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Old 11-29-2011, 02:22 PM   #1
rotaxman
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Lost Island power

Hey Guys and Gals,

I have a junk 09 38tksb3 that lost power to the Island only the rest of the GFCI work fine any ideas??

As always good camping

Thanks
Joyce and Jerry
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Old 11-29-2011, 03:24 PM   #2
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Sorry, I can't help with the junk trailers. I didn't know there were any junk DRV's out there. What happened to make it a junker?

I would think that if the electrical system is junk, you might want to move out of the trailer. If the electrical system is not junk, then check all of the breakers because I believe the outlets on the island are on a separate circuit from the other GFCI receptacles. Check to see if the circuit breaker to the island is a GFCI breaker. If it is, check that the reset button on the breaker is pushed in.
Does one of the outlets on the island have a GFCI receptacle? If so, check to see if the test button has been pushed in, then push the reset button. If this is not the problem & you feel confident working with electricity & have a digital tester, remove the outlet & see if you have 120 volts between the black & white wires connected to the recepatacle. If you do, then the receptacle is bad.
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Old 11-29-2011, 04:35 PM   #3
rotaxman
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Junk

I apologize I won't bother with any further posting about the island power.

As always good camping
Joyce and Jerry naw just Jerry
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Old 11-29-2011, 04:38 PM   #4
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Re: Junk

Quote:
Originally Posted by rotaxman
I apologize I won't bother with any further posting about the island power.

As always good camping
Joyce and Jerry naw just Jerry
No apology necessary. I just wondered why your trailer is junk. I hope the trouble shooting info helps!
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Old 11-29-2011, 04:45 PM   #5
rotaxman
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Lost Island power

Thanks for the troubleshooting advice thats all been checked to no avial.

As always good camping
Jerry
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Old 11-30-2011, 07:55 AM   #6
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USA you might want to look back in the forum as far as the multiple problems with DRV and their previous name Mobile Suites. Several of us have gotten stuck with less than stellar examples of workmanship from them. There is a reason that this single section of this forum has more threads than the rest of the web site combined.

The trouble shooting bit was ok.

Rotax, checking the wires at the fixture might be a good first step. If they are still making contact but there is no current, look at the wiring at the point where it enters the breaker box to see if any backed out. If possible pull the breaker and check for power behind the breaker. If it is hot there the breaker is likely to be the issue.
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Old 11-30-2011, 08:11 AM   #7
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As I recall, outside near the sewer valve is a junction box that powers the slide recepticals, on mine it also powered the island. When I lost a tire tread and it pulled those wires out, I lost power to the slide & island. Might be a loose wire in that box??
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Old 11-30-2011, 09:11 AM   #8
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Jerry
Same thing happened to me about 3 years ago.. Called DRV talked to Kent and he told me to take a hair dryer and go run it in the utility panel 110v (water hookup) and the 110 volt next to the front door. I probably had water in the oulet causing the gfi to trip.. It worked.. Just a thought..I know the island, bathroom sink and the two outside recp's or all on the same circut.
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Old 11-30-2011, 09:19 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Motor31
USA you might want to look back in the forum as far as the multiple problems with DRV and their previous name Mobile Suites. Several of us have gotten stuck with less than stellar examples of workmanship from them. There is a reason that this single section of this forum has more threads than the rest of the web site combined.

The trouble shooting bit was ok.

Rotax, checking the wires at the fixture might be a good first step. If they are still making contact but there is no current, look at the wiring at the point where it enters the breaker box to see if any backed out. If possible pull the breaker and check for power behind the breaker. If it is hot there the breaker is likely to be the issue.
I understand that there are problems with every brand. I have owned 3 fifth wheels each made by different companies. Each fifth wheel was purchased new. The first, a Prowler, was made by Fleetwood. The quality of workmanship was very poor & the company was not good at repairing problems with this unit. I only owned it for 6 months & traded it in on a Jayco Designer. I owned this fifth wheel for 5 years & put over 50,000 miles on it. It too, had some issues. The difference though, was that both the Dealer I bought it from & Jayco were very responsive in taking care of my problems. The last fifth wheel, a Select, was bought a year ago. I have put over 12,000 miles on this fifth wheel. It too, has had issues. I have found DRV very good in responding to these problems. In each case the problem was repaired & the company treated me very fairly. RV's have issues & some manufacturers put out very poor products made with very poor workmanship. However, I was surprised to hear the term "junky" used to describe this person's Mobile Suites. That is why I asked what made it junky. I am active on several forums & if you want to read about poor workmanship, indifferent manufacturers, & unresponsive dealers, check out some of the posts on RV.net. I also realize that there are some inferior DRV units out there. I would be very unhappy if I owned one. However, in my travels, most DRV owners I have encountered have been pretty happy with their fifth wheels. I'm sorry you have had issues & I hope you can get them corrected.
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Old 11-30-2011, 11:56 AM   #10
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The post stating that there are problems with every brand of RV is very true. We have had six different RV's and all were different brands. Two were new tag alongs and the one we now have was bought new and is a 09 38TKSB3 Elite Suite with all the options. We had problems with all of them but the new one's were the worst. We have also found that the more options you have on the unit the more problems we have had. The used units we had probably had problems when they were bought by the original owners but were fixed before we got it.

