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06-10-2015, 06:19 AM
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#21
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Regular Guy
1978 31' Sovereign
Hot Springs
, Arkansas
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 603
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikeyman
The Univolt works just fine once plugged into another outlet... The problem is that the outlet beside the Univolt is dead and I don't know why...
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That's good. Replace the outlet. They go bad too.
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06-10-2015, 08:29 AM
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#22
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Rivet Master
1974 31' Sovereign
1979 23' Safari
Wayland
, New York
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,632
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Mike ,
The way I read this, "so I pulled the outlet off the wires and hooked them up to a light bulb. Still nothing." Means you did just that, pulled the wires clean out of the outlet, got some bare copper to connect wire to to connect to a bulb, and still nothing.
Just to be sure, you had the rest of the circuit energized when you checked with the light, didn't turn it off to get to wires and forget to reenergize when checking with light.
We all have brain farts.
If so that should rule out a bad outlet.
Joe
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06-10-2015, 09:32 AM
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#23
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2 Rivet Member
1978 31' Sovereign
Cold Lake
, Alberta
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 64
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To be more clear - I shut off the breakers to the trailer and unplugged it from shore power source. I removed the outlet and attached a light bulb fixture with marettes. I plugged the trailer back in and switched on all the breakers. The light bulb did not turn on. I can confirm that there is no power going to the outlet. I pulled the outlet off the bedroom wall (which, according to the owner's manual is the last item before the wire runs through the ceiling to the Univolt plug). The plug looks different than what I'm used to - normally there are 2 silver, 2 brass and 1 ground on the outlet, but the trailer has just one line (a black nylon(?)-covered wire bundle) that goes into the back of the outlet. Never seen one like that before.
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06-10-2015, 03:27 PM
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#24
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Regular Guy
1978 31' Sovereign
Hot Springs
, Arkansas
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 603
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The outlets are wired in parallel. If the "upstream" outlet has power, the Univolt should have power as well. I will take mine apart at the bedroom and the Univolt outlet, and post some pictures. Does the outlet under the credenza (to the right) work as well?
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06-10-2015, 06:19 PM
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#25
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Rivet Master
1974 31' Sovereign
1979 23' Safari
Wayland
, New York
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,632
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The outlets don't have screws to attatch the wire in them like in a house, instead the wire gets the outer insulation stripped and the three wires still individually insulated get pushed down between some blades that pierce the insulation on the sides of each wire, theoretically it will let you run one continuous wire for the whole length. However more than one wire can be pushed down into those blades, usually up to 3. In which case if they didn't have enough to reach the forward part of the trailer, they start another wire by pushing it down onto those blades. If that's the case the wire leaving to the univolt may have worked loose, causing a break on power distribution. My original wiring had the stop old wire, start new wire, at the last outlet before it ran to the univolt, not 100% sure if that was some kind of standard practice.
The back of the outlet should have tabs on the sides that you just pry up a little to get the back to slide off. Once you see it it'll make sense.
The outlet to the credenza is a separate line. Seems dumb, but if all original, which is likely nobody did rewiring, the univolt shares power with the back half of the trailer. If there is power to a different nearby outlet, you could tap into that for power, push to shove.
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06-10-2015, 07:21 PM
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#26
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Rivet Master
1974 31' Sovereign
1979 23' Safari
Wayland
, New York
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,632
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Got some pics of what your outlets are probably like.
What it looks like closed on back, just have to pry the side tabs to get back to pop off.
What it looks like inside empty.
About what it will look like with wires in there, they would be pushed down into the slots you can see, they cut through the insulation. Friction holds the wires in, if there are more than one wire, the first inserted pushes apart on the blades a little, which can make the next wire looser, and possibly work loose.
If you could send a pic of the univolt outlet it might help.
