The podcast episode meticulously examines the myriad of electrical problems that RV owners frequently face, particularly those that seem never-ending and multifaceted. Eric notes that the root causes of these electrical issues often lie in the fundamental components of an RV's electrical system, particularly the batteries and converters that regulate 12-volt power. By clarifying the differences between the 12-volt and 110-volt systems, Eric aims to equip RV owners with the knowledge to identify, understand, and resolve these issues effectively. Emphasizing a comprehensive understanding of one's RV can significantly demystify troubleshooting, enabling owners to navigate electrical challenges with greater confidence. Moreover, the podcast offers practical advice on essential tools for successful electrical repairs and maintenance. The speaker highlights the importance of having high-quality tools, such as voltmeters and wire strippers, which are crucial for conducting accurate diagnostics and repairs. This segment empowers listeners by showing that, with the right tools, RV owners can tackle a variety of electrical issues independently, enhancing their overall RV experience. The discussion also addresses common misconceptions about electrical problems, emphasizing that many issues may seem complex but often stem from a single, identifiable source that can be resolved with relative ease. In the episode's conclusion, Eric introduces a new product—the Lippert step light—that exemplifies technological advancements in RV accessories. Designed to enhance safety during entry and exit, this motion-activated light is a significant improvement in RV convenience. The podcast wraps up with an invitation for listeners to engage further, whether to seek assistance with electrical issues or to explore innovative RV solutions, thereby fostering a proactive community of RV enthusiasts eager to enhance their knowledge and experience.
Takeaways:Electrical issues within an RV often stem from problems with the deep-cycle batteries.
Understanding the distinction between 12-volt and 110-volt systems is crucial for diagnosing electrical issues.
Using a voltmeter can significantly simplify troubleshooting electrical issues in an RV.
GFCI outlets are a common cause of power issues in RVs and should always be checked first.
Maintaining quality tools is vital to effective electrical repairs in an RV.
Properly diagnosing issues can prevent unnecessary replacements and save time during RV maintenance.
Have you ever had an electrical problem in your RV that seems to bounce from the lights to the furnace to this, to that? It seems like it's an impossibility to find or fix.
Well, today in staying on the road, that's what we're going to talk about when electrical problems seem relentless. And then in our quick tips, we're going to cover the basic tools for doing electrical repairs and maintenance and even emergencies.
And then in RV envy, we're going to cover the new step light from Lippert. It's pretty darn cool, so we got to check that out.
So this is Eric Stark with the Smart RVer podcast, your trusted source for do it yourself RV maintenance and repair. So let's talk RV maintenance, and today is episode 194. So let's jump into this. So welcome back, Smart RVers. I got a real quick tip here for you.
So if you live in a part of the country where you get hail from time to time or more often, who knows, it depends where you live.
If you have a little bit of a heads up and you know it's going to hail, if you just go into your RV and crank your roof of it open just a little bit, like three, eight of an inch, just enough so it's not sitting on the frame when it hails, there's a better chance of that vent lid surviving it than not because the hail will have a tendency to bounce off it. The vent acts more as a cushion than just a hard landing. So a soft landing versus hard landing. So it'll protect that lid. Possibly.
And really the lids aren't that big of a deal to replace, even expense wise. It's just, it's a hassle, especially if you're not around or, you know, you don't know that it broke.
And you got all this hail and water going in your rv. So that's just a quick little tip to save you some frustration down the road.
And speaking of frustration, if you have an RV with Slide out awnings that are failing, starting to look like garbage, they're an embarrassment. You take them out the RV park and they want you to leave. Hey, get that RV out of here, man. Slide outs are ugly.
SunPro Manufacturing has a solution for you. There'll be a link to their Slide out awning fabrics in the description of this podcast. They have a five year, ten year warranty.
They me, it's my company. Great product, great product. It just outlasts the factory fabrics by a long shot. So check that out. If you're looking for new slide out awning fabric.
And now let's get into the quick tips I was talking about or we're going to talk about the basic tools for doing electrical repairs. So one of the first things you need, and sometimes it's the hardest one for someone to want to get out, it's the voltmeter.