With all that said, we have had great service by our Dealer and also the DRV Factory for the numerous problems we have had. We also had great service by the other Dealers we previously had. Our Suite is now over three years old and DRV still helps us with issues that come up. All I have to do is send an E-mail to Tom Peck at DRV explaining the issue and also attaching pictures seems to help. We have alwayse had a positive attitude when we communicate with them and they have given us good feedback and helped with what to do for the issues and in most cases covered the cost. We are fulltimers and have roughly 25K miles on our Suite and at present we have no problems that need to be fixed.

Rotaxman, I hope you can find your problem and get if fixed easily. With these home's bouncing down the road, I can't see how we don't have more electrical problems crop up due to loose connections which sounds like what you could have.

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Old 11-30-2011, 05:29 PM   #11
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Thanks

Thanks for all the reply's the thing that baffles me is that the water compartment, bathroom and outside outlets all work as designed. But the two outlets in the island don't.

I have found the wire between the floor and sub floor which it has no power and runs toward the front of the trailer but I am unable to find out where the Amish Craftsmen tied it into the supply.

Gentry at DRV called me back today after I called them yesterday but needed more info as to my problem. He said he would get back to me but as yet he has not called me back. I suspect he is having trouble getting an answer out of the engineers. I don't think there is any method to the madness when they wire these units. I don't think any two are wired the same.

Thanks again.

As always good camping
Joyce and Jerry
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Old 11-30-2011, 05:37 PM   #12
rotaxman
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Clear things up

Just to make things a little clearer when I shut my GFCI circuit breaker off the power to the bathroom, door side outside 110 and water compartment 110 goes dead.

Thats kind what has me confused I've checked the circuit breaker power at the GFCI output and I have 110. I also removed the wall sockets in the bathroom, water compartment and outside door side thinking that on of the wires had come loose and broke the connection to the island. But I found all wire secure and carrying 110 in and out.

As always good camping

Joyce and Jerry
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Old 11-30-2011, 07:00 PM   #13
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Re: Clear things up

Quote:
Originally Posted by rotaxman
Just to make things a little clearer when I shut my GFCI circuit breaker off the power to the bathroom, door side outside 110 and water compartment 110 goes dead.

Thats kind what has me confused I've checked the circuit breaker power at the GFCI output and I have 110. I also removed the wall sockets in the bathroom, water compartment and outside door side thinking that on of the wires had come loose and broke the connection to the island. But I found all wire secure and carrying 110 in and out.

As always good camping

Joyce and Jerry
I have one more suggestion. Turn off the breaker to the area. If you have a multimeter, you can check for continuity between the last outlet that does have power & the outlets in the island. You will need a long length of wire so that you can tie one end to the neutral on the last outlet & then use the other end thru the multitester to the neutral at the first outlet in the island. Repeat for hot wire & ground. I'm assuming you checked the power on the wires at the island outlets & there was no power there.
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Old 11-30-2011, 07:27 PM   #14
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A nice set of 11x17 as-built wiring diagrams placed in the owners manual would be a great addition....it sure would make troubleshooting a lot easier.
One would assume that DRV has schematics and floor plan drawings with outlet locations marked.

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Old 11-30-2011, 11:31 PM   #15
rotaxman
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Wiring

USA
You are correct there is no power to the two sockets in the island. I found the feed wire between the floor and sub floor it was also dead. I will check on the rest of your idea about the continuity between the working and non working sockets. I suspect there will be none or the island would have power.

