AC blew out entire power in cottage - Page 2

javelin · 07-07-2019, 01:52 AM

Well congrats you found your feed to the cottage is inadequately sized for loads required (unless you are very careful with loads)....plus a mixed mess of vintage electrical equipment. I hope you still bring in some professional help to make things right for what you want to do.

Regarding the coach and chassis battery lights by the door of your ACE.....did you turn on both of the switches? If the batteries are good and the latching relays work (should hear them operate) then you should have your yellow and green lights. Also when you reconnect your shore power the yellow coach light will come on (but that does not mean you are charging the coach battery.....when you want to charge batteries from converter via shore power you must turn on the coach battery switch by the door. Hope that helps a bit.

lal22 · 07-07-2019, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by javelin

Well congrats you found your feed to the cottage is inadequately sized for loads required (unless you are very careful with loads)....plus a mixed mess of vintage electrical equipment. I hope you still bring in some professional help to make things right for what you want to do.

Regarding the coach and chassis battery lights by the door of your ACE.....did you turn on both of the switches? If the batteries are good and the latching relays work (should hear them operate) then you should have your yellow and green lights. Also when you reconnect your shore power the yellow coach light will come on (but that does not mean you are charging the coach battery.....when you want to charge batteries from converter via shore power you must turn on the coach battery switch by the door. Hope that helps a bit.

Sometimes vintage is nice, but not so much this time. Yes, we are having licensed electrician fix everything! We did not plug the RV back into shore power. I made sure the switches were on "connect". Don't know why the green light isn't on and why the step wont come out. The ceiling lights are working if turned on.

javelin · 07-07-2019, 02:07 AM

Hi again. The steps are powered from the chassis battery......so if you turn on the chassis battery switch at the door you should hear its latching relay operate which will supply power for the steps (and the green light should come on also). If you don't hear the chassis battery latching relay operate then it has either failed or your chassis battery might be discharged. Hopefully it is just the battery is discharged. Does the coach engine start?

lal22 · 07-07-2019, 02:43 AM

Javelin, I will check out what you have said tomorrow. We have a disconnect on the engine battery, my DH said he disconnected again, prior to closing up the front grill. Chassis battery is for the MH, coach battery is for the Ford motor, correct? I was able to turn in the lights and we were not hooked up to shore power.

javelin · 07-07-2019, 02:57 AM

No problem it is getting about 9PM in Alberta and Arizona is probably a similar time zone.......and FYI the coach battery runs coach loads like your 12vdc lights and fans (and jacks and starts gen) and the chassis battery runs steps and other loads plus starting engine. Hope you have a simple reason for the chassis battery not connecting. Have a good evening.

javelin · 07-07-2019, 12:31 PM

Reread your last post this AM and you said DH has a battery disconnect on the chassis (engine starting) battery.....so that is probably why no green light at the door when turning on the chassis battery switch.

cavie · 07-07-2019, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lal22

Could we have blown the entire 60 amp panel to our cottage?

Yes. But you didn't blow the panel you tripped the main. Check and reset. In 50 years as an electrician I have tripped 200 amp mains before a simple 15 amp breaker. Common problem that is very hard to explain.

cavie · 07-07-2019, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lal22

Javelin, I will check out what you have said tomorrow. We have a disconnect on the engine battery, my DH said he disconnected again, prior to closing up the front grill. Chassis battery is for the MH, coach battery is for the Ford motor, correct? I was able to turn in the lights and we were not hooked up to shore power.

You have it backwards. Chassis battery if for the Ford motor and chassis, Coach battery is for the MH coach. Hook up the chassis battery and that will operate the steps.

Manufactures buy a Chassis with a motor and wheels. Then they assemble and add the couch (house). Steps are wired to the chassis for safety reasons. Ignition and parking break involved.

TurnerFam · 07-07-2019, 01:08 PM

true, because as with most Panels, you can have many more breaker 'amps' than you have for the Main breaker... meaning that there are times when you could not trip any 'single' breaker, but the overall amps used exceed the Main breaker, causing it to trip.

