I have a 2019 forest river grey wolf bh17. I have (2) additional 110 amp hour batteries and the battery that came with the unit hooked up. Have been hooking up to shore power via house 120 plug during the day and at night I have to disconnect. At night time i plug my tv into a small inverter that’s clamped to batteries under the couch. This morning when nothing was hooked up to the inverter it made a loud pop and started to smoke. I immediately disconnected the battery terminals and put the inverter outside. Since then, when I hook up to shore power I don’t get anything! Cgfi won’t reset, no power at plugs. When I turn off battery power I’m dark! Tried all breakers abs fuses, no luck. What else can I try, there has to be some sort of a fuse, breaker, or reset somewhere.
No shore power
- Thread starter NHB
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Kirk
Well-known member
I don't recognize the box you are showing. I would think that your shore power cord would go into a power distribution box with 120V circuit breakers which then supply the various circuits of your RV? The device in the picture seems to be a converter to supply 12V or something else. The lights in most RVs all get power from the 12V supply so would be on the battery when connected to shore power. If you have lights with the 12V isolation switch in the on position but not with it off, that would be normal for most RVs. Have you taken any voltage readings on your batteries? If you 120V to 12V converter is working the battery voltage should be higher when connected to shore power than with it unplugged.
The box power came into is a surge protector. I bypassed it and everything works now! Kind of scary though if this problem were to happen again now I don’t have a surge protector there. I do have one on the end of my shore power cord. Hopefully the breakers are enough protection.
Mark_K5LXP
Well-known member
Breakers rarely provide transient/surge protection. They can't react quickly enough, that's what the MOV's in the upper left corner of the box do. You can see a hall current sensor to the right of the contactor for measuring current, and there's likely other measurement circuitry there on the PC board the digital display is plugged into. It could very well be that this box died in the line of duty, some surge came along and blew out the box, but it ended up isolating the protected equipment which is the primary goal. If you think this is a valuable feature, you can buy a variety of hard wired or plug in surge protection and power conditioning devices into your trailer which it seems you already have, so not sure how the hard wired one would've opened up while the cord connected one didn't.
Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
John From Detroit
Well-known member
I agree the box in the photo looks like a surge protector.
Get a replacement and replace it is my advice. they are not nearly as expensive as half the stuff they protect.
Get a replacement and replace it is my advice. they are not nearly as expensive as half the stuff they protect.
Kirk
Well-known member
That makes sense now. There should be a brand name on that device somewhere and it may be repairable. It is very normal for one to open with metal-oxide varistors (MOVs) which then must be replaced to put them back into service. I don't see how that relates to your inverter starting to smoke if you were not connected to shore power at the time that it happened?
If you have a portable one connected between your power plug and the power supply pedestal that is all that you need. In such case I would permanently remove the defective one from the RV.
Last edited:
CharlesinGA
Well-known member
The box in the picture is a Progressive Industries EMS-LCHW30. Instruction Manual
What code does it give you?
E 0 - Normal Operating Condition
E 1 - Reverse Polarity (hot and neutral wires reversed)
E 2 - Open Ground (no ground wire connection)
E 3 - Line 1 High Voltage (line voltage above 132
E 4 - Line 1 Low Voltage (line voltage below 104
E 5*- Line 2 Voltage High (line voltage above 13
E 6*- Line 2 Voltage Low (line voltage below 104 volt
E 7 - Line Frequency High (line frequency above 69 cycles per second
E 8 - Line Frequency Low (line frequency below 51 cycles per second
E 9 - Data Link Down (call technical support
E10 - Replace Surge Protector Module (call technical support)
* Codes only apply to EMS-LCHW50 models
If it is not reading codes, it probably is time to call Progressive.
You are probing on the relay that shuts everything off. the circuit board controls the relay. If you bypass and the power comes on, that means the relay is closing and working.
From Page 8 of the manual linked to above................
1) Check connections. Input is the plug side of the RV and black should be attached to L1, white to L2. Output (going to the RV) should match up. T1 is black, T2 white. The green ground get attached to the input and output on the side of the box. 2) Make sure the input wires are, in fact, the input wires. Connecting the output to the input of the EMS will cause the device to malfunction. 3) If the EMS is still not functioning at this point, follow instructions below prior to calling Progressive Industries Technical Support. In order for the on-call Technician to help troubleshoot the problem(s) you are experiencing and render the best possible solution, it is necessary you be at your RV when you place your call. 1) If the display is illuminated and scrolling information, note the Error Code. If there is an Error code of 1-9, the device will interrupt the power. See Error Chart for definition of AC power problem. The device being off when an Error Code is present indicates the product is working properly and protecting your coach. 2) If the display is illuminated and reading Error code E 0, and yet no power is present in the coach, please contact Technical Support. You must wait for the time delay light to stop flashing. 3) If the display is not illuminated and power is in the coach there is a connection issue between the display and the main control box. Contact Technical Support.