This bad boy here will make life so much easier. If you have a voltmeter and it doesn't have to be a super expensive one, it just has to be one that works well.
Then of course there's the cordless drill, which makes it nice for taking things apart real quick. And a handful of bits go to the cordless drill.
And you know, when it comes to your hand tools, like here's a crimper, so it has a wire cutter on the end.
And then there's also wire strippers and I prefer standalone crimper strippers rather than having an all in one solution because the all in ones are clunkier. They're not as good, they're generally very low quality. They don't crimp as well. They're harder to get into tight spots.
Then you have your wire cutters that cut on the side. Sometimes they're referred to as dikes. Then needle nose pliers, those are the basics.
And a couple screwdrivers, that's all you really need to do most of your electrical repairs well.
And crimp connectors and some wire, which, you know, that's obvious I think, but when you're buying crimp connectors, buy good ones, don't buy low quality ones on the company store website. They're cheap, they don't work well. Sometimes you have to go 3, 4, 5, 6 of them to get one that will actually crimp right.
Sometimes the crimps don't hold at all. So invest in better quality ones. So these tools also don't have to be super high end, but you don't want to buy super cheap ones.
When you buy tools, you know, you're a do it yourself at home. And some of these tools you probably already have, but you want to get the tools that are actually going to be pretty decent.
You know, in Harbor Freight their tools have improved quite a bit. Home Depot has a nice selection of electrical tools.
In fact, they sell Klein, they sell fluke channel lock and channel lock is a very good brand and the prices are more reasonable. So I would probably just go to Harbor Freight or to Home Depot to buy these types of tools.
Like I said, they don't have to be super Expensive, but you do want ones that are going to last reasonably long, not wear out after the first two or three tries or they barely work. Wire cutters that can barely cut wire, you want to avoid all that. So buy good tools to begin with or better quality tools.
They don't have to be super high end like snap on or anything like that.
So that's just a nice little quick tip on some of the tools and I will take a picture of what we use here, lay it out so you can see them, the variety and how small the variety is. Like I said, you probably have most of these tools at home. But having these tools, especially that voltmeter, makes life a lot easier.
Okay, so if you have any questions about the tools, you can use the Contact Us page or actually anything about this podcast in general, you go to the smartrver.com use the contact us page. From there, our phone numbers listed, our text numbers listed, our email video.
You can get in touch with us a lot of different ways, making it pretty darn simple for you. So again, that's@the smartrver.com now that brings us to staying on the road when electrical problems seem relentless.
So I am constantly barraged with questions about electrical systems and problems.
But first, before we really get into what may make this seem relentless, let's talk about some of the basics first, because we have to have a little bit of an understanding here of some of the basic components on an RV in that electrical system. So we know what we're talking about. When you go to talk to a professional, you go to buy parts, you're giving them the right information.
It just helps it eliminate some of the confusion. Quite often the confusion comes in at the 12 volt and 110 volt systems.
So, so what I mean by that is sometimes people think that these two systems, the 12 volt and the 110 volt overlap, so they come together and they don't. Sometimes they might come close to one another like in a converter or an inverter type situation, but they don't overlap.
And one of the classic examples would be the lights in an RV. A lot of people will ask for 12 volt 110 volt lights. They're just 12 volt. RVs for the most part do not use 110 volt lights. They use 12 volt lights.
And I say for the most part because like your microwave has 110 volt light, but most everything else is 12 volts. So if the lights quit working, that's an Indicator that there's something wrong in the 12 volt system, not the 110 volt system.
In most cases, like I said, they don't overlap. But sometimes they come close, like in a converter or inverter. But we'll get to that in just a second. Now let's talk about the inverter.
Most RVs don't come with an inverter, they come with a converter. But in the last few years they've been added into the mix of RVs. They've become more popular for people to add them.
But even inverters, we need to know if it's a charging charger, inverter or if it's just an inverter. There's a difference. And so it's important to know that. Now the inverter takes the 12 volts from the batteries and converts it to 110 volts to run.
Run your 110 volt appliances such as a microwave, a TV, 110 volt CPAP machine, things like that. So it's crucial to describe the problems to whoever will help you fix them to know the problems and what you have and exactly what your RV has.
