Pole Breaker Problem

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Sometimes gently tapping on a breaker will fix the problem with a intermittant breaker.

Gary De: I considered using my 20lb sledge for the tapping, but couldn't find it in my bus anywhere? !

Gary S.

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Not to rain on your parade you mentioned that even while driving down the highway your generator was coming on due to the autostart.

Before you settle in and start thinking life is good, you need to check to find out why that is happening. You should have been getting more than enough battery charging power while in motion to never hear the generator start.

Maybe this should go over to another thread.

Jon, you were correct as usual, which is no big surprise.

On our way out with our mini rally to Buckhorn, I noticed that my gen would keep starting. I didn't have but one A/C on and that is suppose to be handled by the invertors. So I mentioned that to Jon, while he was trying to help me solve my other power issue. ( Bad Pole Breaker ).

So when we got home, I took it to Birdland, ( Loc's Favorite RV Resort ) here in houston to have the power issue looked at.

CRAP ! I need to replace both battery equallizers, the power isolater, and what the hell, might as well replace ALL SIX OF THE 8D Lifeline Batteries while they are at it. (4) Batteries were 2005 (2) Batteries were 2003

Good thing my step-daughter doesn't expect any ineheritance when I die, cause there won't be any.
And for good measure I had Michael ( Birdland ) fix the door hinge safety pin that keeps it from swinging out and knocking the mirror out of alignment.

I hope to be able to afford fuel sometime in early 09, so we can go somewhere?

But at least I think everything is fixed, electrically?

Gary S.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gary,

While you have replaced everything in the house charging circuit but the alternator, for future reference I would have run a check on the components before replacing them. Here is my thinking for what it is worth.

The equalizer is easy to check. The 24volt side should be 2X the 12 volt side plus or minus 1/2 volt. If that checks out the equalizer is good. Check it with the bus running and the alternator charging.

An ohmeter can check the isolator which is an indication to me that you have a single large 24V alternator charging both the house and the chassis. The isolator is working if you get power from the alternator thru to both the house and chassis circuits, but with the bus engine off you do not get power back from either the house or the chassis to the alternator post. The isolator allows current to flow into the batteries, but not from them.

My guess is one of the house batteries, likely the 2003 battery had failed and it sucked the others down. A simple battery test with all batteries disconnected from one another would have sufficed to show the problem.

You should be good for many months and miles now as long as you properly keep the batteries topped off.

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Thanks Jon, for all the wisdom you shed on our problems and concerns.

Birdland is just waiting on the Isolater to arrive in town, so they can put it in my bus, and I will be on the road again. Hopefully today, but no guarantees?


Loc won't tell me where he is going this weekend, so even if I get my bus, I won't be able to find him so that Peg and I can camp with him and Courtney. Courtney really loves, Peg's Margarittas. !!!

Come to think of it, maybe not knowing where Loc is, would be a good thing.

Gary S.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gary,

Save every one of the parts removed from your coach. Next time we get together I would like to test them. You may have some spares or parts you could sell.

Coming to Spearfish? Should we do a hands on seminar on DC electrical systems on our coaches?

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Jon, sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you on this question?

We will not be able to make it to Spearfish, our next POG Rally will be in 2009 when and hopefully where ever it ends up, but I do think an electrical seminar would be a definite must for most of us, and greatly appreciated.



But now I have another question. I keep pretty good tabs on the POG site because of all the usefull information and the chuckles it offers.

Usually I log in to POG and then click on New Posts to see what is new since the last time I logged in...... but lately I miss lots of previous posts from you guys for some reason. Am I doing something wrong or are you guys sometimes missing posts as well when you log in?

I still can't find an answer to my question about types of Back Up Cameras you guys use that fit in the painted shell on the back of my bus. My Inteq has crapped out again, after only 2 weeks. This is the second new camera.

Gary S.

[JIM KELLER]

Gary, I have noticed the same thing. I just thought I was doing something wrong. I stumble on posts and think " how did I miss that ! "

[Ray Davis]

Unfortunately it appears the "new posts" really only works for a period of 1-2 days. If you haven't logged in beyond that time, it doesn't seem to work correctly.

ALSO, and this is very import.

It uses your time of login (time of last action, like reading a post) as a determining factor. If you log in at some point, read a couple of posts, and then don't get to the remainder for several days, you will likely loose the posts that were remaining at that time.

The software doesn't actually monitor each and every post that you've read, but it compares the post time, with the last time you were active on the forum. So a login with partial reading can really mess you up.

Ray

[Jeff Bayley]

If I missed someone already posting this note, forgive. I scanned the entire thread quickly. If someone didn't already mention it, I believe that the 50 amp breakers simply wear out after breaking/tripping over and over and over and over again. So the breaker is worn out and accoding to some electricians I've asked about. Sometimes, I'll get better power out of a 30 amp service and running two airs than I will at a worn out 50 amp service (in the same park even). The breakers just get weak after so many cycles and maybe some corrosion, dirt or other junk.

I've never had an issue at a KOA. They do maintainence and don't let weak things like breakers degrade and I think they replace these more often as needed. Then I've plugged into 50 amp service that has a well worn, chipped, loose breaker. It might trip after it warms up a bit and your out of power at 3am in the morning. Besides testing the breaker with a load metter (which few of us have), just go ahead and test the outlet (before you get bunkered down at that spot) by putting on all three airs or two airs and the waster or dryer or some heavy load. That's your load meter. If the RV camps 50 amp breaker snaps, then get to another spot before you level everythig off and pitch camp.

From an arm chair electrical field tester. No MIA degree here.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

The circuit breakers in the campground power boxes, especially the 50 amp breakers, are used as switches. That is not a job they were designed to do so they will have a high failure rate.

The breakers are supposed to be "on" all the time such as the breakers in your house, and only on rare occasion when you service a circuit are you expected to cycle a breaker on and off. In a campground application the breakers may be cycled as frequently as once a day.

I used to carry a bunch because when we were producing power outlets we would occasionally break a piece of the plastic or there would be a defect that made it unacceptable in the product, but the breaker would function just fine. I have replaced more than one rather than go through the effort to hunt someone down in the campground and then watch them go to hunt up parts. Now I just turn on the generator and complain.