Windsport electrical issues

[bojanlora]

On the 5th day of a 38 day trip. Made it to Carlsbad NM and it was 105 degrees.

Stopped at Walmart before getting to the RV park and turned the generator and ACs to keep the dogs comfortable.

Came back 20 minutes later and the generator was off. Tried starting it and it shut off as soon as I let go of the start button.

Got to the RV park and hooked up to shore power and NADA, ZILCH, no power. Generator, same thing.

Opened up Southwire Surge Guard ATS and noticed both generator and shore power breakers were tripped. Tried resetting and no joy. When I press in the top and hold it (shore power) front AC and microwave come on. BTW 108 inside Motorhome.

Wedged a spatula to hold the breaker and AC on and microwave. No other 110 outlets in the front or rear AC work.

Disconnected generator line and load wires, re routed the load to the shore power breaker and still the breaker won’t hold. Have AC running with spatula wedged in place (at this point IDGAF if the coach burns down) it’s 8 pm and the coach is still at 100 degrees.

Called Thor emergency support and they are totally worthless! They have 14 billion in back orders and they truly don’t give a damn about us.

Of course, plenty of technicians are willing to look at it... next month. We are still under warranty but at this point, it means nothing.

My ATS is model 40140. Can’t even find this stupid thing on the web. I’ve done everything to isolate the generator breaker and still have the same issue. I’m beginning to think there might be an issue with the 50 amp main breaker?

Thoughts???

[taylorbob1]

There’s a whole lotta stuff going on here, and you’re on a long trip.

- you’re telling us it’s the ATS, then you can wire around it directly to shore power. You just need 3 big wire nuts to work around the ATS
- then.,,if everything works, you’ve isolated it being the ATS (Probably the solenoid inside the ATS)

The only problem after that is the Genny “work-around”
You can go to HomeDepot/Lowe’s and get several large plugs (male & female).
Then do old-school and plug in the shore power when using that or plug in the genny when using that
(All of these suggestions above are based on it being a bad ATS)

On the other hand...
If it’s a bad 50amp breaker, then pull it and go find one to replace

[ducksface]

Call any electrician in the local phone book.
This isn't an rv problem it's an electrical problem.
Warranty be damned.
Suit yourself before you suit the warranty.

Take command.

[bojanlora]

Originally Posted by ducksface

Call any electrician in the local phone book.
This isn't an rv problem it's an electrical problem.
Warranty be damned.
Suit yourself before you suit the warranty.

Take command.

I agree with you. I’ll be on the phone first thing in the morning. This all happened during happy hour so nobody was available

[abjbrtd]

Try this if you haven't already.
Turn ALL the 120v breakers OFF including the ones IN the generator.
Now try to start the generator, this will answer a few questions.
Turn the generator off, LEAVE the breakers off.

Check the campground breakers. Reset if tripped.
Inside at your breaker panel flip ONE of the 50amp breakers on, if it holds start turning on the breakers on THAT side of the panel, if they hold check to make sure some of your 120v things work.
If the main breaker doesn't hold make sure all breakers are OFF, recheck campground.
If the main breaker holds turn the other main breaker on.
If it holds turn the breakers on that side on.

Hope this helps/works if not then back to wiring around the ATS mentioned by taylorbob1.

Keep us updated

[bojanlora]

50 amp breaker is a double pull, you can’t really just pull on side or the other unless I remove the clip that holds both sides.

If I do everything you suggested it fails from the gitgo because the ATS solenoids don’t hold at all. It’s most likely an ATS control board issue but I can’t seem to fine anything about model 40140

[bojanlora]

So I went to Lowe’s and got a multimeter because I left mine home.

Red line from shore power have 120v all the way to 50amp breaker.

Black line at breaker has 1.3v

Black line coming into ATS solenoid has 1.3v

Sooooo I have more than one issue. The RV 50amp breaker is faulty on the black lead.

Yesterday I tested by plugging into the space next door and it didn’t work but that was because of ATS issues. Now that I have ATS rigged, we will see if we can have all circuits running. If that’s the case, then I’ll rewrite the ATS back together and see if we are good to go.

[abjbrtd]

Originally Posted by bojanlora

50 amp breaker is a double pull, you can’t really just pull on side or the other unless I remove the clip that holds both sides.

If I do everything you suggested it fails from the gitgo because the ATS solenoids don’t hold at all. It’s most likely an ATS control board issue but I can’t seem to fine anything about model 40140

Originally Posted by bojanlora

So I went to Lowe’s and got a multimeter because I left mine home.

Red line from shore power have 120v all the way to 50amp breaker.

Black line at breaker has 1.3v

Black line coming into ATS solenoid has 1.3v

Sooooo I have more than one issue. The RV 50amp breaker is faulty on the black lead.

Yesterday I tested by plugging into the space next door and it didn’t work but that was because of ATS issues. Now that I have ATS rigged, we will see if we can have all circuits running. If that’s the case, then I’ll rewrite the ATS back together and see if we are good to go.

Be sure to remove the clip between the two 50a breakers.
You don't need or want the clip when you only have 120v circuits it can as you've found out disable your entire system.

[OldWEB]

Originally Posted by bojanlora

So I went to Lowe’s and got a multimeter because I left mine home.

Red line from shore power have 120v all the way to 50amp breaker.

Black line at breaker has 1.3v

Black line coming into ATS solenoid has 1.3v

Sooooo I have more than one issue. The RV 50amp breaker is faulty on the black lead.

Yesterday I tested by plugging into the space next door and it didn’t work but that was because of ATS issues. Now that I have ATS rigged, we will see if we can have all circuits running. If that’s the case, then I’ll rewrite the ATS back together and see if we are good to go.

You have 120v going all the way to the RV breaker on the red lead.
You DO NOT have volts on the black lead at the breaker nor at the ATS box, WHY do you say "The RV 50amp breaker is faulty on the black lead."???? If the volts do not make it to the ATS.... it will NEVER make it into the RV 50A breaker.
I am sooooo confused with these descriptions.
Inside the ATS box, you should have 120vac on the red lead to white and 120vac on the black lead to the white BOTH ON THE SHORE CABLE.

[bojanlora]

I did not have voltage on black and white. So the RV park black side of the double pull breaker was busted.

To add to the issue, the surge protector on the generator side is also faulty. So it causes no voltage to pass through on any cable.

Once I removed the generator side surge protector and had the park breaker fixed I had full shore power.

[Beau388]

Thanks for the update. Nice to know what and why.