Alfa Sun GFI

[Alfasun]

Hello from Olympia, WA. I have an Alfa Sun 5th wheel. I'm hoping someone can tell me where my GFI outlets are located. I can't find them anywhere! Non in the bathroom or galley....

 

[Rob&Deryl]

Most RVs have just a few GFIs and daisy chain a bunch more outlets from it.
Just find one GFI and trip it and you go around plugging a 3 light tester into outlets to see which are on that GFI.

 

[SeilerBird]

Try looking behind the microwave and the refer. Also check outside outlets.

 

[Alfasun]

My problem is specific to one breaker that feeds 4 outlets. I get perfect 118 volts on half of each outlet, the other half reads low erratic volts. Hope this makes sense...

 

[SeilerBird]

My problem is specific to one breaker that feeds 4 outlets. I get perfect 118 volts on half of each outlet, the other half reads low erratic volts. Hope this makes sense...

Nope, makes no sense. What does the GFI have to do with it?

 

[Alfasun]

Nope, makes no sense. What does the GFI have to do with it?

Everyone says "go to the gfi", there are no gfis?? So can anyone explain why 4 outlets on one circuit read perfect 118 volts while probing hot to common and also hot to ground and yet STILL not work? One plug on each outlet reads erratic.

 

[SeilerBird]

Well most people who know nothing about electricity always blame the GFI since they have no clue how it works. You either need to hire an electrician or start taking your outlets out and looking them over.

 

[Alfasun]

Thank you all for your responses. Is there an Alfa Sun owner out there who can tell me where even one of my GFI's are?

 

[Lou Schneider]

Everyone says "go to the gfi", there are no gfis?? So can anyone explain why 4 outlets on one circuit read perfect 118 volts while probing hot to common and also hot to ground and yet STILL not work? One plug on each outlet reads erratic.

You have to test the outlet while it's delivering power to a load. A voltmeter doesn't load the circuit so a bad high resistance connection can deliver voltage the voltmeter can measure, but choke off the current that's also needed to produce power.

If there's a high resistance connection you'll see the voltage go away as soon as you turn on the load.

The safest way to connect both the voltmeter and a load to a single outlet is to use a 3 way extension cord. Plug the extension cord into the suspect outlet, probe one of the extension outlets and plug the load into another one.

 

[Rene T]

Is this a used RV you just purchased? If it is, maybe the previous owner took them all out and replaced them with standard outlets.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

In any case, a GFCI can't cause an outlet to do what you described. You still will want to learn where the GFCI is (either breaker or the first outlet in a chain), but that's a future project. It's not going to fix your volage issue.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I get perfect 118 volts on half of each outlet, the other half reads low erratic volts. Hope this makes sense...

Just to make sure we understand, these are duplex outlets (two receptacles in each) and one of the two has good voltage on the hot side but the other does not? On all four outlets?

It's possible for the two receptacles in each outlet to be independently wired, but it would be unusual for all 4 to be that way. Especially in an RV. It's also highly unlikely you have 4 faulty outlets. You can verify that possibility of split outlets by removing the cover and seeing how many wires go in/out and whether the metal tab between the two outlets has been removed on one or both sides.

Do the load test that lou described - that will prove or rule out some other possibilities.