The 4th is now in the past and it was kind of a crazy holiday electrically speaking. I just thought I would toss these out as they were a little off the beaten track.

The first was not too uncommon. Two different calls from folks who thought that 30 amp plug was just like the one on their 240 volt circuits and plugged in. As usual it took out the power converters and one of the microwaves. Not sure how to get the message out RVs have only 120-volt circuits.

Next up was bizarre. Fireworks seller with used Dutchmen toyhauler. Had worked at his house and on his generator, but now trying to plug into GFCI, the ground fault tripped instantly. Means somethings not wired right. Check the breaker panel. Now stay with me here. Shoreline into main breaker, no green and the white neutral was wire nutted. Get ready for this. The bare chassis ground was connected to the neutral buss and the the neutral buss was jumpered to the ground buss. And this all worked as long as you did not plug into GFCI. It also worked after I wired it correctly. Don't ask me how it got that way.

Finally out at new campground getting an awning off the roof. Camper across the road has a power problem (this campground also has GFCI at pedestal. Owner can't get power to his camper. "His electrician" explained to him it was because the campground was wired wrong. Switched to owner's generator and still nothing until they "changed something" then it would work on generator but still not pedestal. I used my meter to verify no problem with pedestal, but owner was edgy so I left it to him to deal with making the campground "change the wiring at the pedestal".

Hopefully some of you will find of this amusing.

Steve

 

I hope I remember half the stories you bring back.

 

To work on these things you just have to rid yourself any preconceived ideas about what is likely and what is unlikely. In RVs anything is possible!

Steve

 

not just RV's... stories of less than shade tree mechanics.


metal coat hanger wire to hold steering tie-rod ends together
replacement battery cables dragging on the ground.
or copper tubing used for power brake systems.
rubber fuel line to replace rusted fuel lines. but the rubber hosed are pressed up to the exhaust system


and on and on an on...


best of all.. brother-in-law.. with 3 little children... called me, car is dead.. 100 miles from me... help... I go there. he had replace the positive battery cable the day before... and let it sit on top of the exhaust manifold. .. welded cable to manifold .. dead battery, fried alternator.


he never offered to pay for my gas.. Family.

 

I know you're right. The part I can never figure out is, if you have never done something before, why not learn about it first? I spend a lot of time at night reading manuals and researching if I have to do something the next day I have not done before.

Steve

 

We care about our work.. and the quality of our work.. many do not.

I owned many books on many brands of cars... and when doing a job I have not done in years.. out come the books for a refresher.

my opinion.

 

In the days of write ups of various quality and dozens more YouTube videos of dubious nature. A bit of studying before tackling these projects is prudent.

But so is paying a professional.

 

RV Tech, I feel your pain. I worked at a large RV dealership in Montana for 7 years. Since I had an electrical background, I did most of the harder or mystery jobs. There was no way some of those trailers were tested at the factory.

 

a simple thing.

my AM/FM antenna cable is crushed between the roof and the wall.. from the factory.. a 2005 trailer.. and the owner never took it back for a not working radio.

as it not reasonable to FIX.. I added a second antenna. and removed the rod from the dead one.

not a problem but .. main 12 volt cables... from nose down street side of trailer then between the Gray and Black tanks to the curb side, then up into trailer..
just running it down the curb side would have save 10 feet of Large power cable..

with kitchen in the nose .. why install fuse box in the rear bedroom under the rear sink. so everything runs to the rear and then runs back to the front of trailer. so double wiring length


end of rant and mystery.

 

I am beginning to believe that RV manufacturers don't use real engineering talent.

"Load analysis"? What's that?

Like everything else in that industry, cheap wins out.

Bean-counters and attorneys don't know how to "spend money to make money", or so it seems.......

Good enough, usually isn't.

Pop

 

Lewis Black said it best, in regard to how people settled in Minneapolis.
"Let's go through the woods"

Ford is guilty of the same wiring stupidity too. The roof wiring on 97-02 Expeditions goes all the way to the back bumper along the frame rail, then up the D-Pillar and then back up to the front. When I did the trip computer retrofit, I just ran it up the A-Pillar like any sane person would. Saved over 100ft of wire that way.