Before we torch our camper...

[jmaddox]

We've had electrical problems with our 2001 Viking, and we're getting beyond frustrated.  We don't have batteries, so we rely on shorepower (which perfectly suits our style of camping)

Several weeks ago, we went to Chickasaw State Park (TN) for a camping trip.  We arrive at the campsite- no power...to the lights anyway.  The outlets work fine, but no lights.  The next day, the FIL and I tackle the light situation and find a loose wire as the culprit.  Whoever did the wiring, just took the two ends of the wires, shoved them in a wire nut, and twisted the nut- didn't bother to twist the wires together.  Problem resolved.  

The fridge has never cooled for us either- and this trip was no exception.

Fast forward two weeks...We take our PUP into to Corinth RV to get an A/C unit added (now that we think our electrical issues are behind us).  Install goes well- while we had it there, we had them test the fridge- works perfectly on 110, would not cool on propane- no battery, so no real way to test it.

Last weekend, go to Natchez Trace State Park...not a minutes trouble- lights, A/C fridge, all work perfectly.

Last night, pack up the SUV, hook up and off we go to Chickasaw again.  Arrive @ campsite, hook up electrical to get the fridge cooling before we popup...nothing, nada, zilch.  Take our trusty extension cord to another campsite, plug it in, plug in our cord- sparks and popping.  Unplug.  With our handy-dandy home power adapter, I try six different outlets- two RV style, and 4 regular type (rated for 30AMPS).  Same thing out of all of them.  Pack up, drive 45 minutes to the in-laws place, plug it in there...guess what.

Outlets work, lights do not.  Unreal.  We didn't pop it up, so we didn't have time to check the fridge.  FIL, GFIL, and I are debating our shorepower cord -vs- inverter.  We all agree there is a short somewhere- but where?

To me, there are (2) common denominators- Chickasaw State Park, power inverter.  The Chickasaw portion doesn't really hold water- we were on the same spot my IL's were on two weeks ago...and the site we ran the RV extension cord to was the one we were on when we fixed our electrical issue the first time.  Plus, we plugged lights, etc into the outlets, and they worked fine.

I'm very frustrated, and really ready to get rid of this camper.  Problem is, with the A/C, we've invested another $750 in this thing...and we love the layout and the room that it provides.

Talk me down off the ledge.

[ccarr113]

We've had electrical problems with our 2001 Viking, and we're getting beyond frustrated.  We don't have batteries, so we rely on shorepower (which perfectly suits our style of camping)

Several weeks ago, we went to Chickasaw State Park (TN) for a camping trip.  We arrive at the campsite- no power...to the lights anyway.  The outlets work fine, but no lights.  The next day, the FIL and I tackle the light situation and find a loose wire as the culprit.  Whoever did the wiring, just took the two ends of the wires, shoved them in a wire nut, and twisted the nut- didn't bother to twist the wires together.  Problem resolved.  

The fridge has never cooled for us either- and this trip was no exception.

Fast forward two weeks...We take our PUP into to Corinth RV to get an A/C unit added (now that we think our electrical issues are behind us).  Install goes well- while we had it there, we had them test the fridge- works perfectly on 110, would not cool on propane- no battery, so no real way to test it.

Last weekend, go to Natchez Trace State Park...not a minutes trouble- lights, A/C fridge, all work perfectly.

Last night, pack up the SUV, hook up and off we go to Chickasaw again.  Arrive @ campsite, hook up electrical to get the fridge cooling before we popup...nothing, nada, zilch.  Take our trusty extension cord to another campsite, plug it in, plug in our cord- sparks and popping.  Unplug.  With our handy-dandy home power adapter, I try six different outlets- two RV style, and 4 regular type (rated for 30AMPS).  Same thing out of all of them.  Pack up, drive 45 minutes to the in-laws place, plug it in there...guess what.

Outlets work, lights do not.  Unreal.  We didn't pop it up, so we didn't have time to check the fridge.  FIL, GFIL, and I are debating our shorepower cord -vs- inverter.  We all agree there is a short somewhere- but where?

