Please bear with me, it's going to take a couple of paragraphs to detail what happened setting up yesterday and continues to happen even though I got through the first issue.
I'll start off by stating we used the camper last month for a week at the Michigan Rally and all systems worked flawless. We towed it home, emptied what we needed to and put it in storage.
We pulled it out of storage and came up to Harrison MI for a weekender to see family and friends. We're bringing one granddaughter. Nothing happened on the road to think we might have caused an electical issue.
We parked it and leveled the trailer no problem. Nothing to think we were about to find something has happened.
I plugged my Surge Guard into the 50 amp outlet and turned on the breaker. All green lights. I turned it off, plugged in my 50 amp cord and turned it back on. Wife went inside to do her things, I stay outside to hook up the rest of utilities.
Wife calls out to have me come inside. She had hit the switch to extend the LR and Kitchen slides heard a whine type noise and maybe one slide moved 1/4" and then nothing, that system is dead. I looked at the microwave and the clock is lit up so I know that we still have shore power. She had turned on the rear AC and it ran for a couple of minutes and then turned off although It was still quite warm. This shouldn't matter because the slides operate on 12v side. I check the circuit breakers and 12v fuses, all is good there. Besides the slides not opening also various ceiling lights won't go on. The rear lights over the LR, kitchen do light up. The hall, bathroom and bedroom ceiling lights do not go on. The bathroom ceiling fan does work. The closet light does go on. The two little reading lights over the bed & pillows do go on.
I go up front and open the front compartment. There is an audible click from one of the relays on the front wall. About once every 30 seconds there'll be hum, a click, the compartment light will brighten for a second then a second click and the light will go back to normal. Wait 30 seconds, repeat.
We called LCI trouble line and a very helpful Kim talked me through several diagnostic steps using a voltmeter. We determined the pedestal was fine with a consistent 120v being delivered, at the pedestal and at the camper. Because the leveling system worked we checked the volts at the hydraulic pump motor. Operating the switch we were getting 12.5v while we raised and lowered the levelers a couple inches.
She had me then take off the control panel inside the camper. This gave me another opportunity to see that the circuits were all fine. Behind the panel you see that there are 6 wires to the switch. Determining the ground and red we operated the switch and found only 7.5v. This was the same on the schwintec bedroom slide and the awning switch. We talked for a couple more minutes about the power drop but she explained there was nothing further she could suggest over the phone. She stated we would have to go to a dealership, any would do because they all work on LCI components. We called Grand Design Cust Service but resulted in no assistance. She stated their mobile techs were scheduled 4 months out.
We tried various camper outlets but could not get a mobile tech.
Now thoroughly stumped I decided to put the control panel back secure. Now all of a sudden one 12v 15 amp fuse is shown blown. OK, how did that happen? I carry spares so I swapped it out and immediately the hall and bathroom, bedroom ceiling lights all go on. The switches obviously left in the on positions.
What the heck I hit the slide switch and it operates perfectly. I hit the bedroom slide and it works. 8 yr old granddaughter who has been patient like a saint is exstatic, the trip is saved (her first extended camping trip with us). I'm a hero! But she already knew that.
Now back to our story, the problem is not completely resolved. Not at all. This morning the bathroom fan started speeding up to very high speeds. Then went back to normal. The bedroom ceiling lights do not come on, there are four. The bedroom closet light flashed and burned out. This one is an automotive bulb. One of the two kitchen lights by the by the stove counter is now out. One of the two dining room table lights is now out. Although it was gone, I now sporadically hear the the hum and clicks from the front cabinet. One the 110 side both AC's, the television, the microwave, the electric side on the water heater all work. I did not test them all at the same time obviously.
We go home Monday and I'm pretty sure the slides will retract. But what if they don't? We have a 2 week vacation planned for the east coast for later July. I cannot trust this is an isolated incident. There are some type of elec surges on the 12v side.
If I had to guess I would bet my inverter is at fault. But I'm not an electrician. Before I crawl under there, and I will, I want some guidance on how to diagnose a problem and find and replace the inverter or other at fault issue.
When we pull out Monday there'll be no place to work on it. There are no outlets where we store the camper so there's no place to plug it in and test the inverter. We live in a condo complex and there's no place to park it so I can work on it with a long 15 amp extension cord.
