Inverter/Charger Or Transfer Switch Issue

[johnarch]

I have a 1999 American Eagle. While returning from vacation yesterday, I had the generator running and one air conditioner running. I realized it was getting warmer inside the mh and my wife checked the air conditioner. This had stopped working, the refrigerator reverted back to gas and all outlets ceased to work. The generator was running fine still. I shut off generator and upon arriving home started it back up and no electricity was provided for the coach. I switched on the inverter/charger and nothing there either. I then plugged into shore power and everything worked. Now while plugged to shore power the remote panel showed DC volts and DC amps. The remote panel would not show anything on generator and only DC volts on inverter setting but still no power. Is there a way a non mechanic (myself) can check some obvious possible solutions?

I have reset the circuit breaker on the generator and the inverter/charger per their manuals. None of them seemed to have needed it. I also recycled the switch(s) per the manuals.

Generator - Onan 7.5 kw - model HDJAK

Inverter/charger - Heart Interface Source Manager 20 with ITS (intelligent transfer switching).

The mh and generator are serviced annually. All worked fine for trip out and most of the trip home. I have owned this mh for almost 8 years with no problem. The generator is exercised regularly when used infrequently. I am scheduled for the shop next week.

[dickandlois]

John,

Did you reset the circuit breakers in the main AC panel ? Could be a loose connection right at the Ac power panel.
One is often dedicated to power the inverter, They feed power to 2 circuits and the breakers are mounted on the inverter.
Transfer switch is DC powered so a bad fuse or connection at the coil connection or between the coach batteries.
Your coach will have a BCC box located near the Batteries. this box also has fuses and small relays that control the larger transfer switch.
BCC= Battery Control Center.

Also, there is a possibility of a loose connection in the J-box that connects the generator to the coach AC power via the transfer switch.
Check for loose connections on the transfer relay terminals for the shore and generator. This can be done by disconnecting from shore power, so your not working or looking at things with power.

Things get shaken pretty well while going down the road and things just loosen up.

Rich.

[johnarch]

Thanks Rich. I did reset both breakers located on the inverter. I will now check for loose connections and bad fuses in the BCC.

The connections on the transfer relay terminals - are they located behind the main breaker box?

And would you know if the transfer switch is in the same place?

I assure you I will disconnect from any power before checking.

[wolfe10]

John,

Follow the shore power cord into the coach. The ATS will be between where the shore power cord enters the coach and the main coach 120 VAC breaker box.

[dickandlois]

John, Like Brett mentioned you can follow the shore cable to the transfer relay.

On most of Fleetwood's Coaches, the transfer relay is close to the BCC unit, but they do move around some from model to model.

You can go to this link and get the complete manual for the 1999 AE - it is 216 pages of information.

I have not reviewed it lately, so I'm not positive it give you the location of some of the items in question; but still worth having on file.

http://fleetwoodrv.com/partsandservice/manuals/1999_american_eagle.pdf

Rich.

Additional info.on BCC used.

RV Custom Battery Control Center Used on All Class ‘A’ Product from 1995 through 2007

PC Board for Diesel #087723

(this part number will refer to the latest revision pc board)

Link to picture of BCC board that could be in you Coach.

http://fwc.fleetwoodrv.com/plant91Files/087723.JPG

[johnarch]

I checked all the terminals and connections I could find related to the inverter/charger. Some needed to be tightened just a bit but nothing considered loose. I spoke with Allied Tech Support and they got me up and running. The tech had me do a few checks on the relay switches etc, but then had me find a reset button buried under the relay switches amongst the control panel. One push and all was back to normal. The reasons for this occurring seem endless, so can't say why this occurred. Again thank you Rich and Brett for your advice.

[dickandlois]

John, Thanks for the up date and the solution.

By chance could you define the location of the reset button in a little more detail?

Rich.

[johnarch]

Rich,

The Power Source converter/charger in my mh has not been made since 2001. The updated version is not compatible to mine so if this fix didn't work it would have a been a 5k replacement cost!

The converter/charger is located under the bed and weighs 90lb. First I needed to unplug from any power and then remove the 6 screws holding the top of the unit on. This revealed 8 transfer switches (not sure if that is what they are actually called). On the right side of this configuration were 2 screws that once removed allowed the entire switch platform to be lifted up. It is mounted on two hinges and actually had a handle to assist in this.

With the platform raised, on the bottom of the unit in the rear right corner stuck under a control board is a square red button. It was more difficult to get my finger on it to reset it than to locate it. The tech from Allied was very thorough and walked me from start to finish.