Sudden 120v outage in Our Trailer - Fiberglass RV
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Old 08-09-2009, 04:07 PM   #1
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While camping last night at the Zane Shawnee Caverns Park near Bellefontaine, OH, we had our 120v power suddenly go out while we were watching a movie in our 16' UHaul VT. We assumed the campground had lost power to just certain sections, since the bathroom lights were still on about 150 yards away. The power came back on in the trailer in about 2 minutes. However, about 45 minutes later, the same thing happened and I stepped outside to check if the power was out 3 spots down (in between were tent campers). The small pop-up's outside light was still on, so they had power. After about 5 minutes, the lights flickered on and off and the AC tried to start. We suddenly realized that we should shut the AC off and did that right away. At the time of the outage, we had the following things running (30 amp service):
a. fridge (small dorm model)
b. 2.5 gallon water heater
c. Coleman Polar Cub AC on low cool
d. 19" TV and DVD player
e. a small reading light
f. LED string lights on the screen house

We shut everything off and used a small camp lantern while I checked the circuit breakers in the trailer and the power cord to the trailer. The service circuit breaker at the pole was still on (I flipped it off and back on to make sure) and the cord was plugged in tight. The circuit breakers inside the trailer also were all apparently not tripped, but I flipped them off and back on to make sure. In doing this, the lights flickered and came on briefly when I turned breaker 2 OFF ( I'm not sure which breakers serve the various circuits in the trailer and have to check this but breaker 2 is not the master breaker). When I turned breaker 2 back ON, everything went off. I also jiggled breaker 2 and got intermittent power, but with a bit of a cracking noise from the breaker. This would lead me to believe that it is time to replace the 23 year old breakers! However, I was surprised that it was one of the individual circuits causing this for the whole trailer rather than it being the master breaker. I would have thought that only the one circuit would have been affected. Could this individual line breaker cause all the power to go off? What else should I check? Finally, are these breakers of a special size for travel trailers? I won't have a chance to check things out for a couple weeks now (we're home now and not planning to camp until Labor Day weekend).

Thanks!

Kevin A (CindyL's hubby)
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Old 08-09-2009, 06:24 PM   #2
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I would check all the screws clamping the wires to the circuit breakers first before replacing the breakers.

Bill K
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Old 08-09-2009, 06:47 PM   #3
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We have been in campgrounds where the power is iffy and if it's a hot night and everyone has their A/C on brownouts occur and things shut down.
My guess is it's not your camper unless it happens all the time.
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Old 08-12-2009, 10:20 PM   #4
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While camping last night at the Zane Shawnee Caverns Park near Bellefontaine, OH, we had our 120v power suddenly go out while we were watching a movie in our 16' UHaul VT. We assumed the campground had lost power to just certain sections, since the bathroom lights were still on about 150 yards away. The power came back on in the trailer in about 2 minutes. However, about 45 minutes later, the same thing happened and I stepped outside to check if the power was out 3 spots down (in between were tent campers). The small pop-up's outside light was still on, so they had power. After about 5 minutes, the lights flickered on and off and the AC tried to start. We suddenly realized that we should shut the AC off and did that right away. At the time of the outage, we had the following things running (30 amp service):
a. fridge (small dorm model)
b. 2.5 gallon water heater
c. Coleman Polar Cub AC on low cool
d. 19" TV and DVD player
e. a small reading light
f. LED string lights on the screen house

We shut everything off and used a small camp lantern while I checked the circuit breakers in the trailer and the power cord to the trailer. The service circuit breaker at the pole was still on (I flipped it off and back on to make sure) and the cord was plugged in tight. The circuit breakers inside the trailer also were all apparently not tripped, but I flipped them off and back on to make sure. In doing this, the lights flickered and came on briefly when I turned breaker 2 OFF ( I'm not sure which breakers serve the various circuits in the trailer and have to check this but breaker 2 is not the master breaker). When I turned breaker 2 back ON, everything went off. I also jiggled breaker 2 and got intermittent power, but with a bit of a cracking noise from the breaker. This would lead me to believe that it is time to replace the 23 year old breakers! However, I was surprised that it was one of the individual circuits causing this for the whole trailer rather than it being the master breaker. I would have thought that only the one circuit would have been affected. Could this individual line breaker cause all the power to go off? What else should I check? Finally, are these breakers of a special size for travel trailers? I won't have a chance to check things out for a couple weeks now (we're home now and not planning to camp until Labor Day weekend).

Thanks!

Kevin A (CindyL's hubby)

A lot of the time with wiring problems it turns out to be a bad ground. Have you checked that out yet. Hope this helps.
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Old 08-12-2009, 10:54 PM   #5
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Quote:
I would check all the screws clamping the wires to the circuit breakers first before replacing the breakers.

Bill K
Hmmmm--- The "crackling" noise reminds me of the time the circuit panel in my first mobile home (yeah, we refer to ourselves as "trailer trash") was buzzing.... Seems that there was a bunch of loose connections in the box. And some corrosion and a few BURNT spots... So, like Bill said, check the screws and any other connection you can find in the 120v system. Of course, make sure you're not plugged in at the time.... Larry
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