Recently, we started getting only 1 leg of 110A/C when running the generator. Just by chance a tap on the control pannel brought it to life, however after a few minutes of opporation a electrical component smell occured.
I swung open the control pannel and found this:
The Power selector for 110A/c [Generator/off/Shore] was getting so hot it was melting the black tape that it is wrapped in to cover the terminals.The plastic housing of the switch was also almost too hot to the touch. Looking further I started hearing slight crackling and I discovered one of the large black power cables that either go to or come out of it had pulled loose from the terminal it was supposto be clamped in. It was making contact by just laying on it and ocaisionally arking.
I shut everything down reinstalled the cable but still only get 1 leg of 110A/C from the generater. I checked shore power and everything checked out good no problems there. Something odd I noticed is that the terminal that was loose and arking has become very rusty while the other 8 are like shiney new, could arking over a long period of time cause this? I cleaned it up to where I concidered it satisfactory but the problem still percisted.
Now for the dumb questions;
Seems to me I need to find out 1 of 2 things- If I,m getting power from both legs from the gen. to the switch and or if current is flowing through the switch correctly. What electrical tool is required to check this?
I cant understand how the 2nd leg worked while loose and arking and now that its reinstalled it wont. Could it be because it was arking off the other leg that happened to be right next to it explaining the heat build up due to the remaining leg carrying twice the current that it was designed to do?
Ill call an electrician if I have to but I would like to first find out if its the Gen. or the switch. WHAT KIND OF A ELECTRICAL TESTER AM I LOOKING FOR?