HELP CLASS B SHORE POWER ISSUE 220/110

[landlordy]

I'm sick over this. I just got a 1997 born free 4x4 class b and I camped the first night in it on the way home and the shore power worked perfect.

I got home and noticed in my shed in the back yard I had an old funny looking plug that I thought was similar. I followed it to the breaker box and found it to be 30amp. I thought i needed 30amp and that the chord and shore plug were so big on the rv that it was 220. I went to lowes and got an rv plug and swapped it for what i now know was a welder plug. I plugged it in and went in the rv and noticed my control panel did not say connected to ac so i unplugged it. This is when I called my dad and we looked into it all closer and found that it needs 30amp 110. So i went back to lowes and got a 30 amp 110 breaker and now have the plug wired properly for shore power, but when i plug it in the panel still does not say connected to AC.

This is when I started googling and got sick to my stomach and realized I may have just ruined my new investment. I want to mention that when i switch on my panel all my stuff still works i guess on dc: tv, 110 outlets, microwave etc. My rv has a heart interface freedom 10 converter and it has an on/off switch on it and there is another on/off on my panel. When i turn on the panel the converter hums, I don’t know if this is normal because I have only owned it for a couple days. I have flipped all the breakers and had no luck.

Am I missing a master fuse or something, have i fried my converter? God i hope I didn’t fry the air conditioner which is the main thing i need to be working. I can’t not believe there is not some kind of breaker that would trip to avoid something like this from happening?! The plug looks just like a 220 dryer plug!

This is my first rv and i have only owned it for 3 days and I know nothing about them, so sorry for being a noob to forum and rv knowledge.

Any help is greatly appreciated, I am totally gutted over this

[shilohdad]

Not sure what you mean when you say your panel does not say connected to AC. I have owned much newer coaches than yours - a 2006 and a 2017. Neither one has a panel that I would say shows something like connected to AC. Perhaps a photo would help.

That said, if your microwave and 110 outlets are working, you seem to have AC power. As for the converter humming, that would seem to indicate that it is getting AC power, too.

Of course, if the circuit you originally plugged into was 220 volts you could be scrod, but you only talk about the nature of the plug, which is probably irrelevant. If you have a meter, try to determine the output voltage on that circuit. If it shows 110, you are probably OK.

I am no specialist on this stuff, so hopefully someone more experienced will chime in, too.

[landlordy]

I def plugged it into 220 the first time. I believe my appliances are running off the dv batteries now. The control panel in my rv lights up "AC input" when i am connected to shore power and did so the first night camping. Now after this incident when i am connected to shore power it no longer lights up. I tried to attach a simple picture I took w my phone but this file upload system will not take it. I will attach the photo error message I guess maybe my phones camera is to good?

The image must be at least 0 pixels wide, 0 pixels high and at most 720 pixels wide and 2160 pixels high. The submitted image is 3000 pixels wide and 2250 pixels high.

[John S.]

You fried your 110 volt system. You will have to check the main breaker and see if that tripped but the AC should be fine as it probably never started. I would start with the main breaker and see what you crushed. Probably the converter charger as well will need to be replaced but do it one at a time. All RVs are 110 even the big 50 amp ones.

[whemme]

landlordy,

The reason your photo won't attach is that that it is too wide at 3000 pixels. The message you got is telling you exactly what is wrong.

The maximum permitted photo width on this forum is 720 pixels (10.0 inches). You need to reduce the size of your photo to a width not to exceed 720 pixels. Please read the forum topic titled Photo Posting Rules & Hints for more detailed information.

[landlordy]

Thanks guys. That breaker was tripped. How do i check it further, do I actually pull it from the breaker box? Sadly resetting it did nothing. Also if the whole 110v system was fried wouldn't the plugs etc. not be working regardless of if connected to shore or running on batteries?

[landlordy]

I guess to get ahead of the game here and deal with what I will probably have to do, can you guys recommend which converter/ charger I should go with if I need to replace. The one i fried is a freedom 10 by heart interface which puts out 1000watts. Also can they be repiared? My rv is just a camper van really w roof ac, microwave, fridge and toilet so I dont think I need to go much more. I just spent my life savings on it and this was unexpected so cost is def a factor. thanks again

[whemme]

landlordy,

Can you tell us specifically which circuit breaker was tripped? Also, not sure what you mean by plugs not being operational. Do you mean the 110 vac plugin sockets?

If you have power available from your several 110 vac sockets when plugged into shore line power, and with that circuit breaker reset, then your 110 vac power distribution system is working. Will your AC and microwave now work? If so, are your house batteries now charging? If not, your charger/converter most likely was fried when you plugged your shore line cable into 220 vac, It most likely will have to be replaced.

Being specific and using correct terminology will greatly help others to help you.

[shilohdad]

Also, from what I can find on the web, that Freedom 10 is not a converter/charger, it is an inverter/charger. Here is a link to a PDF of the owner's manual,if you do not have one:

http://www.bdub.net/manuals/Heart_Freedom_10.pdf

There are a number of inverter/chargers on the market that you could use as a replacement. It won't be cheap, and I would recommend having it professionally installed.

