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Another issue popped up in the cold weather this morning… we are plugged in to 50amp at a place we stay often and the front upper dash panel was showing under 20 amps on both legs with the two little space heaters we had running to supplement the aquahot heat. I was using the microwave and something popped and the plugs in the front of the coach stopped working. So I went outside to check the breakers and could not tell they were popped but reset them anyway (in the 3rd? Bay where the little panel is located). That didn’t help anything so I reset them again to no avail. I checked the GFCI in the bath but is there another one somewhere I’m missing?
Karen & Adrian Abshire
1998 2 slide 45' Newell Coach 498
Prior: 1985 Foretravel ORED 35, 1988 38' Foretravel U280, 2000 Foretravel 42' U320, 1990 Bluebird Wanderlodge WB40
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Check pop up breakers on your inverter.
Posts: 5,409
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I have a GFI on the P2 bay. 2nd bay on passenger side.
Check the power pedestal breaker. Some of them have unusual breakers that will trip on one leg. Not common, but I have seen them.
Do you have any error codes on your inverter?
Are you sure the plugs you are using for the heaters run off the inverter circuit breakers? Check the breakers in the rear closet.
Richard and Rhonda Entrekin
99 Newell, 512
Maverick Hybrid Toad
Inverness, FL (when we're home
)
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I believe the microwave circuit passes through the inverter. Check the power going to the inverter and if you have a status screen for the inverter it would show if you have trouble codes. Might require a restart.
--Simon
1993 8v92TA #312
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Also look for the small breaker panel near the inverter to make sure those aren't tripped.
Forest & Cindy Olivier
1987 log cabin
2011 Roadtrek C210P
PO 1999 Foretravel 36'
1998 Newell 45' #486
1993 Newell 39' #337
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On our last trip, we had the outlets up front go dead....don't know about the mwave but to reiterate what Richard said
the pedestal had one leg go bad but did not trip the double pole breaker....resetting did nothing for it.....issue fixed when the facility replace the breaker.
Steve & Doris Denton
45' Newell #525, Bath & Half....sold
37' Country Coach, Tribute....Cat C9, 400 hp
2014 Honda CRV Toad
Summerfield, FL
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The inverter push-button breaker did the trick! Thanks guys! Have a great Christmas!
Karen & Adrian Abshire
1998 2 slide 45' Newell Coach 498
Prior: 1985 Foretravel ORED 35, 1988 38' Foretravel U280, 2000 Foretravel 42' U320, 1990 Bluebird Wanderlodge WB40
Posts: 5,409
Threads: 255
Joined: Jul 2012
Thanks for getting back with the solution.
I am going to do some public pondering here because the root cause may apply to others during this very chilly week.
There are a couple of things that might have happened. If the heaters are plugged into an inverter circuit, the added load of the micro could have overloaded the amperage rating of the internal transfer switch in the inverter, causing a fault. Or, given the demand on the grid, the voltage could have dropped causing the power protection device, if Adrian is using one, to temporarily drop out on low voltage. The inverter would have immediately kicked in when the power protection dropped out, causing an overload on the inverter. These are just out loud musings about what might have happened.
My point to the forum, is it might not be the best setup to plug supplemental heat into inverter based circuits.
Richard and Rhonda Entrekin
99 Newell, 512
Maverick Hybrid Toad
Inverness, FL (when we're home
)
Posts: 1,266
Threads: 160
Joined: Sep 2012
It was definitely an overloaded inverter circuit that caused the issue - had two small space heaters on the circuit when the power went but the other leg was fine. I agree about not plugging to the inverter circuits and plan to mark the plug covers as such so I know in the future which is inverter and not - maybe put a small ‘I’ on the plug cover. BTW, Forrest, I knew about the small extra panel inside the bay but didn’t realize about the inverter kicking things off. Someday I’m going to be replacing that inverter when I add solar panels and Lithium batteries - it’s had a very long and useful life.
Karen & Adrian Abshire
1998 2 slide 45' Newell Coach 498
Prior: 1985 Foretravel ORED 35, 1988 38' Foretravel U280, 2000 Foretravel 42' U320, 1990 Bluebird Wanderlodge WB40
(This post was last modified: 12-25-2022, 07:20 AM by
pairodice.)