Now, no outlets and battery voltage dropping

[GordonLynn]

I posted last night saying the GFCI breaker must have failed - no outlets worked on that side of the 2022 Bambi BC, and the breaker failed the manual test. Later, the outlets on the other side quit working. No outlets powered now. And I don't have the voltage I usually have from off-shore power (13.6?). This morning it is showing 12.2. So, it is as if my converter has failed. I can put a trickle charger on the batteries and or get a stronger charger to keep them up. But why no outlets? Are the 2 issues related? They must be. Any thoughts? Thanks.

[Bill M.]

I expect the two issues are related. My converters are actually plugged into outlets in the trailer so if the outlets are down the converter is not getting power. I suspect that if you get the outlets back up all will be fine. Not sure of this on a newer basecamp but the converter does have to have 110 coming in to work. I doubt if the converter is on the GFI circuit. Have you flipped all the breakers on and off? Do you have any 110 power?

[azflycaster]

Have you verified that you have shore power?

[CBWELL]

Check the breaker on the power post first. Then, if it has not tripped, turn it "off" and disconnect both the post end of the power cord and the trailer end to confirm that they have not shorted out. If no problems with the cord or the post breaker, contact the park to confirm good power to the post.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Outlets run off of 120V. On shore power 12V can be dead and gone. You will still have 120V at the outlets. With no 120V, you have no converter charging the batteries. They will eventually die unless you have some alternate way to charge them.

For less than $5 you can usually pick up a 120V "plug in outlet tester". It will have a couple of lights on it that will quickly tell you what's what at an outlet. It's well worth having one along when you are out and about. You can confirm / deny that outlets are working very quickly.

1) To have shore power, the power company has to be delivering power to the campground (or location). It then needs to get through the wiring and "stuff" at the campground (or location). Eventually it gets to the power post. Any "gotcha" along that route and you have no shore power.

2) The power post has breakers and outlets. They can and do fail. When they do .. no shore power. If the post has a 120V outlet on it you can quickly confirm it 1 above is the problem, using your plug in tester. You can confirm some (but not all) issues with the post the same way.

3) Now you have (maybe) and adapter. You certainly have a shore power cord. They have connectors on both ends. They also can and do fail. In rare cases the wire might break.

4) That plugs into your shore power connector on the trailer. Those most certainly do break as does the wiring to them. That wire runs over to your breaker panel.

5) The wiring runs to a master breaker in the breaker panel. If that has tripped or is fried ... no power in the trailer.

If you want to troubleshoot 2, 3, 4 and 5 above a multimeter is the typical "thing to use". Typically you can find them for < $20. Also a good thing to have along.

6) Once you get to "yes there's power in the panel, you are down to individual breakers, the wires from them to outlets, and the outlets themselves. Breakers do fail. Outlets do fail. Wires can fail, again that's less likely.

So what to do:

Pull out the test gear and start testing things.

Bob

[kb0zke]

Several years ago I helped an Airstreamer with a very similar problem. He had power when he ran the generator but not when plugged into shore power. The assumption was that the park's pedestal was bad. Nope. He had one strand from the black wire touching the neutral. That's all it took for the breaker on the pedestal to trip, but not enough for the generator to cut out. A few minutes of work on the cord and all was well again.


The was a 30A cord, so when I got continuity between two prongs on the cord I knew I had found at least part of the problem.

[Keys Dave]

There have been several posts recently about loose neutral wires on the buss in the main panel. This could be your problem. You will need to understand a little bit about the electrical system as most Airstream panels have both AC & DC power present thus it is nearly impossible to turn everything off. Safety is paramount.
If you want to embark on this task first unplug the 120volt shore power cord then switch off the 12 system. You may still have 12 volts of power to some parts of the panel. Then open up the panel and check the connections on the neutral wires.
This MIGHT address some of the problem.

[PaulBristol]

Originally Posted by GordonLynn

I posted last night saying the GFCI breaker must have failed - no outlets worked on that side of the 2022 Bambi BC, and the breaker failed the manual test. Later, the outlets on the other side quit working. No outlets powered now. And I don't have the voltage I usually have from off-shore power (13.6?). This morning it is showing 12.2. So, it is as if my converter has failed. I can put a trickle charger on the batteries and or get a stronger charger to keep them up. But why no outlets? Are the 2 issues related? They must be. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Probable cause is lack of shore power.

I assume you know, one set of outlets had power last night and now does not. The other set of outlets did not have power last night and still does not.

The battery voltage is dropping, so converter/charger is "OFF" as well as two sets of outlets.

