and you should use a small pointed object when resetting
12 volt breakers.
Al