Motor running under my bed

[JudyJB]

Brilliant! I just finished talking to CoachNet and their technician said it was probably the sine-wave converter fan motor. She said I needed to keep it turned on while on battery but could turn it off at night since I was plugged in. When I drive, I need to turn it back on. They will contact a nearby dealer or service person first thing in the morning and get back with me.

Whew! At least I have a record of someone telling me I could turn it off. And maybe get it fixed within a couple of days. I am going to be in DisneyWorld next week, so I want to spend time this week instead of next getting it fixed.

It is still puzzling why I had a brownout when I was connected to power.

So, Vickie, why couldn't I have thought of this?? I guess the most obvious solution is not always obvious when you are close to it!!! Thanks.

[VickieP]

Judy, I think it's a case of all of us putting our heads together & working through a problem. I'm so glad they can help you tonight & find a place to get it checked out! Isn't this forum wonderful!

[Sandersmr]

Judy the brown out - was probably a result of a power dip at the pedestal, whether it was just to your site, to the the whole campground or to a few sites, depending on how the campground is wired. That is one reason for getting a surge protector/UPS to protect your unit. A straight surge protector might not help but many units also check for low voltage and isolate your unit when the shore power goes below a threshold voltage. A brownout can cause damage to many of the electricals depending on the severity.

[mtngal]

Judy, I think it's a case of all of us putting our heads together & working through a problem. I'm so glad they can help you tonight & find a place to get it checked out! Isn't this forum wonderful!

'LIKE'

[retiredhappy]

Judy, I have a voltage meter and a 30 to 20 plug. I ALWAYS check the power at the post BEFORE plugging my rig in. Has saved my rig several times. Last week at Bandera when I checked the 30 amp showed reverse polarity and office said her electrician had checked it. NOT. I plugged into the 20amp which tested okay. When I was in South Dakota the meter showed only 104 volts at the post. Anything below 105 can burn out your AC/microwave, etc. Showed the owner and he rewired the post. When I take off the 30 amp adapter I plug the meter inside in one of my outlets. It shows me the constant voltage reading so if I'm in a lower voltage situation I can shut off the AC before turning on the microwave. My meter has an LED display and plugs directly into an outlet.

[Acadianmom]

I only think about calling Coach Net when I'm sitting on the side of the road. Judy, let us know if they get this figured out.

When Carolyn's converter went out the campground host lent her a battery charger that she hooked to her coach battery. The battery charger kept the coach battery charged so she could use her rig for the weekend. Saved our weekend. I carry a battery charger/jump starter that we used for the boat battery. It's not very big and I might need it sometime. And if I didn't have it my DH would lose it.

Martha

[JudyJB]

As I understand it, here is what caused the brownout and the converter fan to keep operating. CoachNet and the service place they called for me explained it as this:

1) I had parked my RV for four days while visiting relatives. I had left the front and rear furnaces on low because night temps were going below freezing. My batteries were a little more than half full by the end of that period.
2) When i left the parking area, I did not charge the batteries using the generator. I figured that they would charge as I drove. They did, but not completely.
3) That night I was plugged into power, and that is when I noticed the fan motor sound under my bed. When it kept running, I figured something was wrong and shut down the circuit breaker. In reality, the converter was trying to recharge my batteries and I should not have turned it off.
4) I did not realize that when you were hooked up to shore power, the lights were still 12 volt and ran from the batteries. The brownout was caused by the converter being inoperable due to the circuit breaker being pulled, thus not being able to recharge the battery. While the battery looked as if it was charged, in reality, I was pulling a lot of power because I had quite a few lights on at that time. Because I was operating a lot of lights, I was discharging the battery and not noticing it.
5) When I switched the circuit breaker on, it turned on the converter, which started doing what it had been trying to do--charge the batteries!! It made the lights immediately get brighter because it was now sending power to the batteries. When it got things back to normal after a few hours, it shut itself off, just as it should have done.

So the only brownout was to my unit, and it was my fault for misunderstanding how things worked. I did not realize that the lights worked off the batteries, regardless of whether I was hooked up to shore power or not. What the shore power does, at least for the lights, is power the converter so it can charge the batteries so they can operate the lights!! Nor did I know I had a converter under my bed!! Duh. I have learned something.

The reason I had not noticed this fan before was probably because I had never been on batteries for so long before without running the generator to recharge them before I drove off to another place.

Now that the batteries have finally caught up and I am not turning on every light in the place, all is well. Except of course for the mess I still have under the sink from the dishwater soaking the cabinet "carpeting" with smelly water. I have sprayed it with lysol and with a chlorox water mixture while using my hair dryer periodically to dry things out. If the smell does not go away, I will get something else to spray when I can get to a store.

So when I can, I am going to get some peel and stick tiles or a chunk of linoleum and put it under the sink, using caulk on the edges, and maybe turning them up so it is a pan, not just a flat surface. It would be much easier to clean up if this pipe comes unhooked again. Whew!

[VickieP]

I'm so glad everything worked out for you AND you gained some more knowledge about how your RV works.

[Bethers]

They did a great job explaining the converter to you. And you did a fantastic job of passing it along. And we can pat ourselves on our backs for trying and best of all, proof of the need for rv specific emergency service.

[mtngal]

Well done Judy! and thanks for sharing the info! I knew it was the converter running under my bed, but dang if I ever knew 'why' it was running. Had no idea the lights ran off batteries even when plugged into shore power; now I do!

(RVs are NOT intuitive!)

[JudyJB]

I will DEFINITELY be renewing CoachNet when it expires April 1. I got this first year free from the manufacturer, but they did an excellent job of responding, which is more than the dealers do, from my experience!!

AND, I will choose the option that is a little more expensive that includes technical advice. From AAA, I would have got puzzled stares, assuming you can stare over the phone.

[monik7]

From AAA, I would have got puzzled stares, assuming you can stare over the phone.

Sandi