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06-11-2015, 08:21 AM
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#27
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2 Rivet Member
1978 31' Sovereign
Cold Lake
, Alberta
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 64
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So it turns out somebody has screwed with the electrical at some point! There are 2 plugs which are regular household plugs, as well as the Univolt plug itself which aren't like the ones you describe above. They include the microwave plug and the plug next to the fridge in the front cabin.
I should also note that my sovereign is the "lounge" model, with the 2 couches up front and wicked 8track player in the corner. The layout isn't consistent with either of the layouts in the owners manual, but it's pretty close.
Anyhow, here's a picture of the Univolt plug. This is turning into quite the brain buster!
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06-11-2015, 08:50 AM
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#28
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Rivet Master
1991 34' Excella
Princeton
, New Jersey
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 7,070
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Did you remove the above receptacle and test the WIRE itself for power?
Have you tested the output side of each breaker for power? A breaker can look good but have failed. Testing is the only way to be sure.
__________________
WBCCI 12156 AIR 3144 WACHUNG TAC NJ6
2004 Excursion 4x4
1991 34 ft. Excella +220,000 miles, new laminated flooring, new upholstery, new 3200 lbs axles
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06-11-2015, 09:26 AM
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#29
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2 Rivet Member
1978 31' Sovereign
Cold Lake
, Alberta
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 64
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I'm fairly certain it isn't the breaker - every single other outlet in the trailer works fine.I removed the Univolt outlet and tested the wiring. The incoming wires are not receiving power.
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06-11-2015, 09:39 AM
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#30
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Rivet Master
1991 34' Excella
Princeton
, New Jersey
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 7,070
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Without the circuits being marked you can not be certain of anything until you test it.
You are just assuming that the receptacle is wired in parallel with others.
Assuming anything in troubleshoot just prolongs the process.
__________________
WBCCI 12156 AIR 3144 WACHUNG TAC NJ6
2004 Excursion 4x4
1991 34 ft. Excella +220,000 miles, new laminated flooring, new upholstery, new 3200 lbs axles
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06-11-2015, 07:12 PM
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#31
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Rivet Master
1974 31' Sovereign
1979 23' Safari
Wayland
, New York
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,632
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Doh! That throws a pretty good wrench in the works.
I think at this point you'll need to check each outlet to be sure that all the connections are good.
May want to invest $35 for a signal tracer. Plug the signal end into the univolt, and as you check each outlet use the tracer to see if one of the wires in the outlet has the signal, that would be the wire. Since the walls are so thin you may be able to pick up the signal through the wall to trace the wire. A professional electrician may have a really powerful signal tracer if it gets that far, or you could call a few to see what they could do and how much.
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05-20-2016, 07:49 PM
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#32
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2 Rivet Member
1978 31' Sovereign
Cold Lake
, Alberta
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 64
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Revival of an old one!
OK so I decided to dig into this a little more... here's what I've learned so far:
-The wiring does not match what the owners manual would suggest
-I can't wait to do a shell off one day and fix this whole mess
-I think I *might* have found the problem.
After going through the breaker box one at a time and identifying which plugs are on each breaker, I found that the exterior plug seemed to be the only one in an entire 15 amp circuit. Curious, I pulled the plug cover off outside and noticed that it was not the only plug, since it had an exit wire. Moreover, the black lead was completely severed.
The manual would suggest that perhaps the univolt outlet may be downstream.
Regardless I'm not putting power back on until I get this fixed, but fingers crossed.
The problem I face now is that it seems that wire has chaffed on the interior skin where it exits the wall by the wheel well and goes to the external outlet. I'm unable to pull more wire for fear of damaging something further, so at the moment I'm unsure how to properly repair this connection without removing the interior skin (which would mean the bed, overhead bins, part of the kitchen etc)...
Looking for suggestions please?
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05-20-2016, 07:56 PM
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#33
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2 Rivet Member
1978 31' Sovereign
Cold Lake
, Alberta
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 64
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Photos
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05-20-2016, 07:57 PM
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#34
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2 Rivet Member
1978 31' Sovereign
Cold Lake
, Alberta
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 64
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Again...
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