Greyhawk 29mv Newbie question

[DenMig]

Hello,

I've been lurking for a few weeks and have learned a ton !!!! My wife and I now own a greyhawk 29mv, 2019 motorhome. So excited. Just picked it up Monday.

I have a question that has kind of been asked already so I wanted to ask again, because I still can't make heads or tails of it. Forgive me if it is repetitive to another thread running. Here goes :

I plugged my 30A cord into my house. ( with adapter and EMS ). I wanted to run the fridge to get it cold for my tailgate this weekend. I put it on automatic, but it reverted to propane. I tried to then set it to AC, but it beeps and won't run. Is there an issue with my fridge ( we have the full fridge and freezer, no pantry ) ? Or is there not enough power from the house to run the fridge on AC ?

On the electric control panel by the thermostat, I cycled it down to 15A.
( 30A --> 20A --> 15A )

So sorry if this was answered.

[oldmanAZ]

Welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately, I don't have a Greyhawk or your type of fridge so hopefully you'll hear from someone else before too long that can help with your question.

[hoppers4]

My propane/AC fridge only uses 300 watts which equates to about 2.5 to 3 amps. You should have plenty of power to run the fridge providing you have the water heater and air conditioner turned off.

[RetiredOne]

The fridge pulls very low amperage, so plugged in shouldn't be any issue. Some things that come to mind:

Are you sure the 120 volt is coming into the coach? Do you have power at any of the outlets?

Is the outlet good that you're plugging into? Is it a GFI that is triggering when plugged in? What does the display say on your EMS? Any error codes?

Make sure the fridge is set to run on electric, NOT auto.

Do you have a digital voltage meter? Test the outlets in the coach to see if you're getting 120 volts.

I don't think you need to turn on the main power switch by the door, but flip it on anyway and see if anything changes.

[JFlightRisk]

Last week My BIL ran into a similar situation, and his TT wasn't level enough, for some reason. Also check the outlet where the fridge is plugged into, in the outside access panel.

[RetiredOne]

Does that Greyhawk have an inverter, and if so, is it possible the fridge is plugged into it, and the inverter needs to be turned on for the fridge to run?? I don't know the wiring system on that rig.

Where's Camper Bob when you need him?

[GeorgiaRV]

My theory is...since you turned the amperage down to limit at 15 amps. Your frig takes about 3-4 when on electric...Your converter/battery charger is kicking in and taking up the rest of the 15 amps you have limited to and causing it to kick the frig off. You can turn the converter/battery charger off by finding its associated breaker and turning it off. Then see if your frig will run on A/C while plugged in.

Just my theory...I could be wrong...not the first time. :-)

[jd99336]

I only plug into a 15 amp outlet at home and my fridge defaults to ac power. First thing I would check is if you are getting power to your coach. If you dont have a multi meter, at least your microwave clock will be on.

If you have a meter, pull the outside cover from your fridge, and check for 110v there. If not, check your breakers. On mine your house power does have to be on( the switch with the red light in the stairwell). If those few things dont resolve it, might need to take it to the dealer.

[DenMig]

Appreciate all the responses. Update : All the outlets work. When I cycled
the control panel back to 30A it works with AC. Later I pulled the slides in, and as expected it switched to propane. Upon completion I tried to reset it back to AC. Started beeping and switching back to propane. Turned it off, waited, turned it back on. Same. Turned it off, all the lights, and turned the main power off. Turned main power back on. Went to the fridge, and it is back to running on AC.

I know I must sound like an idiot, but this electricity thing can be confusing !

Thanks again for all the responses. Very helpful !

[Camper_bob]

Yes, the 12V needs to be on (main switch by the door) because the circuitry in the fridge unit runs on 12V DC.

My guess is that the converter is drawing too much amperage. I come to this conclusion because it stopped working just after you ran the slides. Those slide motors take quite a lot of 12V, so the converter would have been trying to replenish the battery bank after that. With only 15A (nominal) available, you might not have enough. I assume further that your unit comes with a power management system (since you were able to cycle it to 15A power). This system would prioritize the converter over the fridge since propane cooling would logically be available.

It doesn't sound like anything is particularly wrong with your rig, you just don't have enough juice on a 15A plug. Make sure as much is off "electric" as possible. Your water heater will use up about 13A on electric. Make sure your inverter is off (you shouldn't need it in this scenario). I've never had an issue, so I've never monitored how many amps my converter uses, but I'm going to assume it could be up close to 15A if it's trying to put a boost charge of 14.2V into the battery bank?

This also could look like an intermittent issue because your converter will go through a "desulfation" charging phase periodically. If it does that, it could seem like the power management system is randomly kicking the fridge off AC power to accommodate the increased load from the converter.

