Granted, all those years didn't include an inverter except for the last 3 or so.
We learned something new this weekend when we had a power issue. We've been living in the Mobile Suites now for almost 3 years and never had an issue with tripping breakers or blowing fuses. Yesterday morning, we were up and had the fireplace, two electric heaters, and the coffee maker plugged in. Jo decided she wanted some hot water from the coffee maker's "hot water side" and turned that side on. That took out about everything except the fridge, microwave, TV, and fireplace. So essentially, we lost most of the coach except for the 12volt lights.
I spent some time with Slade of Rolling Retreats in trying to trouble shoot our problem. None of the fuses or breakers had blown or tripped. In looking at things, we have 1 set of 50 amp breakers, and two sets of 30 amp breakers. (Each set is two separate breakers attached together at the switch handles.) Using a volt/ohm meter, we determined that the 50 amp breaker was hot to both legs. On the two 30 amp breaker sets, one was hot to both legs but the other was only hot to one leg. So, Slade asked me if there were any breakers at the inverter itself.
Yeppers....there are two. In our case on the Xantrex SW3000, there are two push button breakers that will "pop-out" if one trips. I was able to reach back inside and press the one that seemed to be tripped. When I went back inside, we had power back to everything. (Oh, and a similar occurrence happened again today when Jo turned on her blow dryer.) While I've not tested this, I suspect that each inverter breaker goes to separate 30 amp breakers in the coach.
Anyway, if you have an inverter, see if you have a breaker/reset switch on it and determine exactly where it is. I had to go searching for ours while sickly and out in the cold temperatures. I shall always remember to not put too much stuff right in front of our inverter in our basement.
Terry
VanMar said
06:18 PM Mar 3, 2014
Terry,
Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be on the lookout for that.
Vance
el Rojo and Pam said
06:42 PM Mar 3, 2014
Glad you got it figured out Terry. Thanks for the heads up.
DRV said
07:25 PM Mar 3, 2014
Amazing that it happened twice after no problem for years.
Terry and Jo said
08:34 PM Mar 3, 2014
I'd blame it all on Jo since it was her turning on the devices that overloaded the breaker, but I can't cook. So, I'll try to be judicious with what happens with my future.
I will be looking into the possibility of whether an inverter can go weak. If the breakers are like normal breakers, I suspect that as a possibility.
Terry
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
07:29 AM Mar 4, 2014
An idea, ya'll may have had the same items operating at the same time before, but had turned them on in a different order. Different appliances have different starting and running loads.
Grams said
08:44 AM Mar 12, 2014
Our inverter went out in our first trlr, it was located behind the breaker box...not very convenient!
Granted, all those years didn't include an inverter except for the last 3 or so.
We learned something new this weekend when we had a power issue. We've been living in the Mobile Suites now for almost 3 years and never had an issue with tripping breakers or blowing fuses. Yesterday morning, we were up and had the fireplace, two electric heaters, and the coffee maker plugged in. Jo decided she wanted some hot water from the coffee maker's "hot water side" and turned that side on. That took out about everything except the fridge, microwave, TV, and fireplace. So essentially, we lost most of the coach except for the 12volt lights.
I spent some time with Slade of Rolling Retreats in trying to trouble shoot our problem. None of the fuses or breakers had blown or tripped. In looking at things, we have 1 set of 50 amp breakers, and two sets of 30 amp breakers. (Each set is two separate breakers attached together at the switch handles.) Using a volt/ohm meter, we determined that the 50 amp breaker was hot to both legs. On the two 30 amp breaker sets, one was hot to both legs but the other was only hot to one leg. So, Slade asked me if there were any breakers at the inverter itself.
Yeppers....there are two. In our case on the Xantrex SW3000, there are two push button breakers that will "pop-out" if one trips. I was able to reach back inside and press the one that seemed to be tripped. When I went back inside, we had power back to everything. (Oh, and a similar occurrence happened again today when Jo turned on her blow dryer.) While I've not tested this, I suspect that each inverter breaker goes to separate 30 amp breakers in the coach.
Anyway, if you have an inverter, see if you have a breaker/reset switch on it and determine exactly where it is. I had to go searching for ours while sickly and out in the cold temperatures. I shall always remember to not put too much stuff right in front of our inverter in our basement.
Terry
Terry,
Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be on the lookout for that.
Vance
Amazing that it happened twice after no problem for years.
I'd blame it all on Jo since it was her turning on the devices that overloaded the breaker, but I can't cook. So, I'll try to be judicious with what happens with my future.
I will be looking into the possibility of whether an inverter can go weak. If the breakers are like normal breakers, I suspect that as a possibility.
Terry