air conditioner and heat strip problem

[joejoebo]

Hello all,
New here. I have a 2007 trail manor 3023. I was using the heat strip one night and during the night the whole unit shut down. No fuses were blown and no breakers were tripped. Later during the next day I was able to turn on the fan and it ran fine until I turned the heat strip back on and it stopped working again. Got it back home and plugged into power there. Turned on the fan only and it stopped again. Will not turn back on now. Checked the power over head with a meter and no power. Where do I start checking out this problem?

[Bill]

On the outside of the TM, on the left side, just under the edge, more or less halfway back, there is a metal electrical junction box. UNPLUG YOUR TM FROM ELECTRICAL POWER, and open this box. Look for loose wires, or loose or burned wire nuts, and also note any moisture or corrosion you may see. The wires in this box carry power up to the air conditioner, so if you find anything and your skill level warrants, fix any problems you find in this box.

Bill

[joejoebo]

I took cover off and I don't see any burnt wires but I noticed that one wire feels very soft and the opposite wire is very stiff. Both connections are like that. Is that normal? Also the box half way up the side is full of water. Don't know if that's the problem or not.

[Bill]

Soft vs stiff wire is probably just solid wire vs stranded wire, which is OK. If no loose wire nuts and no burn/melt seen, there would seem to be no problem there.

I'm not sure what "the box halfway up the side" is for, but it certainly should not be full of water. You'll need to drain, dry, and reseal it, but the real question is whether any water has gotten inside any of the wires/cables that go into the box.

When electricity and water mix, I get scared. Perhaps this box is just for 12-volt connections, and if so, I'm less scared. But I would like someone to tell us what that box is for. Any chance you could post a couple photos of the outside and inside of the box?

Bill

[joejoebo]

Hey Bill,
I just checked for power in the box yoy mentioned. I have 120 there. Were should I go from here? Thanks

[joejoebo]

This is the other box

[joejoebo]

Looks like the air conditioner wires run to it.

[joejoebo]

If I have power at the junction box you mentioned, should I test for power at the a/c on top of the camper next? Maybe a bad capacitor?

[rickst29]

Originally Posted by joejoebo

This is the other box

I zoomed this photo a bit and rotated it, to highlight that a previous repair attempt has been made.

My "OEM" 2006 trailmanor has a single bundle coming up and into the small box - that bundle contains both a flexible 120-VAC grounded cord AND the "12v" wires (there are at least at least two, "hot" and ground), and IIRC, an additional low-power wire or two for my older OEM "batwing" powered radio antenna unit.

Within the small box on my older unit, the ends of the flexible 120-VAC cord (which ends at the box) were connected to the terminating wires of the OEM "Romex" segment which ran inside the upper shell, underneath the bag seal and wood edge of the rear of the front shell - around the corner, and over to the center of the horizontal roof section.

At the ends of that segment, near the AC unit, the outer cable insulation was removed to free up 3 separate "pigtail" wires for the 120-VAC connections into the Air Conditioner unit.
- - -
Although that vertical rear edge of the front shell is supposed to be pretty stiff, some flexing occurs during opening and closing. The 3 wires inside a "Yellow" 10-AWG Romex cable are solid wire (not stranded), and they tend to break off when they have been flexed more than a few times. I will guess that this occurred in your TM, under previous ownership, and their "solution" was to run a new and naked 120VAC cable, completely separate from the existing bundle of lower-voltage DC cables. That problem has occurred in many TMs over the years.

To the extent that a new box may have been added higher up than the existing OEM "other box" (connecting the "new cable" to existing Romex within the shell ceiling), that box is in question. In the case that no such box was used, the new cable was also possibly bent too sharp (creating electrical "issues" within conductors or insulation) before terminating with pigtails for the AC unit, or the cable's internal wires may be too small.
- - -
Please add photos of all "boxes" with the covers taken off, along with the a photo of the shell roof connection to the resulting "pigtails". Please also copy any writing which may still be present on the outside of the added cable, as to size and usage ratings. (Thanks in advance.)

It is quite possible to still measure 120-VAC at wire ends, even when substantial power is being lost by small insulation failures from "hot" into "ground" or "neutral" current paths. We should focus on resistance measurements, more than voltage.

[joejoebo]

Thanks. I will get more photos when I get home from work.