It's very important and I'm going to assume here that if you're going to do it yourself and you go to a shop, that they're going to help you, they're going to put you in the right direction of what the fix might be. They're going to do it even if it means they lose a part sale or a labor job. They're not going to be able to get the repair job.
I'm going to assume that.
I think most shops do, but some in recent years have cut back on helping and they're more like, you just need to bring it in and we'll fix it and that's it. So the 110 volt and 12 volt systems are separate. And even though they're in your RV together, they're in the same space, they're still separate.
They never truly connect unless it's very intentional. And like I said earlier, it's like if you're using a converter or an inverter, but they come close, they don't connect.
So knowing these basics is going to help you diagnose the problem.
Especially if you're out of reach of a technician, there's not one near you and maybe you really don't like dealing with electrical, then you know a technician's not around so you're going to have to deal with it now just for simplicity here and so you know, 110 volts, yes. That can shock you, electrocute you, possibly even kill you. So you do need to be a little more careful there when you're using testing 110v.
Now 12v on the other hand, it's not going to kill you. You know, you might get a little zap here and there maybe depending on the circumstance, but generally you're not going to ever know it.
If you touch a 12 volt wire, the only thing you can do there easier because it's not as aggressive, you might blow a fuse by letting the positive touch of ground, something like that. They're pretty darn. The 12 volt system is pretty darn safe. So it's easy to work on.
And that's where when you understand the difference between the two and where the problem really lies, you can diagnose it without worrying about electrocuting yourself or knowing that you need to disconnect from the 110v to make sure you're doing it right. Or when it's connected that when you're testing wires that it's live and you can get electrocuted.
Because the 110 volts in an RV is the same thing as your house.
Now for clarity's sake here, the 12 volt system powers the lights in an RV, the water pump, the furnace, the TV or excuse me, TV antennas, water heaters. If your refrigerator is 12 volt or it has a 12 volt compressor, it powers it. Your refrigerators, even though they're gas electric.
If it's not a 12 volt compressor style or 110 volt compressor style, it has circuit boards in there and gas valves that need 12 volts. So most refrigerators require 12 volts to work properly. Even 110 volt ones might need 12 volts for particular things.
So those are kind of the main items in your rv. Now you might have other things in your RV that require 12 volts, such as a touch pad on the wall for controlling all the things in the rv.
Now if you think about it this way, this will help you when you're trying to diagnose problems. Your RV is designed to run 100% on 12 volts.
Most RVs are, there's a few that aren't, but generally they're designed to run on 12 volts everything so you don't have to have 110 volts. Now that's provided the batteries are charged up and there's no 12 volt issues with the batteries working or being charged.
So now let's get to the meat of this. Let's talk about what causes these seemingly endless electrical problems. So first let's look at the 12 volt system.
And I'm going to say this right up front. More often than not, the problem lies within the deep cycle batteries and sometimes the converter. They seem to be at the center of the problem.
You might be asking, well how can that be? What's causing that problem? So it's real simple. Most RVs can run on 12 volt power.
Like I said, everything in the RV can run on 12 volts for the most part.
So when a battery is bad or they're not getting charged, it can make it seem like there's gremlin gremlins in the rv, like they're causing these little weird problems. And that's kind of the phone call we get is, hey, I've got all these weird issues with my electrical in my rv.
Do you have somebody that really knows electrical? And it's really not the case? Because it's usually one simple thing. Either the battery's bad, it's not, or it's not getting charged.
Now that takes us into other things, but quite often it's that simple. And one of the things that kind of throws people off for RV owners is their appliances might start acting weird.
Like the furnace might stop working or the lights are dimming or the water pumps running real slow. So that's an indicator that the batteries are not getting, that the batteries aren't getting charged or they're just going dead and not recharging.
So there's something happening there. So the questions are, does this happen when you're not hooked up to 110 volts? If yes, then that's definitely in the 12 volt system.
You have to kind of walk through the steps of that. Sometimes people will take their RV out over the weekend.
