I screwed up!!!

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Dan77

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Joined
Oct 24, 2015
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3
Hello everyone, I just bought a used RV, a 93model Fleetwood bounder and I think I royally screwed up. I plugged the AC power cord into 230v and discovered it's 115v I don't know what happened but now none of the power works. Do any of you who are familiar with the older bounders know if there's a  main fuse or breaker for the ac power anywhere? I'm hoping I haven't fried anything!!!


Thanks!! Dan
 
You should have a brown metal panel somewhere, mine is near the floor under the dining booth, but yours could be anywhere. There should be several circuit breakers. Reset them one by one. Not sure this will fix the problem but worth a try.

Next you might need a mobile RV repairman who is well versed in electricky.  ;D
 
PS... we all want to know how you found 230 volts to force your 30 or 50 amp cord into?  :p

If your RV came with any manuals at all, READ everyone of them before you get anymore creative ideas.  :eek:  A bit of reading could save you a bundle in repair costs down the road.
 
SeilerBird said:
No it is not, it is two 110 volt lines. Big difference.
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To be accurate, 50 amp RV service is rated as 120/240, the same as most residential ranges, versus the 120 only 30 amp RV service where the 240 error issue more commonly occurs.
 
SeilerBird said:
No it is not, it is two 110 volt lines. Big difference.
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correct. it can be two 110 volt lines from the same leg with individual breakers or from separate legs, that would make 220V if connected to a appliance that requires it, there is nothing in an RV that requires 220 volts.

 
Sorry to hear you got tricked because the 120v RV plug looks very similar to a 220/240v "welder" outlet or the old-style 220v dryer outlet. Likely an expensive mistake! If it's any consolation, we see a similar report here every week or two.

Odds are you have fried the converter charger, which may be an integral part of the load center (120v breaker panel). Possibly other things as well, but you will have to try them one by one. Your immediate problem, though, is loss of the 12v system power because of the converter failure. With no 12v power, most things in the RV won't work, even if their primary power is 120v.

Start by resetting all 120v circuit breakers and see if any 120v only things such as tv and microwave still work.
 
If you have the oem onan 4.0 generator start it and see if the transfer switch works and anything gets power.
 
I'm OK MissMermaid, Did some checking with a meter and it looks like I just fried the transfer switch. I took the incoming feed from the plugin and wired it straight to the main breaker bypassing the transfer switch. Everything seems to be working now, just cant use the generator until I replace the switch. Thanks for all the responses and concern, y'all seem like a great group of poeple, not too hard on a dummy..................
Dan 
 
Dan77 said:
Thanks for all the responses and concern, y'all seem like a great group of poeple, not too hard on a dummy..................
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Dan - Everyone of us has done dumb things. For sure this will not be your last. The very nature of RVing dictates this. I have personally driven off with my antenna up twice, a slide out twice, still hooked up to power several times, with the sewer hose still connected and I have hit a tree stump that did a few grand in damage to the front end of a very expensive DP. The only thing that has stopped me from hooking up to the wrong power is the fact that I am a retired electrician. But I am not done yet.....
 
SeilerBird said:
Dan - Everyone of us has done dumb things. For sure this will not be your last. The very nature of RVing dictates this. I have personally driven off with my antenna up twice, a slide out twice, still hooked up to power several times, with the sewer hose still connected and I have hit a tree stump that did a few grand in damage to the front end of a very expensive DP. The only thing that has stopped me from hooking up to the wrong power is the fact that I am a retired electrician. But I am not done yet.....
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ROFL.......
 
Most of my dumb mistakes include backing into super trees... the kind that grow 10 feet tall in under 5 seconds.  ::)

This can't be as bad as the RVer who was new to RVing when he ran out of gas.

He returned to his rig with a gas container, it was summer, he was hot, tired and miffed. He managed to open up the water inlet and poured all his gas into the water tank.  :p The rig still didn't start and he had to go back for more gas again.

Nope that wasn't me, it was folks I met in a campground that told me this hilarious story of their own misadventures.
 
It is amazing how fast even really big trees can move.  One that was at least 24" in diameter and 50' high jumped behind my motorhome a couple of months ago as I was backing out of a pull-in space.  Luckily, I use my bike rack as a bumper protector, so that caught most of the damage. 
 
SeilerBird said:
Dan - Everyone of us has done dumb things. For sure this will not be your last. The very nature of RVing dictates this. I have personally driven off with my antenna up twice, a slide out twice, still hooked up to power several times, with the sewer hose still connected and I have hit a tree stump that did a few grand in damage to the front end of a very expensive DP. The only thing that has stopped me from hooking up to the wrong power is the fact that I am a retired electrician. But I am not done yet.....
Click to expand...
I needed a good chuckle this morning and this post succeeded.    :D
 
D.W screwed up
Night before leaving a campground I closed the Gray water valve  to use as a back flush the next morning.
D.W used bath room in the middle of the night and left the water running in the sink.
I got out of bed and stepped in about 1.5 inches of water .  THAT was fun every sink was over flowing.
 
The worst water screw-up I ever saw was a couple with a new Cardinal 5W. He hooked up the city water hose to the black tank flush inlet (by mistake), turned on the water and went about enjoying life. Black valve was closed, of course. Wife went into the bathroom and heard strange noises from the toilet, so she stepped on the toilet flush peddle to check it out.  Yucky water surged out like a geyser! It was also running down the outside from the roof vent, but they hadn't noticed that. They spent hours mopping up with towels, then more hours at the laundromat trying to salvage the towels. They were our campsite neighbors, so we made dinner for them to help out. Also provided some adult libations to ease the pain!
 
JudyJB said:
It is amazing how fast even really big trees can move.  One that was at least 24" in diameter and 50' high jumped behind my motorhome a couple of months ago as I was backing out of a pull-in space.  Luckily, I use my bike rack as a bumper protector, so that caught most of the damage.
Click to expand...

We should WARN all the newbies about these moving trees. I so wish someone had told me in the beginning of my RV misadventures, that RV parks and campgrounds notoriously have very special trees that move around when you least expect it.
 
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