Electrical issue (AC Power)

[Racer-X-]

I'm doing some repair/restoration work on a 1995 Fleetwood Flair (built on a 1993 Chevrolet P30 chassis). I'm pretty good with the mechanics of the chassis, engine, transmission, suspension, the "motor" part. The "home" part is foreign to me.

One issue I've discovered (the hard way) is that there's something seriously wrong with the AC wiring in this one. We have it plugged in to an outdoor outlet on his house (GFCI protected). The RV has a 30 amp plug on it, but we've got an adapter to a "normal' three prong, 12 Gauge extension cord for now. We're not running the AC in the unit or anything significant. We haven't even turned on the fridge yet. Mostly, just a "boom box" to listen to while we're cleaning up and dealing with various issues.

Here's the first major issue. When I'm working on the thing, the frame and chassis are live with AC power. If it's plugged in, and I'm kneeling on the ground and I touch anything metal on the frame, engine, suspension, whatever, I get a serious shock, like I stuck a paper clip in an electric outlet. There's no issue if I'm working through the doghouse from inside to work on the top of the engine. The issue is only when I'm on the ground and touch the thing with my bare hands or with a metal tool/wrench. If I unplug the power, there's no issue. Actually, working on the thing with it plugged in is borderline dangerous.

I checked the AC outlets in the RV with one of those plug in analyzers (something like https://amzn.com/B00170KUPC ) and it's reading "Hot/Neutral Reversed" for all the outlets in the RV.

I don't even know where to start to diagnose and fix this. Is there any obvious place where something could be connected incorrectly to cause this problem?

UPDATE:
I'll be looking at the "shore power" cord plug and the connection at the junction box in the motorhome later this week, May 2 or May 3.

Thanks to all who answered on this topic.

On a related AC Power issue. We've hung a flat screen LCD TV on the wall behind the dining table. I used the tri-split rivets to hold the bracket for it to the wall. I think that's the best fasteners for that job. It seems to be secure and strong.

There's a power outlet in that wall on the bathroom side. Will I be able to get power from there and install a new AC power outlet on the side toward the table? Should I add another circuit with breaker to the panel and run more wires? or should I just wire in parallel with the outlet in the bathroom?

And why are all the AC power plates in this thing "single outlet" with a faux second outlet (molded to look like one, but the socket slots aren't open, they are solid plastic). Can I replace any of them with dual outlets? Or even dual + USB power type outlets for charging phones, tablets, etc.

[Racer-X-]

I believe the cord is molded at the plug end.

I won't be back to work on this one until later this week, probably Thursday. I'll inspect both ends of the shore power cord and the connection to the RV. I suspect that's where the problem will be.

On a related AC Power issue. We've hung a flat screen LCD TV on the wall behind the dining table. I used the tri-split rivets to hold the bracket for it to the wall. I think that's the best fasteners for that job. It seems to be secure and strong.

There's a power outlet in that wall on the bathroom side. Will I be able to get power from there and install a new AC power outlet on the side toward the table. And why are all the AC power plates in this thing "single outlet" with a faux second outlet (molded to look like one, but the socket slots aren't open, they are solid plastic). Can I replace any of them with dual outlets? Or even dual + USB power type outlets for charging phones, tablets, etc.

[D_E_Bishop]

Racer-X, with the extension cord disconnected from the RV's power cord, disassemble the male end of the cord. The cord should be a 10-3 or three wires of #10 gauge. The wires should be covered with black, white and green insulation. The black wire should go to a screw in the male plug that is brass in color, the white to a screw that is silver in color and the green should go to a green colored screw.

If everything is good so far, open the box that is permanently mounted to the cabinet wall and which the power cord is attached. The wires in there should be hooked up color to color. If they are, hire a mobile repair guy because you're headed into the ATS or Automatic Transfer Switch and you don't want to go there.

All this can be searched for and followed on your search engine and on YouTube if you would feel better seeing a close up picture of the terminals and wires. It's not, I repeat, not, at all dangerous if the 120 vac is disconnected.

Let us know what you find, Okay?

PS: When you have the plug and the junction box open, check that all connections are tight.

[time2roll]

cavie wrote:
OP has already done that in post #1

Missed it.

Yes the OP needs to correct the cord connections that were probably repaired incorrectly. If this seems scary then find someone that actually knows the difference between hot and neutral for standard home wiring.

[cavie]

OP has already use a tester inside in post #1

[time2roll]

+1 to use the three light tester inside the RV.

[cavie]

Racer-X- wrote:
I'm doing some repair/restoration work on a 1995 Fleetwood Flair (built on a 1993 Chevrolet P30 chassis). I'm pretty good with the mechanics of the chassis, engine, transmission, suspension, the "motor" part. The "home" part is foreign to me.