They use it, they come home, they park it, and maybe a few days later they go out there to clean it. And it's a little chilly out, so they turn the furnace on. Well, the furnace only runs for about 10 minutes, then it just slowly dies.
And they think they have a problem with the rv, so they make an appointment to bring it in. By the time they get here, the furnace is working. Why is that? Because their battery was going dead. They used it over the weekend, remember?
They let it sit for a few days and they go to use the furnace. Well, they just depleted what was left in the battery, that's all.
Then the drive over to our shop, the battery is charged up from being plugged into the truck or in the motorhome is charging the battery, then the furnace works. So that's not necessarily truly a problem with the rv, that's just the batteries went dead.
Now the batteries go dead just because they're camping for a few days.
And that was the life of the batteries, which generally most RVs will last two or three days, you know, dry camping on their batteries, some a little bit more, some a little bit less. Just depends on your entire 12 volt system and how it's put together. But let's just say they bring the RV in and the battery's just stone cold dead.
So you test it. If it's bad, then the battery gets replaced and you put a new battery in. And that generally solves all the problems.
You know, you check to make sure the converter is charging, that things are okay, there's no shorts and you're good to go. But sometimes the battery is just not getting charged.
Like someone will take their rv, they had it plugged in before they went on their camping trip, they get to where they're going and the battery lasts one night. And maybe the battery is only a year old, so it should last more than one night.
Well, the issue could be that the converter is not charging the batteries, but that's not as straightforward either, because is the converter actually failed or failing?
And it's not the battery charger portion of it isn't charging the batteries, or is it because there's a blown circuit breaker, a bad fuse, battery disconnect switch has been left in the off position. So there's things that you'd want to check before you automatically replace batteries or converter.
And I emphasize that because a lot of times it's guessing. That's what we experience in our store. Someone will come in and say, I need two new batteries for my rv. Okay, how come I just do I know they're bad?
How do you know they're bad? And we ask questions and sometimes I think we irritate our customers because we want to help them diagnose it right the first time.
Because we don't want them to buy batteries, install them, and still have the same problem. That's not good for us, it's not good for them. And so we walk them through this. And sometimes, yeah, okay, your batteries are definitely bad.
Or no, it doesn't sound like your batteries are bad. It sounds like maybe it's your converter that's the problem. The batteries aren't getting a charge from it.
And that's where the multimeter volt meter comes in. And meters are much better than test lights. Test lights are good in emergency, but the meter is the way to go.
And so you can test the system, you can see if it's charging. You know, most converters can put out 13.5 volts almost all the time. And then when they're charging, that increases.
But depending on how charged up your battery is, you may or may not be able to see 14.4 volts or 14 volts because the battery could be so low or there's so much draw somewhere in this RV that is drawing it down and you can't notice. But you would see a definite increase in the charge. If it's charging and there's things kind of working against it.
It might be a 13.8 when you plug it in. So that's what you're looking for, an increase. Back to what I was saying is that diagnosing it properly.
Because most RVs, especially trailers, have converter or a circuit breaker near the tongue in line. Some of them are in compartments that if that circuit breaker fails, the battery won't be getting charged from the inverter. I mean converter.
So that has. You need to check that. So it's imperative that you check for voltage here and there.
And I'm going to say this, you probably need to pencil out your rv. Just make a little drawing of the basic system from the converter to the battery. Is there a cable there with a circuit breaker in it?
If so, you need to know where it's at and probably buy a spare and have one because they're not very much and it can ruin a trip. If you don't have a spare and you can't find one. They are automotive and just about any 12 volt circuit breaker will work in a pinch.
You can make anything work like that. I definitely would keep a breaker in there though. But you could get a.
Well, I'm not getting the different types, but a guy at a parts store could help you if it's an absolute emergency. Here, you could do this. This will work. As long as it's a circuit breaker. It's not that hard.
And what happens is, I don't know if I really made this point stand out, is that the problems might seem relentless because it seems to bounce from a light or a furnace. The furn isn't running as fast as it should or it's not coming out at all because there's not enough voltage.
So the 12 volts all center around the battery and the converter. So if the converter is charging the battery and you have a problem is more than likely the battery is bad.
