I had hoped that tightening all of the wires and grounds in our motorhome’s breaker panel Wednesday would fix the intermittent power loss problems we have been having. And it did… until about midnight. Then the power blipped on and off two or three more times. And yesterday it did again several times. Well darn it!
So I’m back to chasing gremlins. Yesterday I called Winnebago in Forest City, Iowa, and after a long hold finally got to talk to a tech at the factory. As soon as I began explaining the problem, he told me that experience has taught him that it’s more than likely in the inverter. I told him that I had turned off the inverter, but he said the power still goes in and then back out of it and then into the coach. And he said there could be a component in there that is failing, or even a loose connection inside the inverter.
To test it, he said to kill all power to the RV, disconnect the wires going into the inverter and those coming back out, and then to connect them directly together. If that solves the problem it tells us that the trouble source is the inverter. And since I know from experience that the Freedom 15 inverters like we have are notorious for failing after a decade or so, and it’s the original equipment in our 2002 motorhome, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the culprit.
The only problem with that is that the way the inverter is mounted in a very cramped compartment next to our freshwater tank, one has to be a contortionist to get to it. A contortionist with very long, multi-jointed arms, well muscled. I’ll tackle it today and see if I have any luck.
Meanwhile, Miss Terry finished proofing the new issue of the Gypsy Journal and between power outages I made all the changes and uploaded it to the web. Today I’ll be sending out the link to our digital subscribers. Well, I will if I can get the power to stay on long enough to get the job done.
Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of my friend Ken Rossignol’s Pirate Trials: Famous Murderous Pirates Book Series: THE LIVES AND ADVENTURES of FAMOUS and SUNDRY PIRATES. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.
Thought For The Day – Kids today don’t know how easy they have it. When I was young, I had to walk 9 feet through shag carpet to change the TV channel.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
It sounds exactly like the problem I was having. It would work for awhile, then click off, sometimes four times in a row. No one could figure it out. I know you already talked to Progressive, but you might try replacing the motherboard anyway. I haven’t had any problems since.
Nick, Nick Nick, Don’t you know that’s a job for Terry. She’s the one that handles the tools. You should know better than that guy!! Have fun and good luck.
Nick, when my power dropped I found that the wire nuts inside the inverter for the in and out had come loose. At the bottom of the Freedom inverter you will find a plate with two screws between the in and out wires. Remove that plate and check the connections inside. Naturally you need all power off. My wire nuts had become loose enough that the wires actually melted. I was able to clean everything up and solder and tape my connections.
Disconnect all power including the negative cable to you house and coach batteries before disconnecting the power cables on your inverter. You wouldn’t want to be inverting when you disconnect the output side of the inverter!