Fleetwood Santa Fe Only 1 outlet works

Hi gang,.. thanks in advance for you help.

06 Fleetwood Santa Fe. took it out last weekend  for May Long weekend (I'll save the "packing up in the pouring rain after 4 days of rain" rant for another thread!  )

I'll be honest, I never use the battery, and I think it's kinda done, not holding a charge, but even with it disconnected this problem occurred.

All lights worked fine, including the exterior yellow light.

Plugs did not work save for the one outlet that is under the table when set up. Fridge didn't as well.

Any suggestions on what to look at? I think this plug that worked is the beginning of the circuit, but as I can make out, the wiring runs between the exterior and interior walls of the box.

The plugs worked when we stored it for the winter and this first time, they didn't work. so I don't know how /if the short would have occurred.

Thanks!

Have you checked for a GFCI that might have tripped?

Were you on Shore Power when your 120vac outlets failed to work.  If so, I would check the CP power, Main Breaker in RV. SP Cord, Transfer Switch if you have one or the GFCI as Tom stated (it is rare that all outlets are on a single GFCE).

Does it work correctly on Genny?

Could the one outlet that is working be fed from the Inverter?????

Reading between the lines on your initial post:

I'll be honest, I never use the battery,and I think it's kinda done, not holding a charge, but even with it disconnected this problem occurred. 

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and

All lights worked fine, including the exterior yellow light.

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Which problem occurred???

You are effectively using the battery circuits but if a battery is near dead and you are plugged in then the converter is supplying the 12V necessary. All lights are 12V (battery ) operated. You may need a new battery (ies) however and it would be a good thing to replace it or them with deep discharge type units.

And then you said:

Plugs did not work save for the one outlet that is under the table when set up. Fridge didn't as well.

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Just as an FYI, there is NO connection between these 120V plugs and the battery system, dead or not. You have 2 separate electrical systems on board, 12V and 120V (from the power post at the campsite or your generator).

Since you did seem to have at least one plug working, power from the campsite is getting in there.

Any outside plugs and any on the kitchen or bathroom counters are powered from a GFCI plug located somewhere in your rig. Up to about 6 plugs can be powered from it and the fridge receptacle could easily be one of them. The first order of business is to locate the GFCI and see if it has tripped and then reset it. Could be as simple as moisture in an outside socket that is causing the the problem, especially since this is your first outing since storage.

The GFCI could also part of a circuit breaker if you don't locate a recognizable one on a wall inside somewhere.

Hi Ian, welcome to The RV Forum!

You said,  "packing up in the pouring rain after 4 days of rain".  It's a pretty good guess that some moisture got inside one or more outlets (do you have any on the outside of the rig?) and caused the GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter)  to trip.

In a house, you'd have separate circuits for each room, so a tripped GFCI will only affect that outlet.  But RV makers are notoriously cheap when it comes to electrical wiring, so instead of putting a GFCI outlet at each location, they'll use a single GFCI and hang other regular outlets on it, so when the GFCI trips it takes them all out.

GFCI protection is required on kitchen outlets, and any on the outside of the rig, so those are usually connected to the single GFCI.  But it's not unusual for others to be included on that circuit as well.

With power available (connected to shore power, or with the generator running), push the TEST button on the GFCI.  You should hear a click and see the RESET button pop out.  Press the RESET button and see if it latches, restoring power to the outlets.

If you don't hear a click when you pressed the TEST button, that means either the outlet is not getting power from the source, or the GFCI is already tripped.

BTW, you need to have a good house battery installed and connected.  Your refrigerator needs a source of 12 volts to work, even on gas.  Without a house battery to provide 12 volts, it will shut down whenever you park the rig without connecting to shore power, i.e stopping for lunch, sightseeing, etc.

And without a connected house battery, none of your interior lights, water pump, etc. will work unless the rig's engine is running (power comes from the alternator charging line) or you're hooked up to shore power (power comes from the converter).

If your rig was a trailer, having a good house battery is also a legal requirement - in a trailer, it provides power to activate the brakes through the breakaway switch and bring the trailer to a stop if it detaches from the tow vehicle.

Thanks gang.

So I went back to the trailer, plugged into the house, tried resetting the GFCI plug to no avail. I thought maybe the innards of the GFCI  might be broken or something so I removed the GFCI then tried the other outlets, again to no avail.

The power to the pump for the sink is working. The carbon monoxide alarm has power, The plug under the table has power, but no other outlets do.  There is no other GFCI that I can see. I checked the plug that the fridge is plugged into on the outside, and it's not a GFCI

I know at one time we had trouble with a plastic connection to the lighting that got crimped when we folded it down, so I was looking for a possible situation like that as well.

Is there a place where I could locate the wiring diagram so I could at least know how the circuit is run through the trailer? I thought maybe I could locate a damaged wire or something.

Seems if the GFCI was tripped it would effect the entire circuit including the plugs that's working now, no?

Thanks for your help!

There is no other GFCI that I can see. I checked the plug that the fridge is plugged into on the outside, and it's not a GFCI

Seems if the GFCI was tripped it would effect the entire circuit including the plugs that's working now, no?

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The plugs that are not GFCI's units themselves can still be protected by a GFCI. Each GFCI can serve 6 or so other plugs by 'daisy chaining' on the "Load" side.  A GFCI will only reset if it has 120V on its 'input side' and the best way to test that is to remove the plug and check on the wiring you have 120V there using your Voltmeter. The GFCI socket is clearly labelled as to which connections are which and while you have it out, you can check the load side too. Whether or not you proved anything by "removing the GFCI socket" will depend on HOW you did it.

No! Not all the plugs will be wired to the load side of your GFCI as there is a finite limit to the maximum number a GFCI can protect unless you have more than one. Most units have only the one. Some sockets may be protected, others may not, those that are not are most likely powered by a different circuit breaker as well.  Sometimes the protected sockets are labelled, sometimes not, sometimes correctly, sometimes not, a really mixed bag of possibilities!!! (My GFCI is part of a circuit breaker and the trailer has NO labelled sockets....)

The carbon monoxide alarm has power,

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I think you will find this to be an LP (Propane ) alarm, not Carbon Monoxide and it operates on 12V (battery/converter...) as does the trailer lighting, not 120V that GFCI's use,

Is there a place where I could locate the wiring diagram so I could at least know how the circuit is run through the trailer? I thought maybe I could locate a damaged wire or something.

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Only from the manufacturer unless you find another owner who has one. Wiring diagrams do not normally show the point to point wiring but they are better than nothing.

Just as an FYI the "outside" plug is normally one mounted on the wall outside behind  a 'weatherproof'  cover but is otherwise exposed to the weather. This one can get wet should the seal/caulking around it fail and thus cause the GFCI to pop. The fridge plug might be considered as inside as it is protected from the weather in most cases.