So you need to check that or have the batteries checked. So it's pretty simple. And batteries sometimes will throw it off and make it look like things are all over the place, but they're not.
And just keep that in mind. So like I said, I would pencil out your, your 12 volt system in your RV just so you have an idea.
Do it once, even if you throw it away, but it gives you a little, gets your mind working about how to follow along with it and what to fix when something goes wrong or where to start checking, even if you have to take it into the shop. It's going to make it easier when you can explain things correctly. Even my furnace doesn't work because of this or that.
It doesn't turn on after I went camping for four days. Well, the shop might just say that's a battery issue. Have you tried plugging it in to see if it works?
Simple little things like that can save you a trip to the shop and some money. Now that's the 12 volt system. So let's go into the 110 volt system. Now 110 volts is probably scarier to most people because it's 110 volts.
You can get shocked, electrocuted. You know, most people that work on it know what that feels like. It's only certain times where it's going to kill you.
But you still need to be very cautious.
Even touching the positive wire to ground, you can damage things, you can damage a breaker, you can damage whatever you touch because it'll start to arc out, becomes like a little mini welder, if you will.
Most of the time when there's an electrical problem in an rv, this is from my experience, there's a GFCI breaker outlet someplace in the RV that has tripped or it's gone bad. That is most of the time. Now if it's not a GFCI breaker. And oh, by the way, sometimes those things can be kind of hard to see.
They kind of blend in sometimes or you don't really notice it, then you go to find it and where is this thing? You know, we see it all the time. And especially GFCI breakers and even propane detectors, they're hard to find.
Sometimes it seems like they're in plain sight and they are, but there might be something lean in front of it. The way they built the RV it's not real noticeable from all angles, so it can be a little tricky to find them.
But if the GFCI breaker isn't your issue, and generally that's going to be one circuit in the rv, you know, it'll be the GFCI outlet itself than every outlet on that same circuit after it. So that helps you narrow it down.
Now, if you have no problem or no power in the RV and you're plugged into shore power and you have 110 volts at your breaker box, then it's somewhere in that breaker box, maybe the main breaker, something to do in there. Because if you have power going to it, then it's that point and everything after.
Now, if you don't have power going to the breaker box and you're plugged into shore power, it could be your RV has a transfer switch in it and the transfer switch has gone bad. So that would be in the case if you have a generator in your rv.
If you don't have a generator, you typically don't have a transfer switch other than an inverter. But we're not. Inverters are different. They have transfer switches built into them. So when you go from inverter to shore power, it'll transfer.
So it could be there where we're going on your conventional RV type setup here. And some motor homes have power management systems in it that can get very finicky over time.
And so the park power, even if it's off just 2 or 3 volts from what it likes, the RV might not be working right. The power inside might be seem like you have gremlins.
One of the things to do is always check the pedestal to make sure that it has the 110 or the 220, because a 50amp RV has two 110 legs on it. So check that for power. And they have little testers you can plug in that show for grounds opens problems.
This, that the other thing, and quite often pedestal are the problem too. But I would say more often than not, it's the GFCI outlet in the rv. Sometimes circuit breakers go bad.
You don't typically have gremlins in RVs in general. Most of the time it's one single thing that's causing the problem. And it's lack of understanding that makes it seem like it's multiple problems.
Because one thing in an RV that fails in the electrical can make it seem like several things have failed when they haven't. And wires in RVs don't just break, they don't short out. I mean, occasionally this happens, but it's not very often.
They're built into the walls and they're there, they stay, they last forever. Well, the life of the RV anyways, until it ends up in someone's backyard collecting mold, place for animals to live. Dogs, cats.
And they don't care about electrical, so it doesn't matter to them. But the wires will last, so you don't need to worry about it. Okay, so any questions, like I said earlier, you can call me, talk to me about it.
And there will be an article about this on the website. Pretty much just what we covered. A little more dialed in for you, so you can check that out@the smartrver.com now that brings us to RV envy.
And like I said earlier, we're going to talk about the Lippert step light. And if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see it. If you're not, you can't. But you know what, it's out there.
