[Tf175]

Hello and Merry Christmas !
     On the 86 coach there is a 110 electrical sub panel with two breakers in the rear closet . Nearby are two boxes with grey covers over what I believe are contactors . The breakers are marked 13 ( refrigerator ) and 14 ( chandelier / air compt .(?) . There is currently no fridge connected , but with the breaker on one contactor buzzes and the outlet for fridge is hot . I have been keeping the two ( 13 & 14 ) breakers off ,but this morning I flipped them both on and heard a new sound coming from left front for about 45 seconds before going quiet . I think it was the air compressor , which has previously had no power going to it . I believe the contactors are for inverter operation , but I'm not sure the 800 watt Winco inverter will start or power the air compressor . I have thought the 800 inverter was for refrigerator and the 200 watt for the TVs . Neither one of the converter/ inverters work at the moment . Perhaps the 14 breaker is bad ?
      I have considerable DC experience ( still learning ) , not so much AC  , and I'm fuzzy on the electrics of this Newell . I'm a determined to learn how it works so I can get everything functioning as well as possible for a device of this age. 
Thanks ,Chris

[HoosierDaddy]

I would abandon the battery charger, invertor , contact switches etc. in favor of an invertor/charger. It will make your life simpler. Currently I have a xantrex 458. New they cost $1000. I found this one at an RV salvage store in Indiana for $450. It was still in box. I had a problem with it after 1 year and xantrex warranted it. There are other invertor/chargers available, some much more sophisticated but to charge my AGM's and run my fridge and TV this one works great. My 1993 Newell does not have LP so running the fridge on battery is a necessity. If you have LP as an option for the fridge You may not need invertor/charger.
I understand why you might want to figure your current system out and I respect that. I probably would as well. I'm thinking the contactors call for current from the invertor when the land line or generator current is unavailable. You can use a meter or a simple 120/240 volt test light to trace the current . Start with the main breaker box and follow it to the appliance using the different configurations ie. with land power on or off etc. You can check a breaker with this method. Rubber gloves might be a good idea. When I have had a breaker malfunction (rare) it will heat up and shut off or not turn on initially. Any Newell I am familiar with provides a 12 volt air compressor to sub for the 120 volt when 120 is unavailable.
As a disclaimer , my knowledge (or lack there-of) comes only from 40 years of trial and (mostly) error. Hopefully there is an electrical engineer who can chime in here as well.

[Tf175]

Thanks for the reply HD . The coach does have LP , but we bought a 10 cu.ft. electric refrigerator.  I agree that we should look at a modern , high quality inverter . As to the #14 breaker it looks like it has nothing to do with the contactors and is bad . I imagine this is due to the compressor running too much because of a leak in the suspension /leveling system which I haven't found yet . 
Thanks,  Chris

[77newell]

Be aware that the 120VAC compressor also supplies air to everything in the uses air, such as air seats, stair slide, generator slide, pocket doors, etc that is used by the house. If you have some of these uses then you should also have a couple quarter turn valves on the bulkhead ahead of the rear axle. One valve supplies the suspension system and the other supplies all the other house uses. By closing them both and watching the pressure drops on the gauge at the rear 6-pack, or whatever you have for managing the leveling you will be ascertain the suspension leakage rate. By watching the dash gauge you can determine the leakage rate in the house uses.

I don't know if you have this combo but if you do it's mighty handy.

[kyleb]

FYI, the two 87's, the 86 & 84 Newells that I have access to do not have 12vdc air compressors.

They all have nice generators that are more than capable of supplying enough electricity to run the 110v air compressor. LOL

Another note, they don't need air for anything when parked - except for leveling.