Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Electrically Challenged

The last few days we have been busy washing and waxing the RV and the truck. Then of course it rained 2 hours after we were done. Oh well…


Fathers day was a nice relaxing day. I spent most of it watching old war movies off of the DVR. It has been awhile since I just sat and watched movies all day.


We have been having some problems with the refrigerator not working unless we were plugged into shore power. I have an appointment lined up when we get to Batesville sometime on Tuesday.
I new that the refrigerator had to have a continuous supply of 12 volts dc to operate while not plugged in. I checked the 12 volt fuse’s and all was well. I even had 12 volts coming to the fans but they did not work. They connect to a thermistor that when the temps get so high it trips and completes the circuit for the fans to work. Part of my problem is that I think the thermistor is bad, that would explain my fan problem but not why the unit will not work on 12 volts.


Sunday night we had a power line go down outside of the park. We eventually lost power. Now we discovered that not only does the refrigerator not work when not plugged in, neither does my interior lights, in fact I discovered that my whole 12 volt system was not working.
I fired up the generator so the fridge and lights would work. It was bedtime so we just headed to bed. I needed to see if the generator would run all night anyway so we left it running.


I had a fitful nights sleep trying to figure out why my whole 12 volt system is not working. Maxine kept telling me that there must be a fuse or a switch somewhere that has blown. I agreed but I could not find any fuses.
I got up about 5:30 and discovered that the electricity to the park was back on. I went out and shut down the generator. While I was out there I had remembered something said during our delivery of our unit about the battery disconnect switch. This is a switch you use if winterizing the rig to shut off the batteries from the rest of the coach.


I went to the switch and pulled it out. Sure enough, the 12 volts started working. Even the refrigerator now will work when not plugged in. The 12 volts coming into the refrigerator was coming from the convertor box while we were plugged in.

Sheesh! What a rookie mistake. I should have checked that thing weeks ago. I still think I have a problem with my fans so I will keep the appointment with the service tech.


Today, Tuesday, we are moving back over to the Batesville Thousand Trails park. It will be about a 180 mile Drive. Hopefully they have everything up and running. It will be nice to have full hookups again and hopefully even the pool.


Enjoy Your Day!

2 comments:

Mike and Terri said...

Murphy's Law: It always rains after you wash and wax your vehicles. In fact the last time we washed the truck, it rained AS we were driving out of the car wash!!!

Glad you figured out your 12-volt problem. Don't feel bad. We all learn from our mistakes.

Catherine, Jo Beth and Grace said...

At least you figured it out before you called the RV tech out. :)