So this step light is pretty darn cool. It's motion activated and I don't have it turned on here in our studio for anybody on YouTube to see how it works, but it's motion activated.
It has a steel plate on it that will mount on the steps. And when I'm talking about the steps, this is the new style. Steps that fold out of the door or fold up into the door when you're not using the rv.
So when you put your RV into storage or you're not using it, you fold up that step into the door jamb and you close the door and you don't see it. So it's not bolted underneath the door of the rv, it folds up into it. Now when you're using it, you fold it out.
Well, this light is designed to mount on that step so when you bring it down, you can turn it on and it's motion activated. So at night you're moving around, it comes on. Which is pretty darn cool. Because you know those steps, they don't have lights on them.
Even a porch light doesn't always shine.
And where you need it to be on those steps or if you don't have a porch light, you know it's just going to make it safer because these steps can be kind of dangerous, even though they're much better than what RV steps used to be, the fold out type. And what makes this light very cool too is it comes with a metal plate that could basically be replicated. Pretty simple.
And you could actually take the light, have it on your step and you could move it to a compartment if you wanted to. Maybe you're going to be looking for something in your compartment at night. It doesn't have a light or it's not well lit.
You can pull this light off your step, put it in the compartment, have a little metal bracket someplace in there, mount it so you can just put it right on it. If you're in the bed of your truck, wherever you have metal, you can just mount this thing.
I mean, of course you could just set it down too on any surface and use it. But if you want it up higher so the light reflects a little bit better, it works.
It's like an all purpose light that's made for those fold down steps that Lippert makes, Morryde makes. Yeah, those steps have come. They have made RVing so much better with those steps. Nice solid steps. They need a light.
So I highly recommend one of these lights. And another thing too, along the line of those steps, if you have a more ride or Lippert step, there's a company called Stairways.
There'll be a link to it in the description. They make a hinge kit for those steps. Because if you have an RV and let's say you're.
You go into storage to park your RV and it's kind of a tight space, you might not be able to swing that step down to get in your RV because it'll hit the RV next to you and that causes a problem. Now these steps come out pretty easy with a pin that slides right out. But that's not always convenient. Where this hinge kit will fold the step up.
So when you bring it or bring it out, you bring.
You can fold out that extra piece at a different time and it makes it easier to fit because it's going to be down lower, it's not going to hit the side of the rv. So it's kind of a cool little system. I personally have not tried one. I've seen them on the Internet, on their website.
I've gotten stuff in the mail from the company. Talk to them briefly. I need to talk to them more. But it's a great product if you're having that issue.
And sometimes that issue will come when you least expect it.
Maybe you're at a truck stop getting fuel and you're going to rest for a few hours and you back into a spot next to a truck and you can't bring your step down. Oh man, that sucks. Right? And you got to kind of work that somehow. Check it out. Stairways.com Like I said, there'll be a link in the description.
If you don't look at the link, it's stairways with a Z W, a Z. That brings us basically to the end of the show here.
So I want to remind everybody to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast channel, such as itunes, Spotify. There's so many of them. Tune in. My mind's going blank. There's so many of them. Iheartradio. I mean, all of them. We're there.
Or you can go to our YouTube channel. Subscribe to our YouTube videos there as well. Now our next episode is 195 and we're going to circle back to power service.
They're the companies that make the fuel injection cleaner flush system. So what we're going to focus on, though, and that one, just for reference, we did it, I think four or five episodes ago.
So it's for diesel engines and trucks and RVs. So we're going to circle back to that because of winter challenges that can become an issue for people who own diesel engines.
And so their product works very well in that. And I'll explain why. Or actually it's going to be an interview. So we'll have the explanation from the company.
So it's very interesting and a lot of people experience problems in the wintertime, so we're going to cover that. So that's power service. So we'll be circling back to that episode 195. So I want to thank everybody for listening today. We had a great show today.
Good information. Like I said, it's all. Or you can contact us, reach out to me anytime you want by going to our website.
All the information is there, video, text call, chat, email, whichever. So I want to thank you for listening to the Smart RVer podcast, your trusted source for do it yourself RV maintenance and repair.
