Cruisers Forum
Main Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: Carol on April 25, 2015, 09:21:39 am
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Strange issue going on with my frig when I hook up to shore power, so I figured I'd see if anyone here has some insight before I dig further. I have a built-in Surge Guard, and the only way to get shore power to get "approval" after the 128 second delay is to power off the refrigerator. If the frig is on (propane) while the Surge Guard is counting down its test period, then when we hit the 128 second mark the display panel on the Surge Guard goes blank. No error code, nothing, just blank. And of course no power comes through. I do hear a small clunk type sound and it sounded like it was either from under the corner bed (where the Surge Guard and Converter are located) or the refrigerator, which is why I tried turning the frig off and found out that it worked that way. After shore power is established, I turn the frig on (electric) and all works fine. Any ideas?
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Have you measured the voltage of the outlet you are attempting to plug in to?
Most surge guards only allow 104 to 132 volts. Higher or lower it will trip.
Check polarity and ground also.
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Carol,
We also have a built in Surge Guard. I would call their technical support number and talk to them. It sounds strange since you do not get any code after the 128 second count down. Our protector is made by progressive industries and they have been extremely helpful when we have called.
Sue
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Keelhauler--The info panel will show when there is a reverse polarity or faulty ground. This time it just goes blank, which is what is weird. I've been at two different campgrounds since it started and it has happened at both.
Sue--Good suggestion, and yes I will call next week. Thought I'd check here first, though, in case anyone else has had something similar happen or has an easy solution.
I'll follow up next week and will let the forum know what the Surge Guard people say so we can all get smarter!
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By the way, Progressive surge protector is programmable to choose either a 10 sec delay or a 128s ec delay. The only reason not to choose 10 seconds is your A/C doesn't have a built in delay. All Phoenix Cruisers have delay build into the A/C.
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We also have a built in SurgeGuard and have never encountered this problem.
- Mike
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Our Surge Guard unit will trip out two or three times. This is at our electric shop with all good power and grounds.
Kermit said I would have to unplug the telephone type cord to the info. board to reset it. So far it will come on. JAS
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Still waiting to get a call back from Surge Guard, but meanwhile I spoke to a refrigerator technician and to Kermit at PC. Kermit has not heard of this happening before, but then they haven't installed a great many Surge Guards on the PC's. The Thetford/Norcold technician, however, was familiar with Surge Guard units and said that I should always turn off the refrigerator when hooking up to shore power, then turn it on after power is approved by the Surge Guard. He couldn't answer why things worked fine for me for the last 9 months, where the frig stayed on and did it's automatic shift from propane to electric once shore power was established, but he made clear that the "normal" way of doing it is to turn the frig off first. So I shall.
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All righty, here's the skinny.
I talked to the Surge Guard tech today and got a slightly different story than I did from the refrigerator fellow. He said it sounds like a grounding or line issue in the RV itself. Since the refrigerator seems to be the culprit, the line from the circuit breaker panel to the refrigerator may be in an open ground or open neutral situation, causing feedback in the system and thus triggering the Surge Guard to turn off. He said it is not dangerous as is. I just have to turn the frig off to hook up power, then turn it back on. And when I am near a technician that can do RV electrical system diagnostics, I can have it looked at then.
I think that what the refrigerator fellow said about always turning the frig off before hooking up to shore power is unnecessary under normal circumstances.
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We have a 30 amp Progressive Industries surge guard that is NOT hard wired. We plug it into the campground power post each time. We've spent a year and a half full time in our 2552 with lots of moves and power hook ups and never had that problem. We have tripped it several times for bad wiring at the campground or running too many electrical components. Example: air conditioner, coffee pot and microwave and POOF - no power. That scenario is called user error. I'd like to be able to say we learn from our mistakes and only did this once... but I can't.
I wonder if it could be a different model refrigerator that can't handle the delay or only tries to switch over once. Our baby is in temporary storage so I can't check which model fridge we have to compare.
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2Frazzled--Thanks for your input. I must say that the built-in surge guard is one option I regret getting, and I would have done better to get a unit like yours that I can hook up at the post. When the built-in one goes kerflooey, there is no bypass which would allow you to hook up or get generator power. You would have to actually disconnect 12 wires and then reconnect them to a junction box. I was looking at their manual and they say they do that because of safety concerns--they don't want people to easily bypass the surge guard if the electric power source is unsafe. Makes for a real pain in the butt, though, if the surge guard itself fails.
Anyhow, mine isn't broken at this point, so I won't borrow that trouble. As for the wiring issue that it is detecting, Kermit agrees with the Surge Guard tech and believes it could be a sticky relay in the frig when it tries to flip from propane to electric. He also agrees it is an inconvenience, not a danger, so I'm just going to deal with the frig manually when hooking up.
Thanks!