Remember, there is a 136 second delay after you apply power before the relay will close under normal operation.
Charles
What code does it give you?
E 0 - Normal Operating Condition
E 1 - Reverse Polarity (hot and neutral wires reversed)
E 2 - Open Ground (no ground wire connection)
E 3 - Line 1 High Voltage (line voltage above 132
E 4 - Line 1 Low Voltage (line voltage below 104
E 5*- Line 2 Voltage High (line voltage above 13
E 6*- Line 2 Voltage Low (line voltage below 104 volt
E 7 - Line Frequency High (line frequency above 69 cycles per second
E 8 - Line Frequency Low (line frequency below 51 cycles per second
E 9 - Data Link Down (call technical support
E10 - Replace Surge Protector Module (call technical support)
* Codes only apply to EMS-LCHW50 models
If it is not reading codes, it probably is time to call Progressive.
You are probing on the relay that shuts everything off. the circuit board controls the relay. If you bypass and the power comes on, that means the relay is closing and working.
From Page 8 of the manual linked to above................
1) Check connections. Input is the plug side of the RV and black should be attached to L1, white to L2. Output (going to the RV) should match up. T1 is black, T2 white. The green ground get attached to the input and output on the side of the box. 2) Make sure the input wires are, in fact, the input wires. Connecting the output to the input of the EMS will cause the device to malfunction. 3) If the EMS is still not functioning at this point, follow instructions below prior to calling Progressive Industries Technical Support. In order for the on-call Technician to help troubleshoot the problem(s) you are experiencing and render the best possible solution, it is necessary you be at your RV when you place your call. 1) If the display is illuminated and scrolling information, note the Error Code. If there is an Error code of 1-9, the device will interrupt the power. See Error Chart for definition of AC power problem. The device being off when an Error Code is present indicates the product is working properly and protecting your coach. 2) If the display is illuminated and reading Error code E 0, and yet no power is present in the coach, please contact Technical Support. You must wait for the time delay light to stop flashing. 3) If the display is not illuminated and power is in the coach there is a connection issue between the display and the main control box. Contact Technical Support.
Remember, there is a 136 second delay after you apply power before the relay will close under normal operation.
Charles
Last edited:
Correct on the model and unit. There are no codes illuminated. Unit was working correctly prior to this incident. There is a warranty on the unit but they will only send parts to an authorized rv dealer. Then you have to pay the dealer to install parts. So even if they replace the unit it’s gonna cost a couple hundred for them to install it. I picked up a new hard wired “whole house” surge protector for $57 and will get that bad boy wired in asap.
CharlesinGA
Well-known member
Progressive in the past has been extremely good to work with, You should at least discuss the problems and symptoms with their technical people.
Electrical surges are the LEAST of your worries. Generally low voltage will be the biggest headache in a campground.
Electrical surges are the LEAST of your worries. Generally low voltage will be the biggest headache in a campground.
Mark_K5LXP
Well-known member
The other problem I've encountered is busted/wounded sockets. Could be the source of low voltage and subsequent melted plugs due to crappy contacts. At one site I ended up plugging into the 20A receptacle because I trusted it more.
Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
Kirk
Well-known member
I do not understand how this could have caused you to no longer have 120V shore power since it was connected to the batteries and not to the 120V power outlets? Do you have a volt/ohm meter and if so have you taken any voltage readings? Why would an inverter that is connected to the battery impact a line monitor on the shore power cord? Did you somehow have the output from the inverter connected to your 120V shore power cord?
Correct on the model and unit. There are no codes illuminated. Unit was working correctly prior to this incident. There is a warranty on the unit but they will only send parts to an authorized rv dealer. Then you have to pay the dealer to install parts. So even if they replace the unit it’s gonna cost a couple hundred for them to install it. I picked up a new hard wired “whole house” surge protector for $57 and will get that bad boy wired in asap.
I’m with you - it doesn’t make sense. I did plug shore power into inverter before this but it gave me a reading of open neutral on the surge protector at end of shore power and nothing worked inside. I disconnected shore power from inverter and I’d say it was about an hour later that the inverter popped and smoked with nothing plugged into it. So either it happened when I plugged into inverter, or somehow back fed through the 12v system? Doesn’t make sense as well because I had a surge on the shore power cord before the hard wired surge protector. Maybe just an oddly timed coincidence? Just noticed this morning my wire harness that plugs into truck got pinched and looks like there is some damage to wiring inside. Don’t know if this contributed to the problem as well. Since I removed the hard wired surge protector everything. Had been running great, batteries topped up fully charged, no issues running any appliances… got me scratching my head.
Kirk
Well-known member
Either than or there is something that has been missed. The wire harness to the truck could play a part if there is a short between the 12V side and something else. It is time to take some readings of both voltage and also ohms between the 12v side and ground.
