Electrical? Problem

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wannarv

New member
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Posts
3
Location
Washington State
Hello everyone, we are new to this forum and to RVing. Hope someone can help!

We have a 1997 Nash. Currently cannot get the water heater, refrigerator, or heater to work. Also the display panel quit lighting up and the stereo doesn't work. The LP detector light isn't on, indicating that is not working either. Have 12v DC power and the batteries are good giving 12.5 volts or better. When hooked up to AC all AC outlets work and no change to the problem appliances.? All 12v fuses on the converter are good. The stove and oven and water pump work fine.

Please help if you can with any suggestions! We bought it this spring and it was in nice shape, everything was working great. Since we are such newbies to RVs, we must be overlooking something, hopefully something simple!?

Thanks in advance!
 
Where are you measuring the 12V power?  It sounds like no power is getting to the 12V fuse panel.  Check for a master fuse on the panel that protects all the other circuits.  All the devices that aren't working need 12V power to function.  Stove and oven don't require power, but the water pump does.  However, it may be wired directly to the battery rather than through the 12V fuse panel.
 
Thanks for the idea. It's getting power to the fuse panel though, the lights and the range hood work fine along with the vent fan in the bath.
 
If you are hooked to shore power you should be getting over 13V to the battery. If you are not you may have a fuse blown which is usually located near the battery or in the fuse panel. Where did you check the power? Check it at the fuse panel to be sure you are getting what you need.
 
I've checked the power at the battery and at the power converter on the power lugs. Yes, seems strange that when hooked up to shore power that it's not showing more than 12v. All 110v breakers are on (not tripped) and all 12v fuses visible are good and have been pulled and reinstalled to make sure they make a good connection. I'm going to unplug and pull off the 110v power panel cover and see if there is something in there that screams at me. Like I say though, I've got lights, heater fan powers on and the range hood powers up. Oh yeah, and the water pump works.
 
I doubt that the problem is in the 110VAC side as some 12V devices are working.  Look for something common to all the non-functioning 12V devices.  Perhaps a common ground?  Do you have 12V at the fuses for the non-functioning circuits?
 
Sounds like a bad common ground to me. Your 12V readings may be from back circuits through lights or other things. The converter has its own fuses, and the inverter has its own circuit breakers right on the units; not in the fuse panel or cb panel. Check them. The automotive fuses in the panel and on the converter cannot be reliably checked by visual inspection. Pull them one at a time and check with an ohmmeter. Remote possibility that the main battery fuse is blown. It's anywhere from 250 to 400 amps, and will be located very near the battery positive terminal. Does the fridge work when in 'gas' mode?
 
I agree with Karl and Ned that it's starting to sound like a ground problem. If you have a 12V test light or meter, you could remove the propane detector and check the hot lead to a good ground source. If you have power then you are missing a ground. You could run a temporary ground to the ground lead on the detector and make sure it does come on. There may be a common ground at the converter that is faulty.
 
The LP detector light isn't on, indicating that is not working either. Have 12v DC power and the batteries are good giving 12.5 volts or better.

Wait a minute.  If the LP detector isn't working (light is off), then the appliances that use gas (water heater, stove, oven, reefer, furnace, etc.) shouldn't be working either.  But you said that the stove and oven were working.  This could only mean that the LP detector either is not doing it's job (it should be shutting off the LP gas when it's off) or else the LP detector light bulb is burned out.  Try doing a disconnect on the 12V system and then turn it back on again.  Do you get the beeping from the LP disconnect and have to reset it to turn the light on?  If not, the LP dosconnect isn't working and no LP gas should be going to the gas appliances.  This is how my LP disconnect works anyway, yours may be different but I doubt it.



 
Rsalsus:
The LP detector light isn't on, indicating that is not working either.

Time out! The LP gas detector will blink on and off when working correctly; it doesn't stay on.. When it detects a problem, it will shut off the propane suppy to any and all appiances, elimiating the possibility of fire or worse. After it senses a problem and you  restart or reset the system, it will blink and beep for a few miutes until it determines it's safe to reopen the gas supply valves. The beepng will then stop, and your gas applianices should work fine.
 
Karl,
My point is that wannarv said that the LP detector isn't working, and that the LP detector light is out.  Right?  And then later he said that the stove and oven were working.  (I am assuming that the stove and oven run on LP gas.)  How can the stove and oven run when the LP detector is off (and not working)?  As I understand it, the gas supply is shut off when the LP detector is either turned off, has no power, or has detected an LP leak.  The gas valve will not open until the LP detector determines that there is no gas leak, and it needs to be powered on to make that determination.  So when the LP detector is off, no gas appliances will work because the gas valve is closed, correct?
 
Not all propane detectors will shut off the gas supply when they trigger.  Our 1997 Endeavor has a propane detector but no associated shutoff valve.  It's very possible that the detector isn't working yet the gas supply is fine.
 
Ned,
So what good is a system like that?  Say you leave the MH for awhile and an LP leak occurs around the kitchen stove area.  The LP detector determines that there is a leak and does what, beeps out an alarm?  What good is that?  I think I would turn off the gas everytime I left the RV if that were the case in my MH.  Is that what you do?
 
My two Bounders had a propane detector that shut off the gas if there was an alarm. The last one was a '96. I haven't seen any detector since then that does that. I'm not saying all manufacturers aren't using them but I've seen a lot of units and they don't have them anymore. I'm sure it's a cost cutting decision on the part of the manufacturers.

I agree shutting off the propane if there is a leak is ideal but at least there's still a way to "detect" the leak and let people know. Of course these detectors will also detect hair spray and other aerosols which would then shut off the propane for no reason. That could be very annoying at tiimes.
 
On our 99 American Eagle the propane leak detector does shut of the propane if a leak is detected or if the leak detector is turned off.  This is the same type our 93 Bounder diesel had.  Have never had any problem with false alarms either.
 
If there is a leak, the alarm will sound and I will shut off the propane manually.  It's very unlikely that a leak willd develop when the RV is standing still, so no, we don't shut the gas off when we're out.
 
On my rig, if the  battery cut off is in "STORE" there is no power to the battery (or from it) save from the engine alternator when driving.  (Shore power is disconnected from the battery)  This has caused a few problems since I have a load that is direcdtly connected to the battery and will run it down, even if I'm hooked to shore power

As for LP, I've had one false of the LP detector.. It was when the ice maker valve broke, as it turns out the LP detector is directly below the fridge, and the resulting Mini-Niagra (Twin falls) flooded both the outside of the MH and the LP detector.  All wet, it falsed, Dryed out, it works normally
 
One of the reasons later model RV's have an alarm only without a shutoff is all the trouble we used to have with a 1983 Pace Arrow. Every time our daughters used hair spray the alarm went off and we were without propane for 10-15 minutes.

There were proably enough complaints that systems were changed.
 
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