Wire issue

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Thehustler

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Apr 23, 2015
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Hi I am new to the rv thing and am having a problem. My generator wouldn't run so I took it out and cleaned the carb and changed the spark plugs when I had it out the rear air and fridge would not work off of the house plug but it worked before I took it out. Now that I have it back n the rear air still does not work and the fridge or the lights won't come on until I press the coach button but it worked before can anyone help me as to what I have done or need to do to fix it back the way it was thanks.
P.s. I have a 1992 silver eagle motor home on ford chassis and it's an I am 7000 marquise generator thanks for any help
 
If yours is a 30 amp RV the rear A/C power may well run though the Generator.. Odds are you hooked it up wrong.

The Fridge might be on that same circuit (though it should not be)

Beyond that I can not think of anything that would kill the Fridge save possibly the GFCI

Soem RV builders put the fridge on the GFCI (which is usually in the bathroom) this device feeds the Patio and Kitchen as well.  Sometimes it feeds the Fridge and the converter (Though there is no reason for this).

So.. How to test:
Take a trouble lamp/drop cord or other lamp that runs on 120 volts Plug it into patio  LIGHT=GOOD  Plug it in in place of Fridge,, IF no light one either outlet plug in in kitchen,  if still dark go GFCI hunting.
 
I have it plugged n to a 220 both front and rear ac was working before I took gen out now that it's back n the rear 110 plugs and the rear ac won't work and the fridge won't switch back in to ac mode from gas. So i guess it's not registering that it's plugged in to a 220???
 
A 220V huh? If that is true, you will have a lot of expensive repairs coming up. If you mean an RV 50 amp service  then maybe we can help.

An RV 50 amp service is NOT 220 Volts, it is 2 legs of 120V. The plugs are similar but NOT the same and using a 220V outlet (like that intended for a dryer, a stove or welder will damage many things in an RV.
 
If you are really plugged into a 220V outlet, then you've damaged or destroyed most of your appliances, like the A/C units, water heater if on electric, microwave, and anything else plugged into an outlet.
 
I have it on a 50 amp 220 plug it worked for a week on that plug and stoped when I took gen out.  The ac comes on when gen is running just not when plugged in to the house. The plugs in the back and the bathroom doesn't work either
 
Removed.  Redundant post while I was posting.  Was going to suggest plugging in or starting generator to see if everything worked.
 
Does any 120v appliance work when plugged to shore power? From your description, it seems you messed up the auto transfer switch such that shore power isn't reaching the rear of the coach. Your 50A shore power has two 120v hot lines and perhaps one of them is disconnected. That would likely happen at the transfer switch, where the generator and shore power lines come together (and get switched on/off). If you physically removed the generator from the coach, you probably disconnected wiring there.

It's also conceivable that one wire in your shore cord/plug broke and it was just coincidence that it happened while you worked on the generator.
 
Yes I removed the generator from the coach and yes it seems as the back half stoped working on shore power. The microwave still works and all the plugs from the bathroom up work. The lights won't come and the back half doesn't work and the fridge won't switch from gas to ac
 
Not sure where the two lines would meet I thought u hooked everything back up when I put gen back n?
 
Also the front ac and front plugs still work so if it wasn't switching to shore power wouldnt those not work also??  When it all worked for the first week before I took gen out when I had it plugged in to shore power the chassis light was on now when I have it plugged in the light Dosnt come on?
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
Your 50A shore power has two 120v hot lines and perhaps one of them is disconnected.

It's also conceivable that one wire in your shore cord/plug broke and it was just coincidence that it happened while you worked on the generator.
Click to expand...

You beat me to it.  I was typing almost the exact same thing.  It is possible that he lost one leg of the feed. 

I was also going to suggest testing the receptacle with a VOM to make sure he was getting the proper voltage from each leg.  Maybe even simply turn the breakers on and off a couple of times.  Disclaimer on using the VOM: Do not do this if unfamiliar with proper testing procedures.  You are dealing with deadly current.

