50 amp service not registering 2006 Vectra 40KD

[Corkyz]

We own a 2006 Winnebago Vectra 40KD motorhome, While camping in Tennessee we were plugged into a 50 amp box but my Powerline Energy management system would only read 20 or 30 amps? When I got home I plugged my motorhome into my 50 amp box and I still have the same problem? None of my breakers are tripped, Any ideas what to do to repair this?

[Morich]

Some will depend on personal experience and how you feel about what I suggest. If power is scary, it may be best to have it done but if okay with testing and have a meter, this may not be that hard to solve. So do think before playing with dangerous stuff!

Maybe first check both Air units to make sure the monitor is not just fooling you? Weird is common in electrical stuff!
Swap the letters around and weird and wired are spelled the same!

Click these snips to get a better view or go direct to the drawings for the whole story?
There are drawings for the route the power comes in, goes through the transfer switch and on to the breakers:

Line schematic here:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...ire_152891.pdf


OR as drawn more like it will be found on the rV




Power comes from either the cord or generator and the transfer switch chooses which to use. In on red or blue and out on green? So if you check at the breakers for voltage, it may be one is not getting 110VAC as it should. Personal choice if you might want to open the breakers or at the transfer switch, to test for 110AC on the black and red wires as the white is neutral or ground. Make sure both power wires and ground are good.
This has to be done while power is on, so be careful what you touch if not used to doing this!!

One item that I read about fairly often is the screws in the transfer switch get loose and a wire stops getting good solid contact. This can often be spotted by a burned spot on th ewire ligs in the switch. That part can be done before turning power on and if ALL power is removed, checking the screws for being really good and tight can save later problems!!
Copper wire can tend to work around in all the bumps we go through and get loose far more than house wiring???

One of the first and easier steps to always be sure of before working too hard is that the outlet is correct! Any chance there is a breaker in the house tripped and both the campsite AND your outlet are missing part of the power? Sounds WRONG to be so paranoid but then wrong is what you are looking for, so maybe check before doing the hard stuff?

[creativepart]

The Precision Circuits Power Control System will let you set a limit to the incoming type of service. So, this "may" be your problem.

You can set it to 15 amp, 20 amp, 30 amp or 50 amp. If you are connected to a 50-amp pedestal but your PCS is set for 30-amps that is all that the PCS will allow into the coach.

Here's the instruction manual - it should also be in your Operator's Manual in the Infocase:

https://www.precisioncircuitsinc.com...nersManual.pdf

[emiddleb]

One easy thing to check first before breaking out the volt meter...

Go to your 120v breaker box in the bedroom and make sure all the breakers are 'on.' Even flip them off/on to make sure they are working properly.

The (Reader's Digest version) way your EMS works is that there is a circuit panel installed in the 120v breaker box. It is wired to monitor power on both lines of the 50amp power. If both present, all ok. If one not there, 30amp is assumed. Often it's wired on the 2nd side to something like the water heater or dryer breaker. If you turned one off thinking "I'm not using that" or its tripped, that can cause the EMS to not recognize 50amp power. So try making sure they are all "on" and working before digging deeper as Morich suggested in his good writeup.

[emiddleb]

Originally Posted by creativepart

The Precision Circuits Power Control System will let you set a limit to the incoming type of service. So, this "may" be your problem.

You can set it to 15 amp, 20 amp, 30 amp or 50 amp. If you are connected to a 50-amp pedestal but your PCS is set for 30-amps that is all that the PCS will allow into the coach.

Here's the instruction manual - it should also be in your Operator's Manual in the Infocase:

https://www.precisioncircuitsinc.com...nersManual.pdf

The OP's 2006 Vectra has an older/different system... a Powerline EMS system. On ours we cannot set 50amp... it's either there or not as recognized by the sensor board. The only control we have is to step a 30amp reading down to 20amp. In all cases, it does not control the power coming into the RV, but just tells the logic board when/how to shed appliances when on lower power.

[creativepart]

OK, I found the owner's manual for the 50 AMP EMS MODEL 800 DISTRIBUTION PANEL and see it works different.

I did see others reporting this issue when - or all things - the washer/dryer circuit breaker was switched off. (Like emiddleb mentioned above but not specifically for the W/D.) In that one instance their W/D wasn't operating so they turned off that breaker and that also disabled a feed line to the Power Center.

Just a SWAG, but I thought I'd mention it.

Here's the owner's manual for it, if you don't have one:

http://www.rvcruzer.com/docs/EMS800_SvcManual.pdf

[Morich]

How we each work a problem is often just where we have been and what we have seen. One of the big things I see now inmany fields is the lack of really indepth understanding of what all the gizmos are doing, so we may get techs who have only used the computer readouts to repair our cars.
I've grow to not trust the monitors as real info as they are sometimes calculations based on poor info.
I've mentioned it many times but the last time I had trouble with a tow car, I finally traded the car because the computer reports were what many different techs wanted to take as the final word.
They would do many things that did not work but as a last response, they would say the battery was bad.
the lights, horn, etc all worked but the report would eventually come back to it being a bad battery, even though they had changed the battery and could not say WHAT was wrong with the battery. Just something about the battery which randomly kept the car from cranking!
I like to start with the battery and KNOW it is good, so that if I come across something telling me it is not good, I can assume the report is wrong.

I trust my meter as it only has one big knob to turn with NO setting to mislead me!

A second quick way to test if the power is getting both 110 feeds inside is to try the two Air units. Both work directly off the load center and one on each of the 110 feeds, so if both work, no reason to test up to that point and we can then assume it is more likely a monitor problem to check!

[jerichorick]

Originally Posted by Corkyz

We own a 2006 Winnebago Vectra 40KD motorhome, While camping in Tennessee we were plugged into a 50 amp box but my Powerline Energy management system would only read 20 or 30 amps? When I got home I plugged my motorhome into my 50 amp box and I still have the same problem? None of my breakers are tripped, Any ideas what to do to repair this?

I had a '05 Vectra FD. I had the same problem when I bought it. I had to replace the monitor board in the service panel. If you have both L1 & L2 voltages at the main breakers in the service panel, the monitor board is the problem. If not, it might be your ATS.


I found an old thread on this problem. A reset of the 12v power cleared the problem. Here is the thread: https://www.winnieowners.com/forums/...ms-101418.html


Looking forward to hearing what your fix is.
Rick

[dlan603]

search for a post from me dlan603, it has been a long time ago but I posted some pictures on how to fix your mother board. Not sure if this will help.
dlan603

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by dlan603

search for a post from me dlan603, it has been a long time ago but I posted some pictures on how to fix your mother board. Not sure if this will help.
dlan603

dlan603 did you know you can click on your Username and a drop down menu will appear. Find more posts by dlan603 will appear and you click that and you'll see an list of every post you've ever made here.

Here's a link to the post you're talking about:
https://www.winnieowners.com/forums/...ml#post2606745

Here's what you list of 6 posts look like when you click Find More Posts by...:

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by creativepart

OK, I found the owner's manual for the 50 AMP EMS MODEL 800 DISTRIBUTION PANEL and see it works different.

I did see others reporting this issue when - or all things - the washer/dryer circuit breaker was switched off. (Like emiddleb mentioned above but not specifically for the W/D.) In that one instance their W/D wasn't operating so they turned off that breaker and that also disabled a feed line to the Power Center.

Just a SWAG, but I thought I'd mention it.

Here's the owner's manual for it, if you don't have one:

http://www.rvcruzer.com/docs/EMS800_SvcManual.pdf

That is the usual cause of this complaint with the W Intellitec powerline EMS. It's now W does the wiring, and only Winnebago.