electrical problems

[Don Bradner]

I've experienced two serious electrical problems on our current trip. I'm hoping
the second problem (solved) was the cause of the first, but I can't get my head
around exactly how it would be, so I'm hoping someone with more RV electrical
experience than I have will have a clue. I will rest easier if I know what
caused the first problem.

The first problem I talked about here earlier, but will run through for clarity:

With a lot of draw going on, I had the 50-amp breaker on the park pole blow,
plus the main inside breakers, plus the breaker for the inverter. Power was lost
on the inverter circuit, and did not return when breakers were turned back on
with reduced draw. The inverter, a ProSine 2.0, is toast - burnt components
obvious when opening the case. I removed the inverter and wired input/output
together for power on the inverted circuit when on park power, and bought a
small charger to keep the batteries up while parked.

Xantrex sent out a new ProSine 2.0 (half-price, well out-of-warranty) and I will
get it tomorrow. I've been worrying about hooking it up without knowing what
caused the failure.

Problem number 2: Yesterday I moved, and on arrival at a park in Ogallala the
50-amp park breaker blew as soon as turned on. After turning off the internal
main breakers I was able to get the park breaker to hold after one more failure.
The breaker was "spongy" so I wasn't sure if it was just weak. Turning on the
main breakers inside worked fine.

Moved again today, and the problem repeated except that nothing would make it
work. In trying various things I found that my 30/50 cord worked fine.

So, I took the coach connector apart and found:

Screw for black wire fell out, and was quite black on the end. White and Red
attached, but screw not tight. Green was not attached at all - screw all the way
in, and wire laid across the top. Contacting case, but who knows how well.

It is amazing I had power at all. I cut the end off and rebuilt the connector,
and had no problem turning on the power.

It would seem to be an odd coincidence if problem one was not caused by problem
two, but since the ProSine 2.0 should in theory work regardless of what occurs
on the input side I'm not sure what the connection is. Anybody have thoughts on
this?

Don Bradner
90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
Posting today by satellite from Grand Island, Nebraska
My location: http://www.bbirdmaps.com/user2.cfm?user=1