Adventurer 35U with 50amp cable and breakers only showing 30amps

LifeVenture · 04-08-2022, 03:03 PM

Hello all.

I have had my 2000 Adventurer for about a month. It has a 50amp dedicated shore line cord and when I open the interior breaker panel the mains are 50amp even has a spot for a washer drier mine didnt come with. But everytime I hook up to multiple different pedestal now I only show 30 on the powerline ems controller inside. When I swap it goes to 20 and back to 30 but never goes to 50amp.

What am I doing wrong or is there a component that could have failed? How can I go about checking from here?

Thank you

cbeierl · 04-08-2022, 03:32 PM

Make sure that ALL of your breakers are ON, even if you don't think anything is connected to them. The EMS system uses one of the breakers on the 2nd 'leg' of the 120V system (typically one of the rightmost ones) to detect the presence of a 50A supply (because the two 'legs' of 120V will be 180deg out of phase with each other).

LifeVenture · 04-08-2022, 03:35 PM

Thanks for the response I read somewhere someones didnt work correctly when the washer breaker was swapped to off. I did in fact make sure all breakers were in the right position and reset any push style fuses above the microwave. Any other advice is greatly appreciated.

cbeierl · 04-08-2022, 07:24 PM

See Note /7\ on page 6 of the Body, 110 Volt Wiring Installation diagram for your coach. It indicates that the rightmost 20A breaker is the one used by the EMS to detect 50A service.

powercat_ras · 04-08-2022, 08:39 PM

The EMS figures out if it is 50 amp or 30 amp shore / generator power by looking at the L1 and L2 power sides of the 50 amp service. If standard 50 Amp outlet, there will be 240 volts AC between L1 and L2 sides. If from a 20 amp or 30 amp outlet and you have used an adapter to plug in your 50 amp cord, there will be 0 volts between L1 and L2 sides.

That's how it tells. Prior poster said the same thing in a slightly different way.

The EMS may have a way to manually tell it the amps, too. Otherwise there's no way for it to know if you have plugged into a 15, 20, or 30 amp outlet. By default when it sees 0 volts between L1 and L2 it will assume 30.

mikf · 04-09-2022, 07:18 AM

Was the 50 amp an upgrade made by a previous owner? Some 35u came with only 30 amp, but some owners chose to make the upgrade themselves.

**creativepart** · 04-09-2022, 10:04 AM

My EMS has a setting to tell it what power I am plugged into - 50, 30, 20 amp.

If I set it to 30 amp that's what the EMS will think it has even if I'm on 50 amp shore power.

If you have a 50 amp RV you set the Service to 50 amp. And leave it there. The only time you change it to something else is when you want to limit the amount of power you are able to receive. I never change mine.

Here's a photo... mine doesn't look like this but it functions the same way. On mine there's a larger digital display and that info is in the display and is changed via up and down arrows to the right of the display.

I just added the photo of what to look for on a 2000 Adventurer:

jerichorick · 04-09-2022, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeVenture

Hello all.

I have had my 2000 Adventurer for about a month. It has a 50amp dedicated shore line cord and when I open the interior breaker panel the mains are 50amp even has a spot for a washer drier mine didnt come with. But everytime I hook up to multiple different pedestal now I only show 30 on the powerline ems controller inside. When I swap it goes to 20 and back to 30 but never goes to 50amp.

What am I doing wrong or is there a component that could have failed? How can I go about checking from here?

Thank you

https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...000/131741.pdf
This is your wiring diagram. Your coach has 2 options. 30A or 50A.
As stated in a previous post, it looks like someone changed the 30A shore cord for a 50A cord. Here is the problem you are having as I can figure out.
1/ The cord was changed to the ATS.
2/ The wire from the ATS to the service panel was not replaced with 6AWG nor were the breakers reconfigured.
The 30A service panel is using 9 breakers and the 50A is using 10 breakers.

You will have to rewire between the ATS and the service panel using the wiring diagram as a guide along with the installation diagram: https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...000/132293.pdf
The 2 breakers on the left are special but very available. You will need a bridging clip to connect the 2 new 50A breaker handles together. You should have enough room in your service box for the new configuration.
When the EMS module is wired for L1/L2 it should see 50A service unless it is not programmed to detect it. Do a bit of research for your model of service panel before you dive into changes. This may help: https://www.precisioncircuitsinc.com...nagement-120v/
I hope my observations are correct for you.
Happy trails.
Rick Y

LifeVenture · 04-11-2022, 11:21 AM

Wow. Thank you all for the detailed responses. I'm mechanically savvy but electrical for home can get a little out of my realm.

From what I'm gathering its best I post picture of the ATS and whats behind the breaker panel. I'll get photos tonight. Seems either 3 things.

1. Bad ATS or EMS that has a properly wired breaker panel with upgraded wire.
2. I have an ATS that was upgraded but everything after the fact wasnt and I'm only capable of a 30amp connection.
3. Or lastly the pedestal is wired wrong.

