7.5 amp fuse in control board

[mnlepage]

Good afternoon. We FT in our reflection 315RLTS and went to visit family for a week. Upon return, our main power breaker at the park was flipped. We have a progressive surge protector. We got the power back on and the surge protector was fine, and upon initial checks, all systems seemed fine. The first problem we noticed was the living room A/C would not turn on. We checked the circuit breakers and got correct readings, and it was late so we decided to give it a break and shower. When we went to turn on the water heater, neither switch was lighting up and the water heater (both gas and electric switch) was not initiating. We also noticed the “convenience center” buttons would not light up. Also, slide 3 (bedroom slide) would come in on one side, but would not come out. The motor control box is giving a fault that motor 1 is not receiving power, check electrical wiring) I realized we must have a DC problem. All fuses in the fuse box are fine. I pulled off the control panel and the 7.5amp fuse was blown, upon replacement it immediately blew again. From my very limited electrical background, this means I have a short. I looked through the threads here and someone said they had this problem and the wires under the bed had come uncoupled. We checked and they appear fine. Has anyone else experienced this and has any idea where to start to find this short? No mobile techs are available to come out for a week. Please help! I’m sure we can do this ourselves, we just need some guidance from other experienced owners! I appreciate any help!

[gbkims]

Good afternoon. We FT in our reflection 315RLTS and went to visit family for a week. Upon return, our main power breaker at the park was flipped.

Since the power was off for awhile, I'd think the 12V batteries may have discharged way down.
The problems now sound 12V DC related, as the bedroom slide is sensitive to low battery capacity and sometimes a fuse will blow if voltage is low.
So I'm wondering about the batteries condition, whether they are now fully charged or may have been affected by deep discharge.
I'd take the batteries in for a test at local auto parts store.

[weekender01]

I am not an electrician so let me start with that.

Sounds like something got "fried/shorted" and is causing you issues. Any idea why the main power breaker was flipped? I assume you are speaking of the one on the outside pedestal. Also which progressive surge protector do you have? Do you have the HW version by chance that shows your voltages and amps? Any other campers having issues? I would start there as I am not sure your surge protector is fine, but you need to confirm that. Can always unplug it if the portable kind or bypass if the HW kind.

As for what is working and what is not is odd. Most of what you listed is on the AC side of the line, but some of the other items are DC. If it were me I would unplug the camper and make sure the voltage at the box outside is correct. The try a few items in the camper that should work on DC such as your slides, fridge on gas, lights, etc. If those work then plug your camper back in and follow that to your converter and make sure it did not take a hit. There are usually some fuses on those you can check and should hear a fan when it is running as well. You could also plug into 30 amp if you have a connector and confirm that the 50 did not drop a leg.

Start there and see what you can find is good and what may be bad. Unless you are an electrician I would recommend waiting. Others may be able to give more advice, but those are my thoughts. Good luck.

[mnlepage]

We have no idea why the breaker was flipped, we asked the neighbors and they hadn’t had any problems. The breaker is not even on our outside pedestal, it’s located somewhere in the park and we had to have the owners flip it for us.

I checked the fuses on the converter and they are fine. The weird thing is that some things from the control panel are working, lights, awnings, two of the three slides. The only things not working from there is one slide, the water heater switches, and the lights that indicate tank full, etc.

Like I said, I have a small electrical knowledge from my job, where I troubleshoot gear. But I honestly think I’ve exhausted all efforts I can do on my own. Most faults I deal with are software problems these days rather than hardware, so my electrical training isn’t as fresh as I think it needs to be. I know I have a short, it’s just a lot harder to follow everything back without schematics. I was trying not to wait so long for someone to come out.

[traveldawg]

Until you said you round a 7.5amp fuse and it keeps blowing I was going to suggest looking behind your control panel for additional fuses.

It seems odd to me that a slide (especially only one half of a slide), the water heater and the lights on the control panel all share the same circuit. Buy, heck - it's an RV - so anything goes.

If there is a fuse that is constantly blowing, and your batteries are up to full charge, I think the only direction to go in now is to start eliminating things on the circuit until these is no further short (fuses blowing).

[powerscol]

Behind my control panel there is a 7.5 fuse, but it is for the awning light on my unit. There is a fuse in my master panel that says convenience center. I did also discover power to a lot of the switches is daisy chained from one switch to another, so if one junction failed the switched after that wont work. I had the spade break off one of my switches (awning light) so that is how I discovered it. Have you pulled your convenience panel yet? It is just 6 screws, the trim hiding the screws just pops off.

Hope this helps

[mnlepage]

Well I replaced both water heater switches today and got the water heater as well as the “convenience center” tank full, etc indicators working. No more fuse blowing. However, the bedroom slide as well as the living room a/c are still giving me problems. Wish I knew exactly what caused these problems, because they are obviously unrelated, but I know it’s not a coincidence this all happened at once.

[TowRod]

All of my tank level indicator lights quit on our last outing - curious if replacing your water heater switches is what brought your indicator lights back to life?

[RickLight]

In my rig fair amount of control stuff (technical term) is powered from the control panel fuse. Water heater propane and tank indicators at the top of the list. My guess is that something went wrong in the panel and you fixed it without knowing.

So check for a separate fuse on each slide motor. Low voltage to a motor will raise the amperage dramatically. (Not true with most other loads.)