As for the original issue, the sub-panel in the cottage, pulling power from the Home's Main Panel, is underrated for the addition of the 'RV Service' that was recently added. Now the sub-panel is trying to power more than it was designed for, even though none of it's individual breakers tripped - it's 'main breaker', the one that feeds it from the HOUSE's Main Panel, is the culprit, though it was simply doing it's job - monitoring the amps and tripping when they were too high.

While this setup looks aged, and not what maybe most of us see on a regular basis, the general idea of using a sub-panel from the main home to feed a panel for the cottage is fairly common - some of us do the same for our RV, some do it for a detached garage, and some do it for a 'cottage'! Nice.

Thehobe1 · 07-07-2019, 01:53 PM

The MH AC may be loading down the circuit due to it's LONG run of a 30A circuit. The longer the path, the more the voltage drop and maybe the AC motor is stalling resulting in much higher current draw. For example, a simple incandescent light bulb requires 10 times the current the instant it is turned on but just for a few milliseconds. An Air Conditioning motor requires very high current to start the motor for a few seconds, while the motor spins up.

lal22 · 07-07-2019, 08:01 PM

I connected the chassis motor, then of course the steps worked and the green light came on. So thank you all for reminding me about that. I am plugged into shore power now but am not running the AC. I still do not have power to the back of our RV.... microwave, 120v outlets, TV in the bedroom. Our TV near the door has power. I checked all the breakers on the bed panel, turned them off and on. I pulled some of the fuses but I really don't know what I am looking for in a bad fuse. Any ideas please, or have I drained you all?

javelin · 07-07-2019, 09:53 PM

The power panel at the end of the bed has both 120VAC breakers and 12vdc fuses which supply various loads in the coach. Your microwave and 120VAC outlets should be on AC breakers (left side of panel usually) and if the TV’s are original (they “may” be 12VDC TVs not 120VAC TVs ?). Check fuse #4 on the right side of the power panel which should be marked “rear” of coach (supplies 12VDC to some circuits in the rear bedroom like lights/TV if it's DC). On some DC fuse panels there are red LED’s associated with each fuse.....and if they glow red the fuse is blown. If you don’t have these indicators then you could pull the fuse and use an ohmmeter to test for continuity through the fuse (0 ohms across the pins means fuse is good). Never use an ohmmeter setting on live circuits.
If your microwave is not working; some 120VAC outlets are not working and you have tripped and reset the AC breakers you may have a bad connection inside the power panel on the breaker; bad breaker. If other 120VAC circuits are working in the coach then the shore power and transfer switch should be OK. Your electrician may help you check that out if you folks are getting someone to fix your house to cottage AC feeds.

lal22 · 07-07-2019, 11:06 PM

Very useful information Javelin! I have learned a lot over the past couple of days about electric, breakers, fuses, batteries and the generator, how all these parts are interconnected. I did notice that when I pulled some of the fuses a red light came on, but there were no red lights when I first checked the panel, so it was not showing any blown fuses. The DH just told me that the breaker in the cottage had not been reset, so I wasnt getting any shore power. So that explains a lot! I may make one more trip out there tonight to see if everything is working now. I worked out there with 2 fans and no AC, it was in the 90's today. I took down the AC cover, cleaned everything, shifted things back to where they should be, made sure the roof mount screws were tight. The water that dripped out was just condensation I suppose. I am ready to load her up now that she is level and the slides are out. Anxious to go on our first trip. I would rather learn now than on the road. Although I am certain this is not the end on the learning curve, just the beginning. Thanks again everyone for your suggestions and observations, you were a big help!!

javelin · 07-08-2019, 12:10 AM

No working shore connection would explain a few missing power related things alright. When you pulled the DC fuses it simulates a blown fuse....red light goes on. Glad that you have learned a few things on the forum.
Your water on the floor from the A/C could have also been the A/C freezing up and then thawing out after the outside house panel breaker tripped. Enjoy you future RV trips and keep learning.

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