LifeVenture · 04-12-2022, 10:35 AM

So I wasn’t able to get a shot behind the breaker panel this morning before work I will this evening but this is what I’m looking at so far

I’m seeing 240v written on the breaker so leaves me wondering.

cbeierl · 04-12-2022, 11:15 AM

That breaker panel is setup matching the 50A setup in the Winnebago wiring diagrams (linked earlier). You could confirm with a call to Winnebago with your Serial Number, but I would say the coach was built with 50A (not 30A) shorepower,

Morich · 04-12-2022, 11:34 AM

Forums are really good places to get really bad info and I think you have fallen into the trap as you are getting some well intended but totally bad info.

I like to start repairs by getting a firm handle on what is wrong and what is right! So you have an indicator that says you only have 30 amp when you should have 50. So the question, to me, becomes which is correct, and I look at what I have working.

Step one is to find the correct drawing to meet what RV and options you have! Looking at drawings that are not meant for your Rv is a loss to be avoided if possible.

Look at this drawing:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...000/131741.pdf

Does it match the drawing on page 2 (what I see?) or is it possibly page 4. I don't get a good view from this distance~!
Count and match up the breakers until you find the correct page? Ignore the labels if there is not a breaker to go with it!

Does the air cond. work as expected? That is a very simple way to tell if you have both 50 amp legs! If not, you will need to look back toward the cord and possibly the transfer switch.

However, if the AC works as it should, my guess would be that all is well except the part Creative has pointed to and the indicator is the part which is wrong!

I see nothing to say the wiring is not OEM, but you might also want to take a look at the labeling along the side of the shore power cord and verify it is actually the expected 6 gauge/three conductor, plus ground.

LifeVenture · 04-12-2022, 12:01 PM

@Morich Thank you for the response.

Thank you all for the help.

Morich the pdf file you posted. My rig panel is the last one on the page at bottom. Very last diagram.

Air conditioner works on high or low. I can tell a change in fan speed on high and low and it blows cold. I believe it to be working correctly. Everything in my rig seems to work as usual. Other than getting the EMS to show correctly or correct power obtained.

Reason I dont think I'm getting 50 although I believe I should is EMS shows 30 and if I approach over 30 say 33. I immediately get a clicking noise coming from under the stove area which I believe is the converter until I go back below 30. Doesnt like to go over 30 amps.

**creativepart** · 04-12-2022, 01:03 PM

Good to see you Rich. I noticed you were gone for a couple of months. Glad to see you back.

cbeierl · 04-12-2022, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morich

...
Look at this drawing:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...000/131741.pdf

Does it match the drawing on page 2 (what I see?) or is it possibly page 4. I don't get a good view from this distance~!
....

It matches the drawing on page 3 (50A with 10 breakers). The other 50A diagram on page 5 has 11 breakers. Pages 2 & 4 are both 30A setups.

LifeVenture · 04-12-2022, 01:21 PM

@cbeierl I'm showing it as the last diagram on the 5 page the one you are showing has a 20 amp in the 6th position from the left. Mine after the initial 20,50,50,20 reading from the left has all 15 amps till you reach the far right which is water heater at 20.

My breakers are reading 20,50,50,20,15,15,15,15,15,20

Maybe I'm confused. Are you stating what I'm trying to say ha

cbeierl · 04-12-2022, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeVenture

@cbeierl I'm showing it as the last diagram on the 5 page the one you are showing has a 20 amp in the 6th position from the left. Mine after the initial 20,50,50,20 reading from the left has all 15 amps till you reach the far right which is water heater at 20.

My breakers are reading 20,50,50,20,15,15,15,15,15,20

Maybe I'm confused. Are you stating what I'm trying to say ha

Page 3 is the US 50A circuit, page 5 is the Canadian 50A circuit layout. Your layout matches the page 3 US one, except that you have a 15A breaker for the microwave rather than a 20A one.

cbeierl · 04-12-2022, 02:28 PM

If you look at page 6 of the Body, 110 Volt Wiring Installation diagram for your coach you'll see precisely what you have.

LifeVenture · 04-12-2022, 02:31 PM

Thank you for the elaboration makes sense now. So I guess we can all agree I have a rig wired for 50 amp service?

Now only if I could figure out why I'm not able to use the 50 amps and EMS only shows 30 when trying to swap.

I have multimeters and test gear just not sure what to look for. I'm a auto mechanic and home voltages are a little different.

Morich · 04-12-2022, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbeierl

If you look at page 6 of the Body, 110 Volt Wiring Installation diagram for your coach you'll see precisely what you have.

As is often the case, it looks like there is a difference in the way we are speaking of page or sheet numbers.

When I look at the drawings, I look at the sheet numbers as that is the way the info is laid out on drawings. One sheet may referr you back to another sheet and each sheet has the sheet number in the lower right side of the drawing.

If we speak of the page as being how our computer numbers them in a PDF, we don't have any way to use the drawing info when moving from one sheet to another as the PDF is simply the way the computer sorts things, not the way the drawings are built.

Page 6 of the PDF as displayed on my screen is actually sheet 5 of the drawings! If one were looking at the drawings and it referred us to sheet 2, we would be totally lost when going to page 2 as the PDF lays it out. Page 1 of the PDF is just the warning page and not really any part of the drawings.

Since many of our RV questions will come from North or South of the border and most users do not know which version, Canadian or US, let alone what options they have, I like to let the owners look over what they actually have in THEIR rv and then once we get straight what they have, we can move on to what problem/solution might work best.

I fully admit to the sloppy use of sheet and page as being the same---even when they are not!