Converter Breaker not wired to Converter

[tdeperte]

I have a 2022 337RLS fifth wheel. I turned the converter breaker off while watching the battery voltage and nothing happened. No voltage drop on the batteries even though I had the interior lights on in the coach along with the other normal voltage draws. I then began turning off breakers until I saw a voltage drop. When I turned off the fireplace breaker the battery voltage dropped. So it appears my fireplace and converter are on the same breaker. With the converter breaker off everything 110 volt still worked. All outlets in and out, the tv, satellite, etc all worked. So the converter breaker, best I can tell turns nothing off.

The good news is Grand design uses different colored wiring for different circuits. The 15 amp converter breaker is wired to the ONLY pink cable. I have yet to trace this as I only discovered this last night and I will have to pull most everything out of the basement and remove the panel to the "mechanical" area. The fireplace breaker is wired to a small circuit monitor of some type (small square device) that is installed in the lower right corner of the breaker panel. It has a regular plug and cord in the rear going to the mechanicals area. I don't know what this small device is or does.

I'll update when I trace these cables and determine what is going on. Right now I don't like the idea of my fireplace and converter on a 15 amp breaker. Both at full load will trip this breaker.

[howson]

tdeperte -- please take lots of pics when you figure out where the wires are going so if we need to pass something on to GD it will be easy to convey the info.

Howard

[tdeperte]

tdeperte -- please take lots of pics when you figure out where the wires are going so if we need to pass something on to GD it will be easy to convey the info.

Howard

Will do. This is something they will want to correct sooner rather than later!

Something tells me the plug and cord I mentioned is going to the converter. But I am confused at this point how shutting off this breaker marked fireplace that this plug and cord are wired to is also shutting off the fireplace if it is wired to the converter. Stay tuned as we venture into the beast!

[TedS]

The fireplace and converter may be daisy-chained. For instance: breaker to converter outlet and converter outlet to fireplace. That would make the breaker common to both.
Or the other way around.

[Country Campers]

tdeperte

Grand Design does wire the converter to a outlet on the back of the power distribution panel, this is for easy removal or replacement of the converter. It is possible that this outlet and the fireplace is mis-wired. You can remove the door on the power panel to see where the wires are attached to the breakers, please remove all power from the RV before working in this area. You might find that there are no wire connections on the converter breaker. A couple pictures of what you find will be helpful to all. Just please be careful, I do not want you to have a shocking experience.

Brian

[KrustyKush]

Question from a newbie here: if there is solar, doesn't the solar equipment provide current to the battery no matter what the position of any other trailer breaker? I was under the impression that the solar panel and its controller are wired direct to the battery. Could it be that during daylight no matter what you did with the rest of the trailer's electrical stuff, the battery would continue to show it being charged?

[Country Campers]

Question from a newbie here: if there is solar, doesn't the solar equipment provide current to the battery no matter what the position of any other trailer breaker? I was under the impression that the solar panel and its controller are wired direct to the battery. Could it be that during daylight no matter what you did with the rest of the trailer's electrical stuff, the battery would continue to show it being charged?

That is a good point and also could be the answer to this question. I am not sure if the wiring is different in a Solar model compared to non Solar, a question I will have to ask GD.

Brian

[tdeperte]

Thread starter here with what I found. Pretty embarrassed but I was tired when I discovered the problem last night and I should have caught this right away. Brian is correct, the fireplace and converter breakers were miswired. Since the circuit label on the electrical panel is preprinted, the installer at GD simply mixed up the two wires to the breakers. The small device that I saw in the lower right corner of the panel is simply an outlet that the converter is plugged into. It is pigtailed to the breaker with an orange Wago connecter. It has the green ground wire running to it.



So, what caused me to think there was something sinister inside the mechanicals area of the basement? Well, when I turned off the converter breaker I was using the Compass Connect app to monitor the battery voltage. I think the app was hung up causing the voltage not to change when I shut the breaker off. During shutting off other breakers I think the app came alive again as I turned off the fireplace breaker. That was when I saw the battery voltage drop so I "assumed" the converter was wired with the fireplace on the same breaker. When I checked all 110 volt devices and outlets for power with the converter breaker off I checked everything but the fireplace! Confused yet???

In the end I took out my label gun and fixed this in a jiffy. Much easier that trying to work in that small area and switch the wires. Now to get everything back into the basement.

[howson]

Question from a newbie here: if there is solar, doesn't the solar equipment provide current to the battery no matter what the position of any other trailer breaker? I was under the impression that the solar panel and its controller are wired direct to the battery. Could it be that during daylight no matter what you did with the rest of the trailer's electrical stuff, the battery would continue to show it being charged?

Typically when discussing circuit breakers the writer is referencing a 120vAC circuit. Low voltage (12vDC) is normally protected by a fuse. So when the OP referenced the "converter breaker" in his first post it was assumed he was working on the 120vAC side of the trailer.

If somehow an inverter (12vDC > 120vAC) , which is typically powered by the batteries, was somehow tied into the converter (120vAC > 12vDC)...that would be bad. Using the batteries to charge the batteries obviously doesn't make any sense.

Should the words above leave a ? in your mind, consider buying J. Michael Sokol's No Shock Zone book (link is to Amazon). For $15 you'll get an easy-to-read paperback on RV electricity. (Everything Mike's written is on the internet, but I like having a book to read in my easy chair. YMMV.)

Howard

[Scott.n.Tira]

In the end I took out my label gun and fixed this in a jiffy. Much easier that trying to work in that small area and switch the wires.

Here's a picture of my panel, (2021 2670MK). I had to go into it for the same reason a lot of other people have mentioned lately, I had to turn off the converter when I plugged into my inverter.

I could definitely use your label maker. LOL