Fantastic Fan Stopped / Electrical help.

[Andycamm]

Hi All, Hope everyone had a peaceful and safe thanksgiving.
I went out to clean up and get our 2010 Casita FD 17 ready for some camping. After working in there a short while, I noticed the Fantastic Fan that I keep the thermostat on was not kicking in. I tried to start it manually, no luck. The Fuses behind the little tan door are all good. Then I checked all other lights and fans and found out the following: stove range fan, bathroom roof vent fan, and outside lights (next to door and propane tanks) are also not working. All other indoor lighting, Airconditioning and fridge all work fine. Could there be another fuse or breaker that handles all the fans and lights that are not working?
Any insight would be awesome.

[Raz]

Are the fuses labelled at the converter? As more than one device is not getting power, I would suspect a bad connection at or near the converter. Many times crimp connectors are used and they are famous for coming loose? Sometimes wiggling wires helps identify the problem. Make sure something is turned on.

With the power disconnected a continuity tester can be used to look for wire breaks. At times I've used strait pins pushed into the wire to make contact with the conductor. It's tedious but it does work. Good luck.

[Mark Bradley]

Use a voltmeter and check for power at the fan. If there is no power work your way back until you find the source of the problem.

[Civilguy]

The A to Z Casita book has wiring diagrams. The positive circuits don't seem to correlate to the things you are finding; as an example the fantastic fan and the range hood are shown as being on two different circuits, and the outdoor lights are on a third circuit. So, it's possible that it's a fault in the ground wiring.

You would normally start at the output of each fuse and work your way outwards along the positive wires until you find a fault in of those runs. As has been mentioned, connections are always suspect; conductors rarely fail mid-run.

However, as there are several circuits involved, it sounds like there may be a fault in the ground (negative) wiring.

[Andycamm]

Thanks for your advice. I will be pulling out the volt meter and start poking around in the morning. I really hoped to hear that there was another fuse hidden somewhere that I did not know about.

[redbarron55]

Very often in a fiberglass something the ground return is where you will find the proble, Check the voltage at the fan from the + (red maybe) to the - black (maybe) at the unit as stated above.

[Defenestrator]

How sure are you that all the fuses are good? Sometimes they can look OK even when they're blown, and a continuity test is the only way to be sure.

[redbarron55]

While you have the meter, just check the voltage.
Many times there are just as many problems in the "ground" return or negative side as the other. It is harder to troubleshoot since often that side is ignored.
With a fiberglass trailer or boat the negative side has to be wired as well as the positive.
You can get a really cheap, but adequate, meter at Harbor Freight and may of the big box stores.

[CasitaMiner]

There is a little actuator pin under the fan lid so when top lid is down the fan cannot be turned on, well this pin can seize and not release over time when you raise the fan lid, use some electronic component cleaner on this pin, see if it will work then. Spray and push it in and out as you spray to loosen.