No power to outlets on Essex

[Jim]

I have a friend staying at the park and today they lost all power to the outlets in their 2017 Essex. They do have power to the stove and the HVAC.

Sindy has reset all of the breakers with no success.

It does seem a bit strange but she has one outlet in the bathroom that is working, so she plugged the refrigerator into that outlet. Anyone has any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Kevin D Pem]

To many people think they have reset the breakers when they haven't flipped them into the off position first to reset them.

 

[TheLooks]

Look for Ground Fault outlets. Check the neutrals in the breaker box, plugs, and pedestal. Check the hot side also.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

Check the shore power breaker - be sure that one side of it hasn't flipped.

 

[Sealyn]

Check push button circuit breakers on inverter. This is a common issue when too many appliances are plugged in. Portable heater, coffee maker, hair dryer etc.

 

[Jim]

Most of the above I have checked. Have not checked the circuit breakers on inverter but I'll do that tomorrow morning.

So here is where we are, and it's a bit strange.

I had Sindy turn off the power at the pedestal to see if the outlets would work with the inverter on. But the inverter wouldn't come on. Turned on the generator and got power to the coach, all except for the outlets. HVAC works, but no outlets. Well, no outlets except the one in the bathroom, which for some reason was and still is working.

Turned off the generator and plugged back into the pedestal and suddenly the Bully Dog gives us a red light to indicate a bad or missing natural. Unplugged the Bully Dog and plugged into pedestal next door, and now Bully Dog is happy, but still no change inside the coach.

The owner of the Essex spoke with a friend, who is an electrician, and he seems to feel that there is a fried appliance that is sending power back down the neutral wire.

So that's where we are. I tested the pedestal and I'm getting 115 off each leg, but even so, the Bully Dog is still unhappy. I will pull the 50 amp breaker out tomorrow and take a look at it.

I'm wondering if the appliance theory is possible, and if so, maybe the 110 going through the neutral could have shorted/dislodged the neutral where it connects to the breaker, causing the Bully Dog grief.

 

[TheLooks]

Given that you have plugged into another pedestal and it worked, you have not ruled out the original pedestal yet. Go to the outlets that don't work and test them to a known ground. Test both sides of the outlet. There should be no voltage on the wider blade side as it is the neutral. If wired correctly. Do you have one of the cheap plug in testers? The ones that light up and tell you the status of the plug and wiring? What is the voltage on the hot side of the outlets to a good ground? There is a clue somewhere in there.

 

[Jim]

Given that you have plugged into another pedestal and it worked, you have not ruled out the original pedestal yet.

No, not completely. But I'm doubting that the pedestal is the problem with the inside outlets or they would have come on when we plugged into the pedestal next door.

But yes, all good stuff above. Too late tonight to go any further but I will regroup in the morning.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

The one bath outlet is on one GFIC but we know there is more than one. If an appliance fails to ground the GFIC would trip. The electrician may be spot on, but the problem would be more likely GFIC issues, not neutral issues.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

We had an issue with our bully dog complaining about a pedestal. Tested pedestal with DMM and it appeared to be fine.
But bully dog would shut it down. So I had a new unit shipped under warranty. It would not work either (so I sent the new one back).
Also noticed that one of our inverters was showing an error red light.

Could not determine what was wrong - so I added this to my list of things to be fixed on the next trip to the mothership.

After leaving that campground a couple months later, bully dog was happy but that red light would not go away. A bit later due to some other maintenance we decided to shut EVERYTHING down and reboot it all. Shutdown the Coach lithium battery system and BMS, inverters, truck battery, no shore power, even the salesman switch.

After the full reboot, that inverter red light went away.

After reading more about our load balancing switch and how it was configured, I realize that if it weren’t for that load balance we would have had many outlets not working. But that load balancer took the load on the single inverter. Which made me realize why the breaker blew on an inverter once.

The key learning for me - disconnecting from that campground power was not enough - the inverter would not reset itself until after a complete power down.

Don’t know if that helps in this situation or not.

 

[Rich W.]

Since power to the outlets goes through the inverter and they don’t work, and power to the AC and stove doesn’t and they do, and given that the GFIs and breakers checked out, I’m also voting inverter.

 

[Jim]

Since power to the outlets goes through the inverter and they don’t work, and power to the AC and stove doesn’t and they do, and given that the GFIs and breakers checked out, I’m also voting inverter.

But there is one (1) that still works, and it's a GFI in the bathroom.