One issue I've discovered (the hard way) is that there's something seriously wrong with the AC wiring in this one. We have it plugged in to an outdoor outlet on his house (GFCI protected). The RV has a 30 amp plug on it, but we've got an adapter to a "normal' three prong, 12 Gauge extension cord for now. We're not running the AC in the unit or anything significant. We haven't even turned on the fridge yet. Mostly, just a "boom box" to listen to while we're cleaning up and dealing with various issues.

Here's the first major issue. When I'm working on the thing, the frame and chassis are live with AC power. If it's plugged in, and I'm kneeling on the ground and I touch anything metal on the frame, engine, suspension, whatever, I get a serious shock, like I stuck a paper clip in an electric outlet. There's no issue if I'm working through the doghouse from inside to work on the top of the engine. The issue is only when I'm on the ground and touch the thing with my bare hands or with a metal tool/wrench. If I unplug the power, there's no issue. Actually, working on the thing with it plugged in is borderline dangerous.

I checked the AC outlets in the RV with one of those plug in analyzers (something like https://amzn.com/B00170KUPC ) and it's reading "Hot/Neutral Reversed" for all the outlets in the RV.

I don't even know where to start to diagnose and fix this. Is there any obvious place where something could be connected incorrectly to cause this problem?

Start at the beginning and work your way to the RV. Check the source voltage. Plug in the cords and check the voltage at the RV with it not plugged in. Next turn off the main breaker in the RV. Remove the circuit breaker panel cover. Plug in the RV. Check the power at main breaker with it turned off. L1 to neutral = 120 volts. L1 to ground = 120 volts. Neutral to ground = 0 volts.

[oldave]

Careful you guys don't want to kill your self .
If you are not confident working with elect then see if you can find a mobile
RV tech .
He could probably diagnose it real quick .

[RoyB]

I carry one of these safety checkers with me to tell if the electric wiring is correct. The only place the frame ground on the trailers is through the shore power connection cable... I got mine from LOWES...

You can plug this into the outlet and the lights on it will tell you if it is wired correctly... You may also have a bad-wired outlet in your garage or where you are picking up 120VAC...


Google image...

Different folks take the shock differently. What you have could be very dangerous to some people... Especially small children or pet animals...

If you can't figure this out then you should get a licensed electrician to test it for you and make the proper connections...

Back in the day a lot of people would always tear out the ground pin of adapters for whatever reason haha...

Roy Ken

[MrWizard]

house outlet is ok !
new 120v 3 prong/duplex extension cord !

check both ends of the RV shore cord for a swapped/reversed connection
could be the outside/Male end of the shore cord
or where it connects to RV in the connection box

[opnspaces]

Yes definitely check the cubby and see if the wires are connected correctly. Also with the possibly replaced cord, is the plug end molded to the cord; Or does it look like the plug was cut off at some time and replaced? If it looks replaced I would definitely open it up and see if the hot and neutral are correct.

Maybe plug the tester in with all breakers off in the coach. Then flip them back on one at a time while watching the tester.

[Racer-X-]

opnspaces wrote:

What do you get when you plug the tester into the GFCI outlet on the house, Does it read a correct connection?

The outlet at the house tests good. He had an extension cord with the third prong cut off the male plug where it plugged into the house. I brought my own 12 gauge extension cord with all prongs connected and unmodified, and that didn't help anything at all.

opnspaces wrote:

Any idea if the power cord or battery charger has been replaced? As Pianotuna said it sounds like something is wired backwards.

I have no idea what has been replaced. He bought this one used a month or so ago. I'm helping with mechanical "maintenance catch up" and fixing some of the mechanical issues with the chassis, engine, suspension. I'm new the the "home" part of motorhomes.

So I think I'm hearing I need to check in the cubby where the big power cord for the motor home is, and see if the end of that cord where it attaches to the motorhome coachwork wiring system is connected correcly (hot to hot, neutral to neutral, ground to ground and to the chassis). That could be wired backwards, I guess. The big power cord looks newer than a lot of the other parts on this one, so it might have been replaced.

[opnspaces]

Yes that is a dangerous situation and you definitely need to get it fixed before you plug it in.

What do you get when you plug the tester into the GFCI outlet on the house, Does it read a correct connection?


Any idea if the power cord or battery charger has been replaced? As Pianotuna said it sounds like something is wired backwards.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Has the male cord end been replaced? If so, someone wired it backwards.

If not, then the shore power cord is reverse polarity at the power distribution center.

I'm quite surprized the gfci has not tripped out.