Thank you for following along and any suggestions you can offer will be greatly appreciated.
TomF
I'll start off by stating we used the camper last month for a week at the Michigan Rally and all systems worked flawless. We towed it home, emptied what we needed to and put it in storage.
We pulled it out of storage and came up to Harrison MI for a weekender to see family and friends. We're bringing one granddaughter. Nothing happened on the road to think we might have caused an electical issue.
We parked it and leveled the trailer no problem. Nothing to think we were about to find something has happened.
I plugged my Surge Guard into the 50 amp outlet and turned on the breaker. All green lights. I turned it off, plugged in my 50 amp cord and turned it back on. Wife went inside to do her things, I stay outside to hook up the rest of utilities.
Wife calls out to have me come inside. She had hit the switch to extend the LR and Kitchen slides heard a whine type noise and maybe one slide moved 1/4" and then nothing, that system is dead. I looked at the microwave and the clock is lit up so I know that we still have shore power. She had turned on the rear AC and it ran for a couple of minutes and then turned off although It was still quite warm. This shouldn't matter because the slides operate on 12v side. I check the circuit breakers and 12v fuses, all is good there. Besides the slides not opening also various ceiling lights won't go on. The rear lights over the LR, kitchen do light up. The hall, bathroom and bedroom ceiling lights do not go on. The bathroom ceiling fan does work. The closet light does go on. The two little reading lights over the bed & pillows do go on.
I go up front and open the front compartment. There is an audible click from one of the relays on the front wall. About once every 30 seconds there'll be hum, a click, the compartment light will brighten for a second then a second click and the light will go back to normal. Wait 30 seconds, repeat.
We called LCI trouble line and a very helpful Kim talked me through several diagnostic steps using a voltmeter. We determined the pedestal was fine with a consistent 120v being delivered, at the pedestal and at the camper. Because the leveling system worked we checked the volts at the hydraulic pump motor. Operating the switch we were getting 12.5v while we raised and lowered the levelers a couple inches.
She had me then take off the control panel inside the camper. This gave me another opportunity to see that the circuits were all fine. Behind the panel you see that there are 6 wires to the switch. Determining the ground and red we operated the switch and found only 7.5v. This was the same on the schwintec bedroom slide and the awning switch. We talked for a couple more minutes about the power drop but she explained there was nothing further she could suggest over the phone. She stated we would have to go to a dealership, any would do because they all work on LCI components. We called Grand Design Cust Service but resulted in no assistance. She stated their mobile techs were scheduled 4 months out.
We tried various camper outlets but could not get a mobile tech.
Now thoroughly stumped I decided to put the control panel back secure. Now all of a sudden one 12v 15 amp fuse is shown blown. OK, how did that happen? I carry spares so I swapped it out and immediately the hall and bathroom, bedroom ceiling lights all go on. The switches obviously left in the on positions.
What the heck I hit the slide switch and it operates perfectly. I hit the bedroom slide and it works. 8 yr old granddaughter who has been patient like a saint is exstatic, the trip is saved (her first extended camping trip with us). I'm a hero! But she already knew that.
Now back to our story, the problem is not completely resolved. Not at all. This morning the bathroom fan started speeding up to very high speeds. Then went back to normal. The bedroom ceiling lights do not come on, there are four. The bedroom closet light flashed and burned out. This one is an automotive bulb. One of the two kitchen lights by the by the stove counter is now out. One of the two dining room table lights is now out. Although it was gone, I now sporadically hear the the hum and clicks from the front cabinet. One the 110 side both AC's, the television, the microwave, the electric side on the water heater all work. I did not test them all at the same time obviously.
We go home Monday and I'm pretty sure the slides will retract. But what if they don't? We have a 2 week vacation planned for the east coast for later July. I cannot trust this is an isolated incident. There are some type of elec surges on the 12v side.
If I had to guess I would bet my inverter is at fault. But I'm not an electrician. Before I crawl under there, and I will, I want some guidance on how to diagnose a problem and find and replace the inverter or other at fault issue.
When we pull out Monday there'll be no place to work on it. There are no outlets where we store the camper so there's no place to plug it in and test the inverter. We live in a condo complex and there's no place to park it so I can work on it with a long 15 amp extension cord.
Thank you for following along and any suggestions you can offer will be greatly appreciated.
TomF
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