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Old 05-11-2009, 08:09 PM   #11
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Re: Need help in the field

Again - thanks for all the ideas. Tonight I opened the cabinet the power is in and checked all grounds and connections - everything looks tight.

This is a 2002 Dodge. It has the convertor under then rear dinette and there is one outlet at the convertor - seems like the fridge is plugged there - that one works.

Above the fridge is the microwave. There is an outlet behind the microwave- that one works.

To the right is a pantry and next is a closet. There is an outlet in that closet - it DOES NOT work.

Next, behind the driver seat is another outlet - it DOES NOT work.

On the other side of the van is an outlet above the stove and outside the van another outlet. There DO NOT work.

I checked all breakers were on. Turned them off and on again. Everything does seem to feel normal.
Checked the GFI on the outside outlet and nothing helped.

I don't know how the outlets are wired - in series or not - seems strange that some work and some don't. There are 4 breakers - a main and 3 others. Not sure why 3 - I would have thought 2 at most - one for each side of the van.

Sent Nancy in Indian SMB an email and asked her to advise her guys of the issues. I will call her tomorrow but wanted her to have some background before I did. I have a feeling it will be extension cords but we are on our way to Alaska and currently are in Oklahoma. I've got about 3 more months and 10K miles to go - sure would like to have things work! lol

Thanks again all.

David

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Old 05-13-2009, 04:43 PM   #12
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Re: Need help in the field

Again - thanks to all!

Steve above mentioned a 'cranky' GFI and it seems that what I have too.
After speaking with the people at SMB and learning how the wiring was done, I traced the problem back to the outside GFI. After 'playing' with it a bit, it began working. Looks like I'll need to replace it soon but for now, it's working.

D
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Old 05-16-2009, 10:26 PM   #13
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Re: Need help in the field

I noticed on the Moab trip that Angel's GFI would not reset if there was no power to the outlet (e.g. invertor off, shore power off, or breaker off). Once we found the problem (breaker) it reset just fine.

Don't know if that is standard for GFI's, but thought I'd throw it out for future reference... if you've been messing with the GFI and test tripped it without power you can only reset it with power applied.
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Old 05-17-2009, 08:56 AM   #14
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Re: Need help in the field

Quote:
Originally Posted by jage
I noticed on the Moab trip that Angel's GFI would not reset if there was no power to the outlet (e.g. invertor off, shore power off, or breaker off). Once we found the problem (breaker) it reset just fine.

Don't know if that is standard for GFI's, but thought I'd throw it out for future reference... if you've been messing with the GFI and test tripped it without power you can only reset it with power applied.
While on a business trip to the east coast last week, my wife called to tell me that a circuit breaker in the house had tripped (in the kitchen no less), and she couldn't get it to reset. She also said the nreaker wouldn't reset. Gave her some suggestions, but kind of hard to troubleshoot from across the country. Got home and I could not get the one GFCI to reset, let alone the circuit breaker, so I went to Home Depot and bought a new GFCI receptacle. In reading the directions for the GFCI, it stated that it had an interlock in it to prevent reset if there wasn't power applied to it. So...thought I might need a new breaker again, but made one last trip back to the circuit breaker panel, and for some reason the breaker could be reset this time. It might be that all the loads were removed from the circuit this time. Who knows.

Bottom line, the GFCI will not reset without power being applied to the circuit.


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Old 05-17-2009, 09:29 PM   #15
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Re: Need help in the field

Herb you might want to pull that breaker and take a look at the bus and the breaker (if you feel qualified enough to pull the plate off and remove the breaker). Lots of times breakers trip if the bus is burning. Might save you some bucks if you catch it early provided there is a problem.
I wish I had a buck for every time I had to reset somebody’s breaker and it seems I always hear the same rattle out of the box “the whole neighborhood is out”…..NOT. Usually it’s just because they don’t know the correct procedure on how to reset them. The root cause varies from overload to just being old. Many times the breaker will cool down and reset OK. Sometimes I can operate the breaker several times and it will finally catch and reset. I’ve pulled them out, banged them around and got em to work. When a GFI fails it seem to just fail and need to be replaced, but most of the time when they trip they reset and again it is operator issues. Like in this case, many people are not aware of the location of the GFI. I lost power in my home (near the sink/bathroom areas) and could not figure out where the GFI was. On the patio? Never would have thunk it!
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