Electricity Flickering

SUMMARY: I am having electrical issues in my 2019 Jayco 336FBOK. We are on 50 amp shore power and the trailer has a Xantrex Freedom X inverter but I'm not sure of the wattage. I think the problem stems from overloading the unit, but now even with barely any load we have periodic issues.

BACKGROUND: We are living in the camper while we build a house. The furnace went out several weeks ago but the dealer's service department is backed up till February, so we've been using the fireplace heater and one 1500w space heater. I understand electricity; I was careful to not overload anything and I verified the circuit the space heater is plugged into is on the opposite leg from the fireplace. BUT... I'm not familiar with how these campers are wired between the shore power connection, the inverter, and the breaker/fuse box, so I'm thinking that even though I thought I was being careful, somehow I've messed something up.

PROBLEM: The issue we're having is that while the heater and/or fireplace is on (sometimes both, sometimes just one), every now and then everything will flicker... lights, microwave, fridge, and the 120v outlets. I'm sure the timing of the flickering has to do with the heaters cycling on and off but I can't really verify this. It also happened yesterday when my wife tried using the hair blow dryer, and at that point, neither heater was on, microwave was not being used, electric water heater turned off, etc... Pretty much zero load other than lights and the TV, and turning on the blow dryer caused everything to go off to the point that she had to dry her hair on the lowest setting. Also, the hair dryer on high in the RV sounds completely different than the hair dryer on high plugged in to the 120v outlet directly on my power pole, like it's not getting enough juice in the RV. 

I'm just having trouble understanding why we're having these issues when I'm not, as far as I know, pulling anywhere near 50 amps on either leg. Does the power pass through the Xantrex thing before going to the breaker box, and is there a limiting factor there that lowers how many amps you can pull at once? Just wondering if this is something I have caused, or if something is just faulty.

Everything is tight between the electric meter and the connection on the RV. Thanks.

As far as I know, when you are on shore power the inverter should not be running. The CONVERTER will be providing 12v power and keeping the house battery charged.

OK, turn the INverter off.  The CONverter supplies 12VDC for ligjts, control circuits etc.  Two 1500 watt heatera, plus the 1200 watt for the water heater and the 1100 or so watt for the refer is really putting a load on your 50A circuit  that alone is 44 amps.  That leaves barely any room for the CONverter to charge the battery, let alone a hair dryer or anything else you might be trying to use.

Welcome to the RV Forum mcdillio

I would kill the AC power and go though the panel box and check and tighten ALL the connections. I'm thinking you may a ground problem.

That said...
I'm not a electrician but we have a few that hang around here. So maybe one of them will pop in and help.

I had a problem with this coach was new. Some days the front A/C would work. Some days the rear. Some both or neither.  Well the FIRST stop when I decided to shoot tribbles was the power distribution center (Breaker box) and as luck (Very good luck) would have it it was also the last stop.

From this expierence I have developed a theory that many RVers have a few screws loose....

One of the circuit breakers took 3 1/2 turns to tighten... Yup. I really had screws loose. (Several others were loose as well but that was the worst)  Once I re-tighten they tend to stay tight.. (Just a tad overspec on the torque)

Gizmo100 said:

Welcome to the RV Forum mcdillio

I would kill the AC power and go though the panel box and check and tighten ALL the connections. I'm thinking you may a ground problem.

Click to expand...

I would also pull out each receptacle and confirm the connections were good on each - I assume many are daisy-chained

donn said:

OK, turn the INverter off.  The CONverter supplies 12VDC for ligjts, control circuits etc. 

Click to expand...

With all due respect, the inverter has a bypass relay that cuts the batteries out of the circuit when the RV is connected to shore power.  There's no reason to turn off the inverter.

docj said:

With all due respect, the inverter has a bypass relay that cuts the batteries out of the circuit when the RV is connected to shore power.  There's no reason to turn off the inverter.

Click to expand...

Regardless the INverter will have a parasitic drain whether in use or not unless the cutoff if on the infeed side.

We have two new 1500 watt space heaters that by design the fan starts up slowly and shuts off slowly so it will not wake you up. I've noticed during startup and shutdown an led light on the same 120v circuit will flicker just enough to notice and increases or decreases as the fan speed changes. My theory is there is an intermittent switch to slow down the fan rpm that causes a very slight voltage change.

use a voltmeter when this is happening and measure the voltage at the service pole. Feel the plugs and cord to see if they are hot. Look for burned plastic on the plugs.  Unplug the trailer and tighten every screw involved with the electric system. Put the water heater on gas.

To clarify, the Xantrex Freedom X is an inverter only; it does NOT include 12v converter and charger functions.     

SOME of the 120v shore power flows through the Xantrex Freedom X Inverter - that portion which feeds the inverter-controlled branch circuits. The inverter is limited to 1200 watts whether actually inverting or  passing-through shore power.  If you plug a 1500 watt appliance (like a space heater) into an inverter-supplied outlet, the limit is still 1200 watts (10A) regardless of the amount of available shore power. The Freedom X will give warning beeps whenever the load exceeds 1100 watts and at 1200 watts an Overload Fault will occur (code E06 on the display).  There is a power surge capability of up to 2400 watts, but the op manual doesn't explain when and how this comes into play. Presumably very short periods, maybe just a few seconds.

Outlets and appliances that are not wired to inverter-supplied circuits are limited only by their own branch circuit breaker and the available shore power (50A/leg if 50A shore power).

All this is explained in the Freedom X manual, but here is a lot of techno-babble to wade through to find it and figure out what it really says.

http://www.xantrex.com/documents/Power-Inverters/Freedom%20X/Freedom%20X%20Owner%27s%20Guide%20(975-0767-01-01_Rev-E)_ENG.pdf

When you say "flickering", are we talking about interior lighting? If so, that is 12v powered and the source is the converter/charger when shore power is present. Flickering can occur if the converter is heavily loaded, e.g. trying to charge low batteries while also supply lots of 12v power to lights or 12v appliances & circuit boards.  A very weak battery can trigger flickering lights because a bad battery sucks a lot of DC amps from the converter/charger, momentarily short-changing the converter output that supplies lights. Then the converter power management cuts back on charging amps and devotes full power to the lighting again. This results in momentary dim-then-bright cycles.