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Topic: Watch out for hidden GFCI switches (Read 117 times) previous topic - next topic
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Watch out for hidden GFCI switches
While camping on the Oregon coast last week, my kids wanted to watch a DVD and low and behold I could not power up my Bose DVD player or my Sharp TV in my entertainment system. We were connected to shore power. It was no-go from the both 120v or from with the inverter turned on.  No outlets in the converted had been tripped and I tested the appropriate fuse in the converter box. All was good, but NO POWER!  Only disappointed kids.

I called Todd at the mother ship when I returned home and he told me it was likely that my Xantrex inverter had bit the dust and indicated that I should be happy that it lasted 15 years instead of the 3 years that many of his other customers had experienced. He did say that there was a reset button on the inverter and that I could try that just to be sure.

On my 30' LD the inverter is located underneath the fridge on the floor just behind the battery compartment. It turns out that the reset button had not been tripped BUT, there also is a GFCI connected to two unused 120V outlets on the inverted that had been tripped. I reset that GFCI and VOILA! everthing worked again!  I don't use my archaic non-HD TV very often and I can only gather that this GFCI was tripped when I replaced my AGM batteries last summer (I do have and did use a battery cut-off switch).

So, if you do your own battery change-outs, check your entertainment system afterwards to make sure you didn't trip some hidden GFCI!

Mike S.
'06 30' TB Anniversary Edition
Re: Watch out for hidden GFCI switches
Reply #1 –
I didn't realize Lazy Daze motorhomes came with inverters. I don't recall seeing one on the options list.
2021 Mid Bath
Re: Watch out for hidden GFCI switches
Reply #2 –
An inverter was never a separate option, as far as I know. But LD used to (and maybe still do) install an inverter if the purchaser chose the satellite TV option, because satellite receivers required 120 VAC. For example, my 2003 midbath had a 400 W inverter mounted under the fridge, near the battery compartment. A remote control switch in the TV area turned it on and off, and it powered a single AC outlet in that area.
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
 
Re: Watch out for hidden GFCI switches
Reply #3 –
Quote from: Andy Baird  - 
An inverter was never a separate option, as far as I know. But LD used to (and maybe still do) install an inverter if the purchaser chose the satellite TV option, because satellite receivers required 120 VAC. For example, my 2003 midbath had a 400 W inverter mounted under the fridge, near the battery compartment. A remote control switch in the TV area turned it on and off, and it powered a single AC outlet in that area.
Ditto on my '02 IB with sat TV.

Chris
Formerly: 2002 30' IB