Freedomring Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 Had oil heater plugged into kitchen receptacle, and the entire system shut off. Looked in the bedroom electrical breaker box, but no circuit breakers for that system are located there. Where is the secondary breaker location? New guy to this with a new older unit. Thanks for any help from the community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDCrow Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 The breakers are on your inverter, in the side compartment. There are 2 20 amp circut for your receptacles in the coach 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Van Arsdall Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 Most likely the GFCI tripped. Usually a bathroom outlet will be GFCI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDCrow Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 1 minute ago, Ron Van Arsdall said: Most likely the GFCI tripped. Usually a bathroom outlet will be GFCI. Or This ^^^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrayj1 Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 Do you have a GFCI plug that you are aware of? All of our outlets, 10 or 11, are on a GFCI that trips occasionally. You might also check your inverter, ours has two fuses and occasionally one will pop out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick A Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 It’s dangerous to plug heaters into the system because if you plug in another appliance you will trip it. I put in a separate extension cord wired into the rig from the power bay under the bed, through the toilet under the fridge to the wall on the side of the fridge. Usually there’s a 15 amp plug on the shore power unit that you can use to pull an extra 15 amps without overloading the RV. Bet you trip the inverter. This is good for the inverter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr4Film Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 Yep! Everyone who has posted already is correct. Either a GFI outlet or the CB's on the Inverter have tripped. Let us know what you find. This time of year with people wanting to use heaters we always get similar problems from members. Rick is right on with his solution. It pays to know what the amp draw is of various devices and appliances listed in your Inverter manual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivylog Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 The breaker the heater tripped is hard to find on the side of the inverter mounted on the ceiling of a basement bay. They are small round push to reset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppa G Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 As mentioned check your inverter/converter,there are breakers that are little round black buttons .And if that being the case push the button in that has popped out that should restore your outlets.In the future if you are using the heater,don’t use microwave,air fryer,etc that is drawing hi wattage,if your going to use those appliances turn off heater.That’s our SOP. Poppa G- 2003 HR Imperial-ISL400 -2015 Equinox LTZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1nolaguy Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 I know this is redundant as every comment above is correct. Rick A's suggestion is a good one but make sure it is plugged into an outlet serviced directly from your main panel if using a couch outlet. In our 2004 Cheetah the wall outlets in the bed room (not the one that services the tv) are through the main panel and only have power when connected to shore power or the generator. All the other easily accessible 110v outlets are linked through the GFCI in the bathroom, which in turn is linked through the inverter /converter. In our case this was until last year a Xantrex Freedom 458. Here are a few suggestions in the meantime. 1) do not run your electric heater above 1000 watts and do not run anything except it on a plugged in circuit at the same time. Periodically check the wall outlet and cord for heat. If hot shut it off. As a side note, last winter I noticed the outlets used were getting hot. These RV outlets only use a friction fit and now electrical box. I replaced them with shallow pan retrofit boxes (see lowes or HD) and commercial outlets using the screw terminals instead of friction ports. The result was greatly reduced heat generation at the outlets. This particular build design, having almost all the outlets connect through one GFCI and the I/C, IMO is poor and suggests only planned for light occasional use. I replaced my Xantrex with an Aims I/C this past spring and installed a sub-panel in the same bay. This spring I plan to split the two sides of the coach 110 service onto separate breakers so the drivers side will be on one breaker and the passenger side on a second one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDCrow Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 (edited) 38 minutes ago, 1nolaguy said: I know this is redundant as every comment above is correct. Rick A's suggestion is a good one but make sure it is plugged into an outlet serviced directly from your main panel if using a couch outlet. In our 2004 Cheetah the wall outlets in the bed room (not the one that services the tv) are through the main panel and only have power when connected to shore power or the generator. All the other easily accessible 110v outlets are linked through the GFCI in the bathroom, which in turn is linked through the inverter /converter. In our case this was until last year a Xantrex Freedom 458. Here are a few suggestions in the meantime. 1) do not run your electric heater above 1000 watts and do not run anything except it on a plugged in circuit at the same time. Periodically check the wall outlet and cord for heat. If hot shut it off. As a side note, last winter I noticed the outlets used were getting hot. These RV outlets only use a friction fit and now electrical box. I replaced them with shallow pan retrofit boxes (see lowes or HD) and commercial outlets using the screw terminals instead of friction ports. The result was greatly reduced heat generation at the outlets. This particular build design, having almost all the outlets connect through one GFCI and the I/C, IMO is poor and suggests only planned for light occasional use. I replaced my Xantrex with an Aims I/C this past spring and installed a sub-panel in the same bay. This spring I plan to split the two sides of the coach 110 service onto separate breakers so the drivers side will be on one breaker and the passenger side on a second one. Very smart. On our Dip 1/2 of the receptacles ran off the inverter, and half off shore power. When I replaced the inverter, I got rid of the block heater circuit and now it powers the half of the outlets that ran through the inverter. Inverter is now 100% pass through on shore power, or all plugs will fire off battery power now, though it’s thirsty if you you 😂 Edited December 26, 2021 by JDCrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppa G Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 1 hour ago, JDCrow said: Very smart. On our Dip 1/2 of the receptacles ran off the inverter, and half off shore power. When I replaced the inverter, I got rid of the block heater circuit and now it powers the half of the outlets that ran through the inverter. Inverter is now 100% pass through on shore power, or all plugs will fire off battery power now, though it’s thirsty if you you 😂 Hi JDCrow, I replaced the inverter with a Xantrex pure sine 3012 3000 watt inverter,also replace the 50amp auto relay. I have 2 panels in the coach ,one panel are gfci/arc breaker, the other panel are standard breakers for the shore power. I like the idea of using the block heater breaker to be able to be power the rest of the outlets through the inverter.the main breaker has 2 30amp legs that feed the converter,guess I have to figure out what’s feeding the shore and gen outlets.Always open to suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDCrow Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 13 minutes ago, Poppa G said: Hi JDCrow, I replaced the inverter with a Xantrex pure sine 3012 3000 watt inverter,also replace the 50amp auto relay. I have 2 panels in the coach ,one panel are gfci/arc breaker, the other panel are standard breakers for the shore power. I like the idea of using the block heater breaker to be able to be power the rest of the outlets through the inverter.the main breaker has 2 30amp legs that feed the converter,guess I have to figure out what’s feeding the shore and gen outlets.Always open to suggestions. Mine was a bit easier as I have just 1 main breaker panel. The 2 circuit off the inverter were for microwave, and gfci plugs. 1 set of plugs was already on the “bed room” breaker, (shore power). I had to run new Romex in the walls from the compartment up to panel to get the circuits all joined. I have 1 junction box now in the compartment. I moved my inverter over 1 compartment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freedomring Posted December 28, 2021 Author Share Posted December 28, 2021 Thanks to all for your excellent advice. I'm out of state and away from the coach right now. When I return to Colorado I will attempt to repair the challenge to my electrical system. I did try to reset the GFCI receptacles with no positive outcome. So, I will go into the inverter. Again, many thanks for your responses. Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now