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No electric on half the coach

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This problem I have is driving me crazy because I can't figure out what is causing it. I have a 2011 Damon Tuscany MH.  Here is what happened:

I was cooking in the microwave, had a toaster on and a electric heater. Too much on at once and the power went out. I thought I popped a breaker but after checking the coach breakers and the pedestal breaker they were all fine. The crazy part is I still had power to the circuit that my washer and dryer plug into.  I have checked the GFI, all fuses, breakers, cutoff switches and the 50 amp cord and can't find anything wrong. When I turn on the inverter all the plugs work.  So everything works on battery power but only half the coach works when it's plugged in to shore power.  The issue seems to be where the power comes into the coach and gets distributed. That is out of my electronic comfort zone. 

Anyone ever have this happen to them before?  I plan to take it in and get it check by a technician as soon as I can get in.  We are on the road and are currently in Ocean Beach, AL. 

I will keep you posted on this unusual problem.  

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Not knowing what coach you have makes it difficult to trouble shoot.  I will take a stab in the dark,  Check the circuit breakers that are mounted on your inverter/charge. They have to be reset by pushing the little white button that pop out when tripped.

 

Jim

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Sounds like the same problem I had once with a Winnebago Ultimate . . . Turned out to be a bad connection in the transfer switch.One leg burned and had to replace wire.

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The transfer switch (ATS) is the weakest link and most often overlooked in this type situation. A multimeter (VOM) can be your best friend for trouble shooting, but you should learn how to use safely. Good luck!

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I checked the inverter/charger and the white button Jim talked about was tripped. I pushed it in and everything seems to be working fine now.  I will keep an eye on it and see if anything changes. Hopefully that is all that was wrong. I guess I need to be more careful on how many appliances I use at the same time!! 

Carl, I actually never checked if everything was working on generator power. When I turned the inverter on from inside the coach everything worked just fine. 

Thanks everyone for the quick responses.  

 

Benny. 

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The weak link in my coach is the CB in the inverter.  If not careful, and Line 1 exceeds 30 amps, that CB will trip.  If Line 2 is over loaded either the CB for that line will trip or a GFI will trip.

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2 minutes ago, FIVE said:

The weak link in my coach is the CB in the inverter.  If not careful, and Line 1 exceeds 30 amps, that CB will trip.  If Line 2 is over loaded either the CB for that line will trip or a GFI will trip.

There is a "work around"-- standard on many Foretravels I have inspected:

Use a second ATS. So with shore power, loads higher than the inverter circuitry can handle are easily handled when on shore power or generator.

In the second ATS, shore power/generator (coming from first ATS) is primary. Inverter is on the secondary "IN" leg.  Then the second ATS "OUT" is to the sub-panel supplying all circuits that can be powered by the inverter or shore power/generator.

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4 hours ago, wolfe10 said:

There is a "work around"-- standard on many Foretravels I have inspected:

Use a second ATS. So with shore power, loads higher than the inverter circuitry can handle are easily handled when on shore power or generator.

In the second ATS, shore power/generator (coming from first ATS) is primary. Inverter is on the secondary "IN" leg.  Then the second ATS "OUT" is to the sub-panel supplying all circuits that can be powered by the inverter or shore power/generator.

This is the way I wired mine and the only way I will ever wire one. Foretravels are great coaches.

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Had a similar thing happen to us on our Phaeton. After resetting the inverter I thought better of it. Turned the inverter off, and then checked  all sockets to mark the ones that always work when hooked to shore power. I marked them and was careful to not hook a serious load to the outlets that work with the inverter. A room heater started my hunt.

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