 

[Jim]

Given that you have plugged into another pedestal and it worked, you have not ruled out the original pedestal yet. Go to the outlets that don't work and test them to a known ground. Test both sides of the outlet. There should be no voltage on the wider blade side as it is the neutral. If wired correctly. Do you have one of the cheap plug in testers? The ones that light up and tell you the status of the plug and wiring? What is the voltage on the hot side of the outlets to a good ground? There is a clue somewhere in there.

Yes I do, somewhere. I'll get on the hunt shortly.

 

[Jim]

We had an issue with our bully dog complaining about a pedestal. Tested pedestal with DMM and it appeared to be fine.
But bully dog would shut it down. So I had a new unit shipped under warranty. It would not work either (so I sent the new one back).
Also noticed that one of our inverters was showing an error red light.

Could not determine what was wrong - so I added this to my list of things to be fixed on the next trip to the mothership.

After leaving that campground a couple months later, bully dog was happy but that red light would not go away. A bit later due to some other maintenance we decided to shut EVERYTHING down and reboot it all. Shutdown the Coach lithium battery system and BMS, inverters, truck battery, no shore power, even the salesman switch.

After the full reboot, that inverter red light went away.

After reading more about our load balancing switch and how it was configured, I realize that if it weren’t for that load balance we would have had many outlets not working. But that load balancer took the load on the single inverter. Which made me realize why the breaker blew on an inverter once.

The key learning for me - disconnecting from that campground power was not enough - the inverter would not reset itself until after a complete power down.

Don’t know if that helps in this situation or not.

Is there a procedure for a systematic shutdown/restart of the coach's electrical system?

 

[Neal]

Look at the breaker box likely in the half bath. Cycle breakers there, also it's a good reference of what's on inverter vs. shore power as Newmar typically separates them. There is also a master inverter breaker there that people forget or don't know it's even there. Cycle it.

It's likely as mentioned the inverter breaker but there is also a fuse, I think it's in the house battery bay. I remember MapNerd had an issue from overloading the circuit with hair dryer, air fryer, etc. and this fuse got fried, I ordered spares as many did at that time, it's on this forum somewhere. I'll see if I can find it after this post.

Was this even triggered by a high load such as described above or did it just happen when nothing was in use?

Anyone call Newmar advisor yet (number on driver's side window)? Essex line?

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[Jim]

Look at the breaker box likely in the half bath. Cycle breakers there, also it's a good reference of what's on inverter vs. shore power as Newmar typically separates them. There is also a master inverter breaker there that people forget or don't know it's even there. Cycle it.

It's likely as mentioned the inverter breaker but there is also a fuse, I think it's in the house battery bay. I remember MapNerd had an issue from overloading the circuit with hair dryer, air fryer, etc. and this fuse got fried, I ordered spares as many did at that time, it's on this forum somewhere. I'll see if I can find it after this post.

Was this even triggered by a high load such as described above or did it just happen when nothing was in use?

Anyone call Newmar advisor yet (number on driver's side window)? Essex line?

Help Dead Battery!

Not sure what happened. We stepped out for the day and came back to dead chassis batteries. We’ve been connected the 30amp service for a week and a half and haven’t had any problems. Honestly I haven’t looked to see if it was charging because everything was running fine. Anyway, everything is...

rvforums.com

Inverter fuse size; 300A vs 350A

A recent thread on this forum discussed a 300A fuse blowing in the inverter circuit and the need to carry a spare fuse. I finally got around to checking the value of the fuse in our all-electric 2018 MADP and found that it uses a 350A , not a 300A. Of course, I found that out after picking up...

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I don't believe so, Neal. From what I understand, everything was normal when they went to town, and they discovered the problem when they returned.

 

[Neal]

Turn off pedestal. Run GEN. Any change?

 

[Neal]

Pull out the induction cooktop. There is an outlet there on shore power non inverter. It should be working.

What is the house battery voltage?

I don't know silverleaf but check charger and inverter are on.

 

[Jim]

Turn off pedestal. Run GEN. Any change?

No, same problem. With generator on, power everywhere except the outlets. With the one exception, the outlet in the middle bath. It still works.

 

[Jim]

Pulled the breaker from pedestal, tightened power inputs. Tested power coming out. All good.

Plugged the Bully Dog in and it's again happy, but still not power to the outlets.

Made sure all pushbutton breakers on the back of the inverter were not popped. None were. I can hear the fan on the inverter running. Wish there was a way to plug directly into the inverter to see if there was power coming out.