I am still struggling with this whole thing that you do not have 220v with 50A feeds.  I have wired a number of residential panels.  If you have (2) 110v feeds supplying current to two legs within the RV breaker box, the only reason you do not have 220V is because you do not have a breaker that bridges those two feeds. (double pole)  If you would take a VOM and check the voltage on the two legs supplying power, wouldn't you get 220v?  Or is it that both feeds are from the same bank within the main shore feed? I've found this link http://www.myrv.us/Imgs/PDF/50-amp%20Service.pdf which seems to contradict that 240v is not available. A RV novice so still trying to learn.
 
Also the front ac and front plugs still work so if it wasn't switching to shore power wouldnt those not work also??
Click to expand...

There are two power (hot) wires that have to be switched and yours sounds suspiciously like one of them is not connected. Could be its relay isn't switching, or could be a broken or otherwise disconnected wire.
 
Thehustler said:
My plug is the 14-50R 50 amp so isn't that 220?
Click to expand...

Technically, yes, it's a 125/250V NEMA outlet.  But in RV use, it's treated as 2 legs of 120V.  Normally they are of opposite phase and you will measure 240V between the 2 hot legs, but very few RVs use any 240V appliances.  It's even been found in some campgrounds where the wiring was not done correctly that the 2 legs are in phase, and measure 0V between the 2 hot legs.  However, the RV would not know the difference, unless it had a EMS system installed, in which case it would assume 30A service.  But that's a different discussion and not relevant to you problem.

If the 14-50R was miswired without a neutral, that would cause all kinds of damage.
 
It worked for a week all lights and both ac units and plugs worked fine when I removed the gen I noticed it quit so I thought it was because the gen was not in there then when i put it back n last night it still doesn't t work and the lighs don't come in unless I flio the coach swith to run off the batteries?
 
Your lights, the refrigerator and a wall mounted thermostat for the rear air require 12 volt power to work.  Is it possible you missed putting a wire or two back on the battery when you disconnected it to work on the generator?

The clue is having that stuff work when you pressed the switch in the cab that connects the house and chassis batteries together.  This suggests the problem is missing voltage from the 12 volt house battery, not 120 volts from shore power.

Or you could have fried the converter by plugging into an improperly wired shore power outlet and have been using battery power until it ran out.

The 14-50r outlet is 120/240 volts.  Properly wired, it has three conductors plus a ground.  Two conductors are hot leads with 240 (or 220) volts between them.  The third wire is a neutral that divides the incoming voltage into two 120 (110) volt circuits.  The fourth pin is the ground connection.

If the outlet was mis-wired without a neutral, 240 volt tools and appliances will still work on it.  But without a neutral there's nothing to divide the incoming voltage into the two 120 volt circuits needed by the RV, and you will wind up with wildly varying voltage on everything in the rig.

A converter or other appliance on one leg that doesn't draw much current could wind up with close to 240 volts on it while a larger user like an air conditioner on the opposite leg would have much lower than normal voltage.
 
Ned said:
But that's a different discussion and not relevant to you problem.
Click to expand...

I've been doing some additional searching trying to understand when people are stating that you do not have 240v but (2) 110v feeds.  I ran into this which sounds very similar if one of the legs like Gary mentioned was not working as expected: "In the case of the rest of the 50 amp RV's, 250 volts is still supplied to the coach just like your home electrical service but typically one side of the line is used for all the 125 volt appliances except the rear AC and the other side is used for the rear AC only.  The service coming into the RV is still 50 amp, 250 volts." Here is the link with all of the information and to give credit to the author. http://www.dasplace.net/RVWiring/wiring.html  All of this is making the assumption that you have a 50A 4 prong connector.

Understand now how someone could miswire the 30A assuming it is the same as an electric range because they look so similar and thus run 220V and fry everything in the RV as Ned mentioned.
 
It's not always true that one leg is just for the rear A/C.  In our coach one leg powers front A/C, refrigerator, a bedroom outlet and the water heater.  The other leg powers the rear A/C, inverter/charger, and block heater.  It would be a waste to power just a single A/C unit from a 50A leg when all the A/C draws is 10-15A.
 
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