To me, there are (2) common denominators- Chickasaw State Park, power inverter.  The Chickasaw portion doesn't really hold water- we were on the same spot my IL's were on two weeks ago...and the site we ran the RV extension cord to was the one we were on when we fixed our electrical issue the first time.  Plus, we plugged lights, etc into the outlets, and they worked fine.

I'm very frustrated, and really ready to get rid of this camper.  Problem is, with the A/C, we've invested another $750 in this thing...and we love the layout and the room that it provides.

Talk me down off the ledge.

well if you didn't "pop up" at your in-laws to see if the fridge would work how do you know the lights wouldn't work?  on most pop-ups the lights WILL NOT WORK if you don't "pop-up" this is a safety feature so that the lights don't start a fire if they are accidentally  left on.  The fridge problem could be that the trailer must be level for the fridge to work.  If the trailer is not level the fridge will not work trust me. The nice smart people on here helped me with this problem.  The pops and sparks must have been a problem at the camp sight you were at.

[austinado16]

Okay, come in off the ledge.....and then ask yourself; Who's smarter? Me or this f-ing camper? :yikes:

Time to take things one step at a time, starting with the most basic and simple things first:

110v power is 110v power, so let's start by proving you have a good electrical cord.  Couple ways to do that.
1) unhook the cord from it's connections to the convertor and use a different extension cord in camp driveway, hooked directly to the convertor.  During this test, the camper should be level and popped up, as if you were camping.

2) if things work with the temporary cord,  you know your old one either has a bad end or is bad somewhere along the way.  You could spend time cutting the end off and installing a nice new end, and then re-test.

3) while you're popped up, find your safety switches.  My pup doesn't have this feature, but going by what folks here say, there could be one where your galley flips up and sits, or one where the roof touches in the roof closed position.  Find the switch(es) and make sure they are working.  Replace as needed.  Jump the wires going to them to test out the camper's electrical system if you need to.  That takes the switch out of the equation.

4) as previously stated, the fridge must be level to work, so the camper must always be either level, or going down the road, when the fridge is on.  Operating the fridge out of level will damage it because the amonia inside the cooling tubes puddles up and creates crystals which then block small orifaces inside the tubes and keep the amonia and gasses from circulating as they should.......hence, no cooling.

5) your fridge works by heating the amonia....either using an electric heat element on 110v mode, a 12v heat element on 12v mode, or by heating the chimney where the electric elements also live, using a propane flame.  If you have a fridge that works on 110v, you have a working fridge.  The only thing that would keep it from working on propane would be if the pilot light was blowing out, the thermostat wasn't set right, or if the pilot flame wasn't strong enough because the propane regulator wasn't set to the right pressure, there was a partial blockage in the propane line at the fridge, or the thermostat wasn't opening internally and allowing enough propane through to make a good hot pilot.  (how it works is, you set the thermostat to 4 or 5 on the dial, and the thermostat will dim the pilot flame by closing off the main oriface inside itself, thus dimming the flame once the fridge gets cold enough)

So try not to think of the whole myriad of circumstances and just focus on simple basic tests.  Otherwise, you just wind up spinning a huge tale inside your head, and you'll never unwind enough to diagnose your way through the problem.

Take your time, do things step by step, and report your results back here if you want more help.

[PattieAM]

Welcome to the Not So Perfect World!

Relax - take a deep breath.

You have two separate electrical systems in your PUP:
12-volt (battery) for your lighting, furnace, water pump.
120-volt AC for your outlets, microwave and air conditioning.

Your PUP may have a 'converter' which will convert the 120-volt Alternating current to 12-volt direct current and maybe add a charge to your battery.

Your PUP also has safety switches - example:  Mine has a main switch near the camper entry door, but, also has one at the rear bunk (bunk must be fully extended and set up for switch to be engaged - and the bar that makes contact can get warped enough to not make connection properly) for the lights to work.  (Mine got warped by a blasted pillow unbeknownst to me and I ended up inserting a match book between the bar and the button, until I took a rubber mallet and tapped the bar lightly to make contact.)

As to your refrigerator - the most efficient setting is the Propane setting, and it will take several hours for the fridge to cool (PUP should be pretty level).  You can help it cool faster by loading with pre-cooled foods, and/or a few ziplock bags of ice/frozen soda bottles, etc.  Using your refrigerator on the 120-volt setting, it will take hours for it to cool, and your main indicator of it cooling is the heat generated from the outside vents (if the vents are emitting heat, the box is cooling).