Alternatively, have an electrician install a dedicated 30A outlet at your home that is wired for RV power. Make sure you tell them it's to be used for an RV so you get 120V and not 240V. I had a 50A plug installed before I even took delivery of my first TT, and it was worth every penny of the $150 I paid an electrician to install it. Nowadays since my MH is 30A, I run a dogbone adapter. I have FULL access to ALL my camper's systems parked in the driveway.

ETA: No worries running the fridge on propane, it doesn't use much at all.

ETA Again: Try scrolling through the power management system when you notice the fridge get kicked out of AC mode. See if you can see what kind of amperage the converter is drawing. I would look at mine, but it's in storage. I'm more apt to be looking at things like the water heater and the fridge when I'm scrolling through, so I don't even remember if the converter is listed in there...

[Tockert]

We have the 2019 29MV also.
We just returned from a week long trip.
When we parked at the house, I fired up the generator as we wanted to eat in the house and not fuss with anything in the RV.
I then pulled out the extension cord to plug in the RV, and connected it.
The generator was still running.
I shut down the generator and the fridge went over to propane.
It was like the power switch from generator power to shore power was slow to recognize that we were plugged into shore power.
The AC would not run either.
I unplugged the shore power and reconnected, and everything shifted as it should have.
I think sometimes the power management system is slow to recognize what state it is in.

Todd

[DenMig]

Thanks Camper Bob and Tockert ! Makes a lot of sense. Appreciate the feedback.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Tockert

We have the 2019 29MV also.
We just returned from a week long trip.
When we parked at the house, I fired up the generator as we wanted to eat in the house and not fuss with anything in the RV.
I then pulled out the extension cord to plug in the RV, and connected it.
The generator was still running.
I shut down the generator and the fridge went over to propane.
It was like the power switch from generator power to shore power was slow to recognize that we were plugged into shore power.
The AC would not run either.
I unplugged the shore power and reconnected, and everything shifted as it should have.
I think sometimes the power management system is slow to recognize what state it is in.

Todd

That's happened to me a few times. I think it may have to do with the power management system and the transfer switch.

Generally, you want to remove as much load as possible when you're switching power sources. Also, the transfer switch will prioritize the generator. So if you're running the generator, then plug in shore power, the T-switch is still going to pull from the generator. Then you go and kill the generator, and the power management system and the transfer switch have to "figure out" what's going on. When this has happened to me, I will simply go and cycle the breaker on the "post" and it all comes back up.

If you remove the major loads first, it works a bit better. Plus it's better for your transfer switch and your appliances. I don't do it all the time, but I try to as much as possible. FWIW, I have switched power under load many times, and my T-switch is still fine. I actually had it open the other day looking for something else, and there was no scoring or corrosion on the contacts that I could see.

[Tockert]

For me, this was the first time I had plugged in the MH with the generator running.
I was not sure which way the transfer switch was designed to provide power from if it had it on both sides.
Now I know and from Camper Bob, that the switch is geared toward the generator.

I worked in a small power plant for a while, and we had transfer switches that were capable of switching from a 5kv generator, 480 volts to our turbine generator automatically with it maxed out and no dropped loads.

The technology is pretty simple and usually will always work.

Todd

[Steveii]

I have a 2016 greyawk and if I dont have my rig level the fridge wont work. Try getting it level. Might fix it.

[Eaglelmc]

I had a similiar problem, I switched my extension cord from a 14 to a 12 and problem solved, apparently the extension cord was too small.

[JimD]

I have never had a problem with my transfer switch switching over to the correct source. While boondocking I often have my little inverter generator plugged in to the shore power cord powering the TV and keeping the batteries fully charged. If I need to temporarily run the air conditioners I will fire up the 4k genny without shutting down the little one. Transfer switch will then connect to the big unit until I shut it down and then it returns to my little one. This is exactly what I want the setup to do and am pleased it hasn't puked.

[PapiG]

I too have a 29MV.

I installed a 30amp outlet in the garage.

Yes, the main power switch needs to be on.

Check the circuit breakers to ensure the fridge is on.

I will often chill the fridge on propane, as it cools down quicker.

I hope you enjoy yours as much as we do!

[Dace]

I have a 2016 Greyhawk. We bought it new bc I didn’t want someone else’s problems. I found out with new in RV’s there is still issues to resolve & they are usually simple fixes for the dealer to solve.

In the outside cover of the refrigerator is an outlet , make sure there is 120v power at that outlet & the refrigerator is plugged in. When the refrigerator is on electric, it heats a element that in turn heats the gas in the system. If the outlet does not have power the element will not heat up. Also the element could be bad (even with a new RV) which will usually cause a breaker in the fuse box to trip. I usually have to cycle mine a couple times when transferring to gas bc it will fail. I’m guessing because the length of the gas line.

[Jacyko rookie]

Having the very same issue with my 2019 mvp...finally have an appointment with the dealer for late sept. It has been very frustrating...lots of advice but nothing has helped !!