Two Outlets Not Working

[djw2112]

This morning the TV and one other outlet have no power.  At first I thought it might be the outlet itself for the TV until I found a second outlet with same issue.  I do not believe that two outlets can go bad at once. 

I checked the fuse panel and flipped them all off and back on, nothing there seemed strange. 

Everything else seems to work fine so I believe that these two outlets are on the same circut, neither are GFI. 

We did have a power surge or loss last night as I heard the beep from the computer battery.

The only other thing I can think of is that if one of the outlets is bad it may prevent the other one on the same circut from working, does that seem like a plausable avenue to follow?

Also can one side of a two pole breaker go bad without the other?

 

[SeilerBird]

The only other thing I can think of is that if one of the outlets is bad it may prevent the other one on the same circuit from working, does that seem like a plausible avenue to follow?

Yes it is plausible. Many outlets are fed daisy chain and one can go bad and cut the current to the rest of the outlets.

Also can one side of a two pole breaker go bad without the other?

Yes it can. You probably need a volt meter to trouble shoot this problem. Walmart has cheap ones for sale.

 

[djw2112]

Thank you, yes I have a nice full featured EX-TECH meter.   

I will pull the first outlet and check the power going into the outlet first, if no power there then I assume it has to be the breaker. I will also check the utility compartment to be sure there is not a GFI under there that has tripped. 

 

[kdbgoat]

Are those outlets powered by an inverter? If so, the inverter may be the problem.

 

[djw2112]

I do have a bad converter I know that much because it went out about two weeks ago on the 12V side.  Right now I have a battery charger hooked up to the battery which the power is controlled by an inside switch and I turn the charger on when the battery gets low to recharge it.

I have not yet ordered a new converter because I am having to save for it.  But the TV outlet has worked until last night even with the bad converter.

I did test each pole on each breaker by putting the red leed on the breaker pole and the black leed on the common bar and all breakers and poles showed 119 so its not the breakers.

I hate pulling these outlets apart they are the old encased slip style where you push the wires down inside between the slot and that casing is a pain to remove (tabs) when you are in an awkward position to start with.  But I will kill the power and take it apart and test the power going into the outlet. 

I was not aware that the inverter powered any 120V outlets, this is new to me?

 

[SeilerBird]

To remove the wires from the outlet grab a hold of the outlet and pull it as far as you can from the box and then twist the outlet from side to side. The wires will pop out.

 

[kdbgoat]

That's the purpose of an inverter. Please don't confuse convertor with inverter. An rv convertor takes 120 volt a/c and converts that to 12 volts DC to power the 12 volts system and charge the battery (s). An inverter in an RV uses 12 volts DC and inverts it to 120 volts ac. Some rv's have an inverter powering the television circuit, and often a close outlet for audio/visual equipment.  We don't know the make, model, or year of your RV, so that limits the amount of help you receive.

 

[kdbgoat]

Some of us here remove the factory outlets and replace them using shallow old work boxes and a regular sidescrew outlet.

 

[djw2112]

To remove the wires from the outlet grab a hold of the outlet and pull it as far as you can from the box and then twist the outlet from side to side. The wires will pop out.

The back cover comes off if you pull on the grey back cover while pushing in the tabs at the same time, I got it off.


I dont think I have an inverter. I looked all around the main panel and nothing says inverter, but I still need to eliminate some things.  I am pretty sure that my TV does not work unless I am on shore power.  OK so what I have is an converter, thanks.

There is power going to the outlet.     

The hot side shows 120 Volts.    So it has to be the outlet. 

Is there a way to test continuity on the factory outlet?  I removed the outlet, my meter does not beep when I touch the leeds to the outlet anywhere.

 

[djw2112]

Yeah 120v going to outlet I had my leeds on the wrong wires. 

 

[nibroc]

my advice you is to get an electrican to diagnose your problem

 

[djw2112]

Yeah it is the outlet.  After discovering that I need to disconnect both the battery and shore power when dealing with a inverter.  Just a couple of sparks when I tried to remove the wires again from the outlet the black wire broke inside the sheething and touched the ground. I guess it was rather brittle, but no damage done it sealed itself, although I am surprised it did not blow a fuse.  But it is def the outlet.  So I will just cut the bad part off the wires and set up a pigtail to a new outlet and should be fine. 

 

[djw2112]

I called the local RV repair place to see if they had a shallow box and he actually had a factory outlet for $10. I bought the outlet which was just like the old one but it does not work either, so I am thinking the wires did not get pushed into the slots enough.  For now I ran a extension cord to the TV and will work on it again tomorrow. 

 

[kdbgoat]

The shallow old work box can be found at Lowe's or Home Depot, along with a good side screw outlet.

 

[Old_Crow]

I see where you checked the breakers, but did you reset the GFI outlets?  My coach has 2 GFI outlets, and when one of them pops, it kills other outlets in the coach besides just the GFI one.  Make sure that power surge didn't trip one of your GFI's.

 

[John From Detroit]

On the quick box outlets continuity between the connectors inside and the outlet is guaranteed.. one piece of metal. no junctions.. Continuity between the wire and the outlet is not guaranteed.  And in my not very humble opinion.. Not that good when it exists.  Which is why I push for the screw type.

 

[Alfa38User]

Being the TV outlet and one other makes me very suspicious. That sound very much like a small 5-600 amp sized inverter powered outlet installed so that the TV will operate when parked without power hookups. They could be hidden anywhere and they often have a fuse or circuit breaker built in. This does not negate the idea about a defective socket (outlet) but....

You did not say what size/make/model of RV this is, but in a motor home style of RV this would open up other possibilities for TV outlet where the TV is mounted  in view of the driver. These are, by law, powered down while underway and the relay/circuits required to do this should come under suspicion in such a case.
Any breaker supplying outlets will be a single pole breaker, you never fuse the second or neutral side (white wire) of the circuit if that is what you meant when you said:  "Also can one side of a two pole breaker go bad without the other"....

 

[djw2112]

I forgot to mention, sorry.

2009 Fifth Wheel

I have replaced outlets before with the shallow box + normal outlet but I thought this would be easier because the hole in the wall is huge and I would need to glue some wood inside the hole to support the box.

I will give it one more shot, as long as there is still 120v at the wire, I will put a 2ft extention on the wire from the wall.  Hook up the outlet first to that wire so I can stand on the floor and get wires in properly. Then attach the other end of the wires with wirenuts and tape to the wall wire if that works.  If not I will test it with a normal outlet then go get a shallow box and do it that way if that works.