[landlordy]

Im sorry for my lack of correct terminology, as stated this is my first rv and i owned for approximately 3 days before i ruined it. Im trying to learn as fast as i can believe me. I'm also new to forums and how to use them so all i can say is please bare with me.

What I'm saying is when the RV is not plugged into shore power most everything works (ie:110 outlets, fridge, microwave, tv). When i plug into shore power I see no difference at all and it does not seem to be charging the batteries either. The deep cycle batts are reading 12.10 no matter if I'm plugged in or not. I will check the breaker and report back when i leave work at 5. Also you are correct in that the freedom 10 is an inverter/charger not a converter/charger. An explanation of the difference in those 2 would be greatly appreciated. It has a built in transfer switch as well which some people have stated could be whats fried? I do have all the original paperwork and it sounds as though it has several built in protection features for surge, so hopefully some of them helped minimize damage.

[shilohdad]

I had a similar issue with my Outback inverter/charger. My AC input got fried, unfortunately due an installation problem by Born Free (neutral wire not securely attached causing the AC input to overheat). My symptoms were similar. I was not getting AC input, my batteries were not charging when plugged in or on generator power. All my 110 outlets were working.

Now, for some information on inverter/chargers. When not plugged in to shore power or running on generator, the inverter section of the unit draws DC power from the batteries and changes it to AC power, and then feeds it to your 110 outlets. If you have a heavy load plugged in, say, a coffee maker, that can drain your batteries REAL fast. In your case (and in mine), that portion of your unit appears to be working. Any DC appliances and interior lights gets their power directly from the batteries, and the inverter is not involved.

When plugged in to shore power or running on generator, the transfer switch portion of the unit is supposed to bypass the inverter and power your 110 outlets directly from the AC source. Note that the unit has to detect proper AC input for this to work. In my case, and I suspect in yours, this was not working, as I was NOT getting proper AC input. I think there is a switch on your unit or its control panel to turn off the inverter. When plugged into shore power, turn off the inverter. Do your 110 outlets work or not. I suspect, as in my case, they won't.

Also, in my case, my AC appliances (air conditioner, microwave) were not wired through the inverter/charger, so those worked when I was plugged into shore power or running on generator. With no AC power source, those appliances did not work.

The final function of the unit is to charge your batteries when connected to shore power or running on generator. In my case that was not happening. I believe this is the case in your situation as you say the batteries show 12.1 volts regardless of your being plugged into shore power or not.

All this seems to indicate your AC input port has been fried. You may be lucky and there is a circuit breaker protecting it. Your user manual seems to indicate there are 2 breakers, one for DC, one for AC. Try resetting them both. If that doesn't help, I think your unit is dead.

One final thing, as you did not understand the difference between inverters and converters. All of the stuff above is for inverter/chargers. In the case where your coach has a converter/charger, things are a little different. In this case, the AC input goes into the converter and it is changed to DC to power your DC appliances and interior lights. If there is not AC input, it draws DC power from the batteries to power those DC appliances and interior lights. Also, when there is an AC source, the converter/charger charges the batteries. When there is no AC source, you cannot run any AC appliances and your 110 outlets do not work.

Hope this helps.

[landlordy]

shilohdad thank you that was VERY informative to me and I understand the system now much better. I believe you are right and I fried the unit as I have flipped all the breakers. I am hoping that is all I fried. One person in another forum told me to pull the breaker panel and actually look to see if any burnt or the wires around them burnt. Im hoping if i have to replace mine I can use one that will still utilize my control panel as it was built for my rig and looks great installed where it is?

[shilohdad]

Doing a web search, it appears that Xantrex took over the Freedom line of inverter/chargers. Xantrex is still in business, so they may have units that would utilize that remote panel. If not, they may have something similar that could be installed the same way. Wallet will be a bit thinner when you are done.

[landlordy]

I hear ya man I'm hoping not to much thinner as I spent pretty much my entire savings on this thing lol. I was planning on putting in a call to them tomorrow to see what they said. Tough lesson learned here buddy

[shilohdad]

One last thing. We were still able to use our coach while waiting to get diagnosis and fix. When running our coach engine, it charged the batteries (running the engine for 20-30 miutes twice a day kept our batteries topped up). Our major appliances were not running off the inverter, so when plugged in to shore power they worked. We minimized use of the inverter to minimize battery drain, turning our inverter off if we didn't need to use the 110 outlets. Our main problem was getting heat in cold weather. The furnace was too big a battery drain to use overnight. We ended up unplugging the microwave (which was not on the inverter) and plugging in an electric space heater. PITA, but it worked.

To make sure you can do this, start your engine and wait about a minute. Does your battery indicator show over 13 volts? Then you can charge the batteries by running your engine. I think I already showed how to check out if your major appliances are not running off your inverter - plug in, turn the inverter off - does your microwave work? Your air conditioner? If so, you should be good to go. You might also want to check your refrigerator, but you can always run it on propane. Yes, this is NOT a fix, but at least allows you to use your coach until you can get a proper fix.