As to your converter - my owner's manual tells me to plug in the PUP to CG electric (30amp) and allow a few minutes before placing a load on the converter (ie., lights, etc.)

Not to be a smart-aleck (sp), but I can relate to the CG electric.....I plugged in at one park, and had 'nothing'....duh - I never switched the breaker on at the campground pedistal.  I sure felt stupid when I figured that one out!

[AZsix]

Welcome to the Not So Perfect World!

Not to be a smart-aleck (sp), but I can relate to the CG electric.....I plugged in at one park, and had 'nothing'....duh - I never switched the breaker on at the campground pedistal.  I sure felt stupid when I figured that one out!

Been there, done that. My first reaction was to let out a long sigh and bow my head in disgust. I went back to check the cord where it was plugged in and noticed what I hadn't done. Flipping the breaker is the first thing I do now.

[brainpause]

I don't have much time to digest the symptoms or other posts, but my gut reaction is that you have a converter that is trying to die. Not really sure how to test one though.

Unless your cords has been run over or abused/twisted, it would be fairly unusual to have a bad cord, though not impossible.

Larry

[jmaddox]

Thanks to everyone for your input..

- Did find a safety switch....it's where the galley flips up.

- Everything is working again; so we're going to give it another shot this weekend.

- I am aware of the need to be level for the fridge- it does work...but here's the weirdness...it will not cool on propane, but works well on electricity (for now).

- Larry, I think you're right...but as you said, I can't prove it.

- Pattie:  I knew that the lights are 12V...I've got (2) breakers a 15 that controls lights/outlets/fridge...and a 20 that runs A/C alone.  I know the fridge is tied into the 15 because I turned the 20 off, turned the 15 on, unplugged the fridge, tested the outlet, and got juice.  That seems like quite a load on a 15AMP breaker; but I'm not an electrical whiz by any means...lol

Long and short, we're going to soldier on...I'm safely in from the ledge... :eyecrazy:

For now... :sombraro:

[maromeo]

jmaddox,

Is your converter the original converter? We have a 2002 Viking. We replaced ours a few years back.

If you have centurion converter they have been sold out to elixir. Same dimensions for the cut out. This is the one we replaced it with.

http://www.rvparts.com/product-141-16ELX30

Hope this helps.

Mary Romeo

[brainpause]

Now that I've had time to think about it, here is a possible way to check your converter. It will also include checking the cord as part of the equation, but again, I doubt that is the problem:

When it is working correctly, unplug it from the post/outlet. Put one lead of an ohm meter (set to measure ohms or resistance) across each of the two prongs on top (black lead on one prong, red lead on the other). If working correctly, you should get some low resistance, but not an open circuit.

When the converter is working improperly, if the converter is bad, do the above test, and you will likely get an open circuit.

Can someone back me up or correct me on this procedure? My trailer is not here at the moment, so I can't run out and do it myself.

Since you will be doing this to an unplugged trailer, it is safe to do.

Larry

ON EDIT: I just tried this procedure on my pool pump, and I believe this is correct, since it is churning away out there.

[austinado16]

The only thing about that way of testing is that it doesn't isolate the cord from the converter.  If the wires inside the cord were touching each other somewhere, you'd also get an ohm reading show some sort of good, low resistance circuit.  In your test, there's no way of knowing; "Is my low resistance between these 2 wires cause by a short in my cord, or by the electronics in the converter?"

If you have the cord removed from the converter, and do this test, you would want to see an open circuit when you touched the "hot" and "common" wires at the same time with an ohm meter.  That would indicate the wires weren't touching somewhere.  You'd do the same test using jumping between the "hot" and "ground" lugs, and then the "common" and "ground" lugs.

Also, I'm not sure how sensative the electronics inside a converter are, but you'd be safer using a digital meter because an analogue meter passes more current through the circuit and that might pop something sensative in the converter.

I don't know how you'd actually test a converter other than to power it with 110v and check for 12v coming out the wires that power the camper.