Somethings burning

[Jeff Bayley]

My wife smelled something electrical burning the other day. I pulled over promptly. Checked the computer printer, ok. Chekced the battery bay where the inverters were. Ok.

Found a few days later that it was in the control box for the generator. Bad ground wires the tech suspected. No parts damaged, not even the regulator and it was just a matter of trimming back the burned wires and cleaning up the connections. This is not the transfer switch, this is a box that sits with the generator set and where the rubber meets the road for throwing the power out into the coach and into the inverters and so forth.

FYI for anyone out there with older coaches to consider this a Preventative Maintainence item. My coach is 10 years old. I've had a few close calls with generator fires including the fire supresion system I had installed blowing up instead of acting as a safety device.

The tinkering and mechanical stuff just never ends I guess.

In New York for about a week now and only got 1 $40 parking ticket in Long Island. Found a driver with a movie pass that is good through 7/2002 so if anyone else wants to come park in NYC I can scan it and you can print it and tape it to your window.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Jeff, another interesting story. You sure live in the moment. Glad your trouble was caught in time. Your incident reminds me of a safety issue I will mention.

This may not be exactly what Jeff's issue was, but here goes anyway. Over the years my experience with electrical panels switches and devices has shown me that screws connecting wires to such become loose over time and can cause dangerous heat buildup. It is appropriate as a maintenance issue to check all electrical connections periodically for tightness as a preventive measure!

Be sure to apply safety measures when performing the task. That is remove all electrical power from all circuits being worked on!

[lewpopp]

Jeff, you have a movie pass good thru 7/2002? Hell, I think I'd look for a valid pass somewhere else. Still sleeping on the sidewalks of New York?

How much more can I take? Sleeping on the streets of NYC would cause one to talk with a very high pitched voice.

[jello_jeep]

Heya Jeff, good to hear from you.. Was wondering what had happened to ya'll!!... Oops I forgot, it would be plural.... Being ... "All ya'll"... We learned that in Texas

[jello_jeep]

Tom, just out of curiosity, which water likne broke on you ??

[truk4u]

Jeep,

Water supply line after it entered the coach in the plumbing bay, but this was a Foretravel and not a Prevost. I just assume it can now happen anytime anywhere, regardless of brand.

[truk4u]

Jeff,

Good post... My gen voltage last year would not stay up close to 120, so when I opened the gen electrical box to tweak the controller, the box looked as though it had been hot. When I removed the controller, the back of the unit hot gotten so hot the plastic was melted. Only a matter of time before it would have failed.

P5300070.JPG
Heat stress cracks on controller, right bottom of picture

[Jeff Bayley]

I've had intermittent output from my generator since the last post on the bad grounding. I had all the grounds stripped back and fixed with new connectors and have been troubleshooting it since. I think I found the problem but not sure yet. The Voltage regulaor can't just be lying around in the control box without being secured somehow and mine was. Could be that the guys that I had fix the ground wires left it improperly mounted. I used some think double stick tape to keep it in place and also isolate some of the vibration. I talked to Power Tech and the V.regulators don't like vibration. I thought my transfer switch relays might be failing that wasn't the problem. One guy at Power Tech said the v.regulator should either work or it shouldn't and another tech said it could work intermittently. I can turn the gen on and have power for hours and it then turn the gen off and back on again (without having moved) and get no power. I go out and bank on the control box with my fist and wala ! Power. Really makes you feel like Fonzy hitting the juke box but I'd rather feel the air conditioning. Either has to be a loose connection or what follows.

I ordered a new Volatage Regulator but the problem seems to have gone away by putting some padding/tape as a suspension on the v.regulator. Anyone else ever see that problem ?

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Yes Jeff

We had an intermitint issue, a couple with ours and they were both loose wire end terminals.

As a rule of thumb most often when doing repairs it is usually the simple things that go bad, always check there first.

That whack on the control box has already narrowed the serch conciderably.

If you open up that control box and take a good look you might not see the problem right off, but keep searching and I think you'll find the problem.

Often it isin't till I go back to something the 3rd or 4th time that I find a problem.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Jeff, To add to my earlier post on tightening electrical screws. After reading your post on the intermittent idiosyncrasy of your system I recalled a problem I had with a machine drive unit that was miss made. What happened was the terminal for the screw was not drilled and tapped through so even though the screw appeared to be tight it was not clamping the wire connector.

MORAL OF STORY: Test to ensure the wire is tight in the connector, the connector is tight to the terminal and the terminal screw is also tight!!