Fire in the hole!!!!

[Kyle007]

First time camping with our new 2024 Carvel 16'.
Fuse box had burnt smell, and we thought it was normal. Left for bike riding and came back with no AC. Later found out all of our AC power was not working.

We had to cut our vacation short. Came home and troubleshoot. Opened the fuse panel and found burnt wires....

Please advise what action to take here. Will call the dealer when they are opened. We are very disappointed. This does not look like something a brand-new airstream would have an issue with.

See attached picture.

[Keys Dave]

First thing pull the shore power plug at the campground post.!

[Keys Dave]

Do you have an inverter? You need to switch it off!

[Kyle007]

We left the campground already. We are home and now need to call the dealer.

[Keys Dave]

From the picture I could not get a good idea of what is going on.. Looking like something rubbed through and shorted out. A lot is going to depend on your knowledge of electrical wires and how hot everything got. You MIGHT be able to get back to some level of camping until you can get to the dealership.

[Keys Dave]

With the new information I would ask for a whole new panel. Tell them the wife is nervous about sleeping in it. I would be.

[ITSNO60]

It looks like some of the neutrals got hot, likely from a loose connection. I don't think it was a short, that would have tripped breakers.

If that is what happened the neutral bus will need to be replaced, it's bad practice to re-use terminals that have been overheated that much. Any overheated wires will need to be replaced as well.

[Kyle007]

Most definitely! It is really bad by the look of it. They would need to replace the whole panel and maybe the wires behind the wall. Again, we are disappointed in airstream to have this issue. Probably bad wiring from the start.

[JeffKim]

Bummer, that's horrible. Curious if you had a power protection device (EMS)?

I don't have anything to add, but wondering from people who know more than I do, if the power pole supply was bad, would it manifest itself like this? Or trip a breaker?

[ITSNO60]

Originally Posted by JeffKim

Bummer, that's horrible. Curious if you had a power protection device (EMS)?

I don't have anything to add, but wondering from people who know more than I do, if the power pole supply was bad, would it manifest itself like this? Or trip a breaker?

It has loose connection written all over it, especially as it is so localized.

[Kyle007]

That is what I am thinking. Loose wiring. Or just bad wiring. Should fire that electrician for not doing a quality control. Not sure I can blame the dealer for this.
Maybe I should ask for a trade in for a new airstream.

[ITSNO60]

Originally Posted by Kyle007

That is what I am thinking. Loose wiring. Or just bad wiring. Should fire that electrician for not doing a quality control. Not sure I can blame the dealer for this.
Maybe I should ask for a trade in for a new airstream.

Workers are human and stuff happens which is why there are backups in place. This is a perfect example of why all connections need to be made in a fire rated enclosure and the enclosure only filled to the maximum cubic inches allowable for that enclosure.

[SSquared]

We had a similar situation in our 2013 25FB, although we were fine for the first couple of years. For us it was a case of the screws on the neutral bus working loose. My wife the EE sourced some new properly-rated wire and replaced the burned pieces. We kept the bus. We bought a torque screwdriver to be sure the screws were properly tightened. We check those screws annually and have found that in fact, they do work loose over the years.

I recommend we all re-tighten the screws on the bus bar regularly.

[SuperTrouper]

Originally Posted by SSquared

We had a similar situation in our 2013 25FB, although we were fine for the first couple of years. For us it was a case of the screws on the neutral bus working loose. My wife the EE sourced some new properly-rated wire and replaced the burned pieces. We kept the bus. We bought a torque screwdriver to be sure the screws were properly tightened. We check those screws annually and have found that in fact, they do work loose over the years.

I recommend we all re-tighten the screws on the bus bar regularly.

X2. I smelled something hot one evening mid coach and felt around until I got to the power panel. The cover was warm. I opened it while energized (not recommended) and caught a loose neutral in the act of arcing. It was burned just like your picture. I ended up replacing my neutral buss bar and fortunately, I had enough slack in the neutral wires to be able to cut them back to undamaged wire where the copper was not discolored. As SSquared said, these connections can work loose especially when you have stranded wire in a screw down bussbar. This should not have happened in a new unit and I suspect that the neutral connection was not tightened correctly at the factory.

[10Smiles]

We also had a similar event. While camping one time we woke up to a bad smell in the trailer, then we lost shore power. Fortunately, we were relatively close to home (35 miles), so I could take my wife home while I trouble shot the issue.

At first I thought it was a failed main breaker, replaced it, no joy. I didn't know it, but there is an electrical junction box (metal) between the shore power inlet to the trailer and the circuit panel. It turns out that a wire nut connection burned. It operated for a dozen years or so, then failed. Probably due to road vibration loosening over the years.

As mentioned above, things happen. You deal with it and move on.

This thread reminds me that I should check those connections and the main panel connections.

[Doc Foster]

I had a very similar thing happen to me with my 2015 International on our 1st big trip with our new trailer. We were awakened during the night, sparks literally shooting out of electrical panel in hallway - had to run outside in my underwear to yank power cord from the pedestal. Fortunately we were on our way home from Nevada and in Colorado. I drove straight through to Jackson Center and got there about midnight. They had to replace the panel, converter, microwave, and the control panel and motor for the electric awning - all under warranty. Not sure what happened but it was scary. Make sure you check all electrical appliances, etc. before leaving the dealer or Jackson Center.

[NeahBay]

Kyle007,

I feel for you on your maiden voyage. After 3 years of travel with our 2021 caravel 16, we experienced that electrical smell at night and in the morning investigated the electrical panel. Several of the contacts took a 1/4 turn or more, and after tightening everything we’ve had no further problems. As others have said, tightening all of these contacts should be an annual process, along with all the other regular maintenance being performed. Bumping down the road, always changing hot and cold conditions, things get loosened everywhere. However, this should NOT have happened on a brand new trailer. You’re fortunate no other damage resulted from this issue.

The Caravel 16 really is a great trailer, and I hope you get this resolved quickly so you can get back out there.

I hope this helps.

Bob

[Al and Missy]

Originally Posted by ITSNO60

It looks like some of the neutrals got hot, likely from a loose connection. I don't think it was a short, that would have tripped breakers.

If that is what happened the neutral bus will need to be replaced, it's bad practice to re-use terminals that have been overheated that much. Any overheated wires will need to be replaced as well.

What Brian said....

Heating was from the end. If it was current overload the whole wire would be discolored, and it might even be that the bussbar end would sink heat away so there would be less damage there. Looks like the electrician stuffed the wires in the bussbar and forgot to go tighten them down. The trick will be to get enough wire to re-terminate at a replaced bussbar.

Al

[Bnystrom]

I recently upgraded the converter in our motorhome and found that I needed the re-tighten the connections multiple times. This would be a similar situation to dealing with a new RV.

[DaveG]

110% in agreement with ITSNO60. May look worse than it really is.