Thanks

Stacey,

Well your pretty lucky if you only have one junction box on your frame mine has 4 on the kitchen side of the frame and two more on the kitchen slide. I started to check those and only checked one on the frame and one on the slide and decided that I could not believe that there would be any connection between those boxes and the island. But then again we are talking about DRV. Being that my trailer was a quota trailer I wouldn't or shouldn't have ruled out anything. I will look into that also tomorrow.

Thanks

Gemstone,

I don't really think that they have any prints I think they are all wired as they go. When I took the factory tour after I ordered my 06 I asked about detailed prints for all major systems. Electric, plumbing, Hyd and propane and was told that they would not furnish those to customers as they didn't want to be liable if the consumer made a change to any of those systems and a problem came up later. I should of canceled the order right there on the spot. In my earlier post about Gentry from DRV calling me back this morning wanting to know more about my problem the question I asked was pretty straight forward where does the supply line for the kitchen Island tie into the supply? I suspect the engineers can't answer that question as they don't have a drawing for it. He said he would call me back but I got no call back today. Maybe tomorrow? These trailers are a complex piece of equipment and when you have a problem out in the middle of no where it would be nice to have a drawing to look at to give you some idea of where to start.

I know some people wouldn't know where to start and I think those people would look for a professional. I'm not the sharpest pencil in the box but I do know my way around mechanical stuff I ran a side line auto repair business for over 30 years and was a wrench at TWA for a couple of years also been RV'n for about 25 years. All that being said that and 75 cents well get ya a cup of coffee anywhere.

Thanks

Thanks to all you guys that responded I appreciate the help.

As always good camping
Joyce and Jerry
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Old 12-01-2011, 05:07 AM   #16
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As suggested by others, check the junction boxes. I had some of my power go out in my off door slide as a result of water getting into a poorly sealed box and corroding the connection of two wires. Redid the connection and the problem was solved. The boxes have a flimsy rubber gasket on them, so water intrusion can be a problem.
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Old 12-01-2011, 06:50 AM   #17
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island.....no power

Jerry,

I am sure you already checked the connections at the breaker box itself.

On mine, there were several wires that were loose and could be tighten quite a bit more.
On the kitchen light...it would work & then it would not...then it would & then it would not....
turned out that it was making a connection sometimes & sometimes it wasn't.
Maybe DRV ran a separate line from the island to breaker box and the connections are loose at breaker box??

Good Luck
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Old 12-01-2011, 09:59 PM   #18
rotaxman
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Lost Island power

Gentry from DRV called me back today but was of no help he's trying but I don't think he is an engineer. Although I have told him 3 different times that it is the 110 volt power that has stopped working he keeps going back to the rope lighting which is 12 volt.

I don't think the engineers have the answer I'm looking for. I think I should of asked if there was a drawing of the GFCI for my trailer I suspect that they would have not furnished it if they even have one.

USA

I checked the circuits as you suggested and found no continuity between the working sockets and the non working sockets I suspected that was going to be the way it was.

Jack,

I have checked and rechecked the connections in the circuit breaker box and they are all tight.

Chief and Stacey,

I didn't get to checking the boxes on the frame and slide today but will check those tomorrow if I can get it done before the rain starts.

I'm thinking right now that I will run a new wire from the island to breaker box as I have spent a bunch of hours on trying to run this thing down.

I'll let you all know what I find and what I end up doing.

Thanks again to all who have replied I do appreciate your time and suggestions.

As always good camping
Joyce and Jerry
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Old 12-02-2011, 07:38 AM   #19
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Hang in there Jerry.

I believe one of those surface mounted boxes on the side of your frame rail will hold the key to your dilemna.

They are supposed to be waterproof but I had the outlets to the outside wall of our kitchen slideout on our 38 start to provide intermittant service and went looking after sitting for 2 months in very dry Yuma.

I removed the cover from that box and water poured out of it. Seems the definition of waterproof means it will hold water in but not keep it out! Eh? Stupid thing was mounted right in the tire throw line to get all the water coming off the top of the tire and also the tread when it decided to shed one in Tulsa. Another story.

All connections in that box were corroded beyond re-doing so I had to cut back to new wire and start over with replacing that box with a marine "gas-tight" unit. No more problems until I sold the unit.
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Old 12-02-2011, 09:35 AM   #20
rotaxman
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Lost Island power

Hey Bruce,

Thanks for the info your right a pretty dumb place to put those boxes and in my case there are 4 on the frame and two on the kitchen slide. I will look into to those today if I can beat the rain.

Always good to hear from you Bruce have a nice day.

As always good camping.

Joyce and Jerry
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