The Bambi specifications say it has a 30 amp 120 volt shore power. The manual refers to an inverter.

Assuming you have an active inverter, it may have been powering one set of outlets last night. This could have happened if there was no shore power available. One set powered by inverter. Other set only powered by shore power.

The inverter is now "OFF", so no power to either set of outlets. There are a couple of reasons why the inverter is now "OFF", but that is less important.

First verify shore power. Check circuit breaker on the pedestal. Switch pedestal circuit breaker "OFF" then back "ON".

Check that the shore power cord is plugged in securely on both ends.

Check the main 30 amp circuit breaker on the Bambi main circuit breaker panel. Switch it "OFF", then back "ON".

Check voltage present at the pedestal if you can. If you can't, get the campground to check for power.

If these steps correct the problem, all outlets should work and converter should start charging batteries again.

If these steps do not correct the problem, the circuits between the pedestal and the main breaker panel in the Bambi must be traced. You would need a voltmeter and must be able to follow the wires.

[Bill M.]

Sometimes the male plug on the Airstream cable is dirty or burned or faulty in connection. Turn off the pedestal breaker and unplug and plug back in the power cord. Do an appearance and feel check on the plug while disconnected.

Yeah, after reading the other posters I think you lost shore power back when the first set of outlets "went out". And were running on batteries until they died. I do not have an inverter so I did not think of that happening. Get the shore power restored and you probably will be fine.

[Bill M.]

One more thing. When we started Airstreaming I was cheap and stubborn. I did not think I needed a surge protector or an EMS. I was probably right about the surge protector in an old trailer. But I now have and use Progressive Dynamics Surge Protector/EMS for both my year round parked trailer and my travel trailer. I love being able to tell that the power is working correctly and to be able to diagnose failures at a glance. If you had one connected now you would know more about what your problem might be.

[GordonLynn]

Thanks for all the advice. For some reason this morning I decided to flip all the breakers off and back on. Converter kicked up and started charging the batteries right away and two "dry side" outlets now working. For some reason I was focused on all the fuses last night, and the breakers were all in the "on" position so I did not think that was a problem. Aren't they supposed to move to the "off" position if a power surge or other problem?

I still have a faulty GFI breaker that has all three outlets on the watered side of my trailer without power. I can get by a long time with two outlets, but can I buy something to replace the GFI breaker and replace it myself? I imagine any trailer repair shop could do it.

[Wazbro]

The breakers do not move all the way to the off position when they trip, sometimes they don't even move enough to notice that they moved. This is why people give the advice to turn the breakers off then on to make sure.

[GordonLynn]

Well, tonight I decided to take another look at the CFI breaker. Now that the main breaker is working again, so is the CFI breaker! I think my problem started when I ran a heating pad for the first time on an outlet that goes through the CFI breaker. After having the heating pad on high that outlet and the other CFI outlets lost power. Whether is was just the CFI breaker that kicked out or the main breaker I am not sure now. But with the main breaker out, the CFI breaker appeared dead. Sorry to have trouble you-all. I keep learning....slowly. Thanks, again.

[Thiss]

Glad you got it working.

Just following up if anyone else is reading.

The GFCI outlet that controls the rest is probably in the infotainment cupboard. Note too that the outside outlet is on the circuit.

Also, the ultimate breaker for these is the battery cutoff. I have solved similar problems by resetting it.

Like a computer, sometimes it’s best to turn it all off and then back on.

[GOUSC]

Glad you got it working and, posted the resolution. I think we’ve all been there at some point in time. I remember the first month we had our RV the batteries were not charging. Someone suggested checking the breakers. The one for the converter looked on but it wasn’t. Turned it off, then back on and problem solved. It’s all part of the learning process. The more you use your RV the more you will learn and be able to share with others.

[azflycaster]

Your trailer is most likely 30 amps which can be an issue depending on what you are running. The heating pad you mentioned would ne pullong 12 or more amps whenswitched to high.

I have an external Progessive Dynamics EMS box which displays the current amp useage and I know from experiance how many amps each of my devices use. Electic heaters, air fryer, hair dryer and others can not be used with others and especially when running the Air Conditioner.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Your trailer only has a 30A "feed". One hair dryer and one heating pad both on at the same time .... you are pretty much maxed out. Converter charger tries to do its thing, you are over the max. Turn on the TV, you might be over the max.

This is another reason a "built in" EMS with a readout is a nice thing. The panel shows you how much current you are using "right now". If you do this or do that, you can see what the impact is.

Bob

[PaulBristol]

Thank you for posting the resolution to your issue. That helps us all learn.