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Air Conditioner Won't Turn On and Electrical Panel Stuff


JustJosh

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Hello everyone,

 

So, when I was I buying my 86 Escaper  a couple of weeks ago, I turned on the air conditioner and it worked fine. Fast forward to yesterday, and I try to turn it on...and nothing. Won't go. This seems likely to be operator error. Am I missing some kind of switch? Does it matter if the truck is running or plugged in? 

 

Of course there is still a possibility that this isn't operator error and the unit just decided to fail a week after I bought it. So I bought a multimeter (that I don't know how to use yet) and started trying to trace the electrical. There is a circuit breaker panel with four boxes and a separate fuse box. The breaker panel is 1 30 amp and 3 20amp. The Fuse panel is 1 30 amp and four 15 amp. So, it doesn't appear as a 1-to-1 conversion where someone upgraded to a panel just left the old fuse box in. Maybe it is. Any help with understanding what I'm looking at here would be appreciated. Is there any standard for what each of these circuits would be?

 

As always, thank you.   

Electrical 2 (1).jpg

Electrical 2 (2).jpg

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OK with the understanding this is from a old guy 15 year ago memory.

The AC runs on 115v ac so you need a generator or have things plugged to  shore power.  So plug it in and report back.

The 30 amp breaker is the Main breaker, it protects everything. The 20 amps should be for the AC, a micro wave and the converter/battery charger.

 So if the AC works, turn off a 20 amp breaker and see what quits. The label the breaker. Then do the other breakers.

 

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1 hour ago, WME said:

OK with the understanding this is from a old guy 15 year ago memory.

The AC runs on 115v ac so you need a generator or have things plugged to  shore power.  So plug it in and report back.

The 30 amp breaker is the Main breaker, it protects everything. The 20 amps should be for the AC, a micro wave and the converter/battery charger.

 So if the AC works, turn off a 20 amp breaker and see what quits. The label the breaker. Then do the other breakers.

 

 

Your memory seems okay to me. I just double checked, and the unit does run on 115VAC at 60Hz. It is plugged into shore power. There isn't a microwave, so it looks like I'm going to just have to test for current at various spots with different breakers on and off. Of course there doesn't really seem to be an easy way to access to any of the wiring without taking the closet apart. 

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Next step, remove the ground wire on the house battery. Plug the RV into shore power. The house lights should still work, flip breakers until the lights go out. Mark the breaker.

Plug something into the ac outlets flip the last breaker. They may be an outlet in a cabinet for an optional micro wave, soooo look. a power goes out.nd see the

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Some has been there before you. The 30 is the main it is the breaker that protects everything else. Generally you would see a 30, 15 and a 20 amp breaker. So with 3 20 amp breakers it would be easy to overload the 30 amp. The AC would require a 20 amp for the start current a 20 for the microwave and a 15 for everything else. The AC is direct wired no outlet boxes. A cheap tool that pretty much any hardware store would have is a little $5 plug in gidget with 3 little lights, plug it into any outlet a start turning off breakers till you find the one that has no effect that will be for the AC. (there should be an outlet for the microwave also) Be sure the AC is set for max cool. Save the little tester and leave it plugged in I have one in my camper it will tell you right away if the campground screwed up with their wiring I have see that more than once.

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16 hours ago, WME said:

Next step, remove the ground wire on the house battery. Plug the RV into shore power. The house lights should still work, flip breakers until the lights go out. Mark the breaker.

Plug something into the ac outlets flip the last breaker. They may be an outlet in a cabinet for an optional micro wave, soooo look. a power goes out.nd see the

 

It's a little painful to admit this, but there is another set of circuit breakers in the mix: my subpanel in the garage. I was plugging into a set of outlets that didn't have any current going into them. UGH. I guess the silver lining is that I won't make that mistake again, and I now know my RV a lot better.  

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5 hours ago, Maineah said:

Some has been there before you. The 30 is the main it is the breaker that protects everything else. Generally you would see a 30, 15 and a 20 amp breaker. So with 3 20 amp breakers it would be easy to overload the 30 amp. The AC would require a 20 amp for the start current a 20 for the microwave and a 15 for everything else. The AC is direct wired no outlet boxes. A cheap tool that pretty much any hardware store would have is a little $5 plug in gidget with 3 little lights, plug it into any outlet a start turning off breakers till you find the one that has no effect that will be for the AC. (there should be an outlet for the microwave also) Be sure the AC is set for max cool. Save the little tester and leave it plugged in I have one in my camper it will tell you right away if the campground screwed up with their wiring I have see that more than once.

 

Hello Maineah, Thank you for the info. I'm still going to figure out what goes where to label the breakers and figure out where all the wiring goes, but it turns out that this was operator error (the breaker in my garage subpanel tripped). 

Edited by JustJosh
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4 hours ago, JustJosh said:

 

Hello Maineah, Thank you for the info. I'm still going to figure out what goes where to label the breakers and figure out where all the wiring goes, but it turns out that this was operator error (the breaker in my garage subpanel tripped). 

Best repair of all.

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