No electric with generator

susan34982 · 09-25-2017, 09:59 AM

After evacuating Florida before Hurricane Irma, I dry camped in my Envoy 100 two nights en route to Tennessee. Once at the Thousand Trails campground, I hooked up the electric to the 30 amp pole without my surge protector (nothing would work with the surge protector saying everything was fine, and I didn't have an option to move to a different site) for two nights, disconnected the night of the storm, and reconnected the next morning for another two nights. Everything was working fine. On the way home, I dry camped one night and, with the generator running, the microwave wouldn't work while the AC was on and vice versa. Then both the microwave and the AC wouldn't work with the generator running when we stopped to eat dinner in the RV. My dealer can't get me in until October 10 to look at it. My battery seems to be working okay since I can turn on the lights when cleaning it and restocking clothes. The generator is at 519 hours and was due in for an oil change at 500 hours.

Did I fry the electric by not using the surge protector? Or is there some other cause that I'm not aware of? This is our first RV and I'd hate to kill it before we hit 7,000 miles.

Vicr · 09-28-2017, 01:13 PM

Is the breaker at the generator tripped or off?
Did you check output voltage at the generator while it was running?
Did you check to see if your transfer switch is working?
Are breakers in the converter tripped or off?

Try checking these four things and then get back to us.

Kahoneys · 09-28-2017, 02:19 PM

Is your generator an inverter generator? If so you may have to add a jumper to get the grounding issue solved.

This is because the generator is wired with a floating neutral which is very common for portable generators.

The easiest way to work around a camper that requires a neutral that is bonded to the ground is with an Edison plug that has the neutral bonded to the ground. You can pick up one of these from any electrical supply store or even make one up yourself with components purchased at Home Depot. Basically, the plug is going to have a single jumper wire between the ground and neutral post.

Here is a very good article about why generators are made this way and you can also see the experiences some other consumers have had.
Generator Ground-Neutral Bonding | No~Shock~Zone

**norty1** · 09-28-2017, 05:45 PM

I'm sure your generator is built in. Sounds like a transfer switch problem. I read on here about some owners having problems with them. Hopefully someone with some real time knowledge will chime in.

Vicr · 10-01-2017, 09:15 PM

Just wondering why people post questions and we try to help and days later they still haven't checked back in?

pconroy · 10-01-2017, 09:18 PM

Some times it's a while before I'm able to check back in too.

susan34982 · 10-16-2017, 08:00 AM

I've been really busy since returning from evacuating before Hurricane Irma and didn't have time immediately to fiddle with the generator and check all the suggestions (especially since, other than the breaker switch, I am unfamiliar with the places suggested to check). The breaker switch had flipped off and resetting it worked.

After bringing the RV in for service (oil change in the generator and the truck engine) now the map light on the passenger side comes on when I get in the driver's side and won't go out until long after I shut off the engine (which worries me that it is draining the battery). No amount of pushing the button will turn it off (with the engine running or off), opening and closing the door doesn't make a difference, and the light over the driver's side door won't come on. Needless to say, having that LED light on while driving is annoying. Neither the house nor Ford truck manual acknowledge that these lights exist. I've got a call in to LaMesa RV to explain what's going on.

RyRoRyan · 10-16-2017, 09:53 AM

Possible two problems here. More than likely the LED on the drivers side has failed, and then the following two options are your issue. The car thinks a door is ajar, however normally that would put a light on your dash. The other option is that you have the dash dimmer dial turned all the way up causing it to turn on the dome lights as well.

susan34982 · 10-16-2017, 10:29 AM

I tried adjusting the dash dimmer dial but nothing happened. My rep at LaMesa RV is going to check the cab of my model at their showroom and see if she can figure out why one light is on and the other off. After a little over 7,000 miles on the RV, the LED light shouldn't be dead already.

RVermont · 10-25-2017, 02:10 AM

Is this the jayco supplied led ? There are three positions. On all the time / off all the time and / on with door open possibly on a timer so when the door closes it stays on for a few minutes. You need to treat these as two separate events. The led are probably okay on the drivers side but the switch or power supply wiring could be an issue. The passenger toggle would appear to bad if it is not shutting it off.

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