# No Power To Control Panel For Tank Levels, Water Heater



## dominer (May 20, 2007)

Ok, you know the panel thathat you have your beattery level meter and your tank levels lights right?? Well mine also has the switches for the hot water heater, both gas and electric... seperate switches, as well as the water pump.... I have no power to that panel. cant chek anything, consequently, have no hot water. Cant turn it on....on my convertor, I do have a red L E D light that is on....However the fuses "appear" to be fine. Breakers arent tripped, have reset them. Could Half of breaker go bad??? Mide have two throws on was breaker. The one for the water heater is 20 amp and it shares with the Microwave. another 20 amp throw. ANy Ideas?? Thanks


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## johnp (Mar 15, 2004)

Try turning on the switch for the pump if you can hear the pump but the red indicator on the switch isn't lit then I would say the ground wire to the control panel came loose or broke. Actually all three switches should still function without the control panel lights working. Believe it or not I am sitting in my trailer and just looked at the panel for you there is a small white wire that is the common ground for that panel it is is attached to a group of other grounds check to make sure those are tight first. The other place you can try is behind the converter there is a ground bar there that might have a loose wire.

John


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

First do not trust appearances. Replace or test the fuses. If the blown fuse LED stays on then you may have a problem with the distribution panel.

The breakers are for AC power and completely separate from the DC distribution system with the exception of one location and that is the neutral bar. Pull the cover and check all of the white wires to make sure they are connected.

Now to the indicator and control panel. The indication and control functions are separate like the power distribution system but they also can have a common ground junctions. Take the control panel off the wall and find a neutral white wire and "GENTLLY" pull it out of the wall and check the wire nut used to hold it together with the rest of the commons.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

johnp2000 said:


> Try turning on the switch for the pump if you can hear the pump but the red indicator on the switch isn't lit then I would say the ground wire to the control panel came loose or broke. Actually all three switches should still function without the control panel lights working. Believe it or not I am sitting in my trailer and just looked at the panel for you there is a small white wire that is the common ground for that panel it is is attached to a group of other grounds check to make sure those are tight first. The other place you can try is behind the converter there is a ground bar there that might have a loose wire.
> 
> John


Short and sweet and you beat me to the post by a minute!


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## johnp (Mar 15, 2004)

CamperAndy said:


> Try turning on the switch for the pump if you can hear the pump but the red indicator on the switch isn't lit then I would say the ground wire to the control panel came loose or broke. Actually all three switches should still function without the control panel lights working. Believe it or not I am sitting in my trailer and just looked at the panel for you there is a small white wire that is the common ground for that panel it is is attached to a group of other grounds check to make sure those are tight first. The other place you can try is behind the converter there is a ground bar there that might have a loose wire.
> 
> John


Short and sweet and you beat me to the post by a minute!















[/quote]

I was sitting three feet from the panel and know you can see Gilligan's wiring job from the back side.

John


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## usmc03 (Jun 6, 2006)

I actually had this happen to me on one of my first camping trips. The cheap wire nuts they use to connect the wires had come loose as well as the wires. I had to take some of the wall apart at the campgound to get in there and get it working. Cold water isn't nice in Alaska in early summer.

After we got home I took into the dealer and they got it fixed up quick with new wire nuts.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

I'm betting loose wires somewhere, too. How new is your trailer? If it's fairly new, things start to loosen up after a certain amount of bouncing behind your TV. I had several connections loosen up on the buss bar inside the main converter/breaker panel.

My microwave quit twice in the first year. It wasn't until after I removed the microwave from the cabinet and disassembled the back cover to check an internal fuse, that I discovered the loose wire in the converter panel!







I've tightened all the connections in there a couple times, now. This spring, I just went in there and torqued everything as a precaution, while I was de-winterizing.

But any connection is suspect. I think Gilligan must now be giving "On-The-Job" training to new employees! The Gray and Black tank handle mislabeling thing popped up again recently, in another thread.

Mike


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