No DC power up front

[Dan Walters]

Last weekend when we were traveling in the MH, the power went out on the DC outlet on the dash.  It happened when I pluged in my cell phone charger, which I have done before with no problem.  I just knew it was a blown fuse, but I can't seem to find the fuse for that outlet.  It is the original cigar lighter plug that I use to power my cell phone, GPS or other DC accessories, since we don't smoke.  I have checked EVERY fuse in the fuse box under the dash and the ones under the top dashboard access and can't seem to find out where the fuse is.  I also took off the dash panel where the DC outlet is and followed the wire into a conduit that contains multiple wires and didn't see an in-line fuse. 

Does anyone have any ideas as to where the fuse for this DC outlet might be located.  Any ideas will be appreciated.

Oh yes, MH is a 1998 Allegro Class A built on a 1997 Chevrolet P30 chassis.

Dan

 

[Tom]

Dan,

Understand that you need to know where the fuse is, but do you know there's no power in that receptacle? Could you have blown a fuse in the plug that goes into the receptacle? Many have a fuse built right in and you just unscrew the cap near the end.

Another possibility might be a bad ground on the receptacle.

 

[Dan Walters]

Tom,

Thanks for the reply.

I did try my cell phone charger and my GPS in the receptacle and neither worked.  I tried both in a different DC receptacle in the MH and  both worked, so I concluded that there is no power to that receptacle.  When I took the dash panel off, I did check the ground wire to the receptacle and it was solidly connected.  Thanks.

Dan

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the follow-up Dan. Let's hope someone knows where that fuse is. It's not right next to the battery, right?

 

[Shayne]

GFI possibility?

 

[Ned]

12VDC outlets don't have GFI protection, Shayne

 

[Karl]

The cigar lighter fuse usually is rated at 15, 20, or 25 amps and sometimes powers the dome lights or other non-safety items also. Suggest seeing what else, if anything, doesn't work and find the fuse labeled for that. If all else fails, swap out all the 15,20,and 25 amp fuses one at a time with a known good one. Those colored, plastic auto fuses in use today - you can't always tell by looking at them if they're bad or not. Swapping them out is the only good way to check them. Measuring the voltage on them isn't always accurate because there can be low current 12V back circuits that will give an erroneous indication. 

 

[John From Detroit]

Now that Karl mentions it.. I do recall a car I had where the lighter fuse was labeled "Lighter/Radio" and yes, it ran the radio

In my current car it runs a bunch of radios. but not the factory one

 

[Shayne]

Sorry  Brain Cramp

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

It's possible that the dashboard lighter is powered from the house 12V panel rather than the chassis fuse boxes. Did you check there?

May be someone with a P30/P32 chassis of that vintage will advice wheer their lighter is powered from.

Karl's suggestion that it is combined with some other fuse is also a good bet.

 

[Dan Walters]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

Karl, I did take out every fuse in both of the chassis fuse boxes and none of them were blown.  I also cannot find anything else that does not work.  I did not check the HOUSE fuse pannel.  Didn't think about the possibility of it being wired to the house box rather than the chassis box, Gary.  I will check that out as well. 

I did notice that there are several wires plugged into the top part of the fuse box that is up under the dash.  It looks like accessories, maybe that are fused with in-line fuses and plugged into the fuse box.  None of them are labeled, so if that is where it is plugged in for power, I don't know which one it is. 

One other thought is that there is a DC outlet that I saw when I had the in-dash TV out of the dash that nothing was plugged into until I plugged an inverter into it a couple of months ago to power the TV.  I wonder if that outlet is connected to the DC outlet on the dash.  If it is, it is likely that the inverter and whatever else I plugged into the dash outlet blew an in-line fuse that is possibly on the hidden outlet's line.  I think I will pull the TV again and check that out.  If they are on the same line, I probable need to separate them and fuse them separatly into another outlet on the fuse box.

Thanks again for everyone's suggestions and help.  I'll keep you updated on what I find.

Dan