Noob Question. How to plug SMB into my house?

[MrHenrietta]

I'm trying to get interior power (lights, fan, radio) by plugging my van into my garage using the 110v/12v conversion chord and a heavy duty extension chord. I plugged everything in and did not have any interior power. Is something else I need to do?

Note:
-I do have full power to everything when the van is turned on.
-My house battery is dead.
-Breakers are all on.

[BroncoHauler]

GFCI outlet in your house?

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8212&hilit=gfci+shore

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6155&hilit=gfci+shore


Herb

[MrHenrietta]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

GFCI outlet in your house?

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8212&hilit=gfci+shore

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6155&hilit=gfci+shore


Herb

Yeah I have one on the outside of my house. I'll try that outlet and report back.

[MrHenrietta]

So that was not the issue. Any other ideas? If I'm plugged in should all the interior lights work automatically or something else I need to do?

[Gooseberry]

interior lights will be 12v and run off the house battery. when plugged in your charger should be charging the battery and giving power to those lights.

if you plug a light into the 110 outlet does it light? if not your not getting power from the 110 plug. what is a 110/12 power cord? you should only have a 110 cord and once plugged in your 12v will come from the battery charger in the van.

this sounds stupid but flip the breaker to make sure they are not tripped or in the off position. I work for a breaker manufacture and its a weekly call. might be in a different spot then the 12v brreakers



I always bump my main breaker for some reason and turn the main breaker off in the van.

[MrHenrietta]

Originally Posted by Gooseberry

interior lights will be 12v and run off the house battery. when plugged in your charger should be charging the battery and giving power to those lights.

if you plug a light into the 110 outlet does it light? if not your not getting power from the 110 plug. what is a 110/12 power cord? you should only have a 110 cord and once plugged in your 12v will come from the battery charger in the van.

this sounds stupid but flip the breaker to make sure they are not tripped or in the off position. I work for a breaker manufacture and its a weekly call. might be in a different spot then the 12v brreakers



I always bump my main breaker for some reason and turn the main breaker off in the van.

Thanks for the reply. The cord I'm using is the standard cord that plugs into the outside of the van (110v) and allows you to plug into a regular household outlet (12v). I'm also using a heavy duty extension cord. All my breakers were on. My house battery is completely dead and won't hold a charge. Could it be that because my house battery is shot that's the reason I can't get shore power?

I am equipped with a Trace Engineering PS Series 2512 inverter/charger for what it's worth.

[KTMRIDER]

Try plugging into a non GFI outlet/circuit and let us know. You might lookup the inverter documentation and see how it is grounded internally as this can cause issues with a GFI outlet depending on the configuration.
Eric

[Gooseberry]

Ok the house power is 110 and should provide 110 to all the outlets in the van not 12 volts. On shore power can you plug a light into any of the vans outlets and have them light?

I bet it's the inverter and how it's plugged in. Your shore power is not switching from the inverter to shore power and becoming a charger and without seeing it I'm only guessing.

[twogone]

My noob logic: If the house battery is totally gone, it can't accept a charge and send out 12v... I'm guessing

[tonyvoudy]

I think as suggested, the main thing to try is verify that once you plug the van into your house 110v, you should be able to plug in a lamp or something inside one of the van's 110v's and get power. Also verify that no GFI's are tripped inside the van if you have them. The fact that your interior 12v lights are not working at all sounds like either the main circuit is tripped, one of the 12v fuses are dead, or your house battery is dead.

I believe you should still be able to power 110v lamps inside the van (when plugged in) with a dead house battery as long as no breakers are tripped.

On a side note, for anyone interested, I recently bought a simple conntex adapter for use when my van is in the garage so I don't have to pull out the power cable at home. I use a regular extension cord to keep the van on house power and a small space heater with a freeze plug that kicks on when the van its 32 degrees. Can't have all that beer freezing in the van now can we?!?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YB ... UTF8&psc=1