Full blackout on shore disconnect

[Vinnie]

Hey folks! We're just now prepping the new rig (Fuzion 429 TH) for our first trip, after buying and immediately winterizing it. I apologise in advance for the spamming I'm about to unleash on y'all. I'll try to keep it to one post per topic to alleviate confusion.

Right now, the trailer has two 12v batteries installed by the dealer, one for the house, and one for the generator, I'm told. We have it plugged into a 15a plug to charge the batteries and give us a tiny bit of juice for cleaning and prep.

After de-winterizing it, I kicked on the electric water heater, while we had a couple lights, all the ceiling vent fans, and one AC unit on in "fan" mode. The 15a seemed to be handling it fine, and the control panel showed the battery at like 14.4v charge, so all's good. Mama kicked on the integrated vacuum, and after a few minutes of that, everything died all at once. The 15a breaker had blown, so I reset it, turned off the water heater, and the rest of the day was fine. After the blackout, the control panel showed the battery at 13.2v, and gradually climbed.

My question- shouldn't the lights and vent fans, or something have stayed on when the breaker blew, powered by the house battery? I couldn't even get the glorified tablet control panel to power up. In a prior rig, when shore power failed, even with AC and big television running, it went into kinda a "brown-out" mode and gave me time to kill all the high-draw stuff, while still drawing from the battery. This one didn't seem to do that. Am I missing something?

[chuckster57]

Is the battery disconnect in the proper position? It almost sounds like you were running off the converter.

[Vinnie]

The battery disconnect (the big red key in the plumbing box) was in the "on" position, as far as I could tell. It turns 180 degrees, so it's tough to tell which is the indicator edge, except it's slightly pointed on one side, so I assume that's the "arrow" that points at the "on" sticker. When it is thusly pointed, the blue LED indicator for the KeyTV panel comes on, so that's my indicator that everything is live.

I'll openly admit to being a Luddite when it comes to electricity. I have no idea what it means to be running off the converter, or how I would accomplish that.

[notanlines]

Vinnie, without actually 'being on site' I can't help with your answer, but I can tell that NEVER run a microwave, water heater or any air conditioner from a 15 amp plug. Even a hair dryer is to be avoided. Your 15 amp receptacle is a 'bare bones' service only for keeping the batteries charged, run the furnace and maybe a TV if necessary.
Before you say it, I know there is a veritable multitude of people that will tell you they are running an AC, water heater, 2 TV's, the fridge and all on a 100' orange 18 gauge cord. You will soon burn up the compressor in your AC.
Let us know how your problem gets solved.

[Ken / Claudia]

If it's like my on/off switch. When in the on position the key is locked into it. If off it can be removed.

[chuckster57]

If your plugged into shore power the converter will supply the 12V to the trailer and charge the battery. I would test the voltage AT THE BATTERY, and see what it is. Then disconnect the Positive cable from the battery and test the volts. Then test the battery.

Post back what you find.

[ChuckS]

also something you MAY not be aware of with your Fuzion and central vac system..

It is most likely wired sharing the water heater breaker. it uses a shared power management system...

See page 4 of this link to understand....

With the water heater element on and the central vac at same time you are exceeding the 15 amp breaker and also the shore power form that 15 amp feed..

https://www.intervacdesign.com/image...83b3&CFTOKEN=0

[Vinnie]

LOL y'all kill me. I know that 15a is sad, and I know why I overloaded it and popped the breaker. My question is- once the breaker popped, why didn't the battery keep the 12v stuff (lights and vent fans) turned on?

Chusckter- I'll do the testing, assuming I can find something to test with (my multimeter, which I probably don't know how to use correctly, might be broken), and report back. This actually leads me to my next post, for when I get pictures: the house battery seems to have the main positive cable, and a set of smaller positive and negative cables attached to it. The generator battery has the generator cables attached to it, as well as what appears to be the main negative cable, which, to clarify, is not connected at all the the house battery. The two batteries are not otherwise linked to each other, far as I can tell.

[chuckster57]

We normally wire the gen to the house batteries. Just for fun, when plugged in check the voltage at the gen battery.

[Vinnie]

so wait, which wires/batteries are which, and is this wired right? The third hot wire (the lighter red one that crosses the top of the battery) seems to not have a matching ground wire, and with my limited electrical understanding, that seems wrong to me.

I'll start a new thread if you want me to, for the how-to on replacing the house battery with the two 6v batteries I got on sale at Sam's Club.

[chuckster57]

JMO, but if you have 2 6V batteries wire it up as follows:

Battery A positive to Battery B negative.

Then all positive leads to battery B positive
All negative leads to battery A negative.

[Vinnie]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

JMO, but if you have 2 6V batteries wire it up as follows:

Battery A positive to Battery B negative.

Then all positive leads to battery B positive
All negative leads to battery A negative.

The generator doesn't need it's own separate 12v battery for starting?

[LHaven]

Originally Posted by Ken / Claudia

If it's like my on/off switch. When in the on position the key is locked into it. If off it can be removed.

On many like mine, the key can't be removed unless it is turned about another 30° past off. But from the LED on his Key TV, I trust he got it right.

So the question is, why is the battery powering his Key TV, but nothing else?

[Vinnie]

Originally Posted by LHaven

On many like mine, the key can't be removed unless it is turned about another 30° past off. But from the LED on his Key TV, I trust he got it right.

So the question is, why is the battery powering his Key TV, but nothing else?

well, even that didn't have power until I reset the breaker, so that means to me the house battery was providing nothing at all.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by Vinnie

The generator doesn't need it's own separate 12v battery for starting?

No it doesn’t. And AFAIK the gen won’t charge the battery, that’s what the converter in the trailer is for.

[LHaven]

Originally Posted by Vinnie

well, even that didn't have power until I reset the breaker, so that means to me the house battery was providing nothing at all.

In that case, make sure your key is in the right position before going any further. Photo.

[Vinnie]

This is pretty much it's permanent position, as we haven't moved it, and left it plugged into 15a shore over the winter.

(why the pic oriented sideways, I have no idea)

[chuckster57]

Try turning it.

[Vinnie]

No change when switched to off (everything still has AC power, I guess). Turn it a tiny bit more, and that's where the key comes out. While in the off position, the control panel still shows 14.5v.

Side note- the inCommand system is the least informative, least intuitive information center I've ever seen.

PS- when I turned it back on, I heard something klunk out near the generator, and the leveling system made a electronic tinkling noise. So clearly that's the "on" position.

[chuckster57]

The clunk was the automatic transfer switch. It detects where the power is coming from and connects the trailer AC to that supply.

As long as your plugged in, the panel will show 13/14VDC as its reading converter output. Unplug from shore power and see what happens when you cycle the disconnect.