Transfer switch ground wire NOT connected 2021 View 24D

[fochie]

Hello everyone.

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We have a 2021 Winnebago View 24D that we've owned since new.

I had to replace the shore power cord since it got damaged.

When I opened the transfer switch box to wire in the new cord I was shocked (not literally ;-) to see that the
ground wire for the main coach power cable that connects into the switch box was NOT connected to anything.

It looked like the wire was clipped at the end with very little copper exposed from the wire insulation (see attached pic).
I thought maybe it somehow broke free from the ground bus bar but on inspection none of the bus bar screws had a piece of the
wire in them, or were backed out, etc.

When I first opened the transfer switch box "I think" the ground wire may have been "resting" on the bus bar ... not totally sure of this.

The transfer switch box had never been opened by me since we bought the coach new in 2021. The only time the coach was "out of our sight" was when we took it to the orig dealer for the initial after purchase walkthrough to fix a few minor things.

Wasn't sure if for "some reason" this ground wire was intentionally left unhooked (you'd think it'd be wire nutted though) due to
maybe how the inverter is wired in or maybe for some other reason ... or ...

I've since stripped the ground wire back and wired it to the bus bar.

I attached 3 pics showing -

A close up of the ground wire end as I found it.​

The inside of the transfer switch box​

A schematic of the switch box with the ground wire in question circled in red​

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Thought I'd check here first for ideas/opinions before trying to contact Winnebago tech support.

Thanks.
Steve

 

[Morich]

Not a good thing to find a ground wire disconnected but then not a big issue that keeps things from working as the ground normally doesn't do much if all else if good. The hot and neutral carry the power and the ground is just there as a safety item to keep the other metal grounded.
Not as needed in RV since most of the metal boxes, etc. are screwed to grounded metal in lots of places. When dealing with houses made of wood, things are less often screwed down on metal and the ground wire tends to be more important. for safety.

But harder to contact folks to fix it than just putting the wire under one of those empty screws on the ground buss bar.
Rather than drape it across the other places where it might eventually rub bare and short things, I might try to twist it around and go under those other wires to get to the buss? Not normally done at factories but when I do my own, I like to assume there will be trouble some day, so bending the wire to keep it away from trouble makes me feel better!

 

[fochie]

Thanks ... agree ... I'm gonna go with an oversight/omission when it was assembled at Winnebago. I've connected the wire to the ground bar (good advice on wire routing). Just wanted to see if there may have been a valid reason for leaving this unconnected and if by me connecting it I'm not interfering with any of the other systems in the coach ( yes, I'm a bit lacking in the electrical dept ;-)

Thanks again

 

[Morich]

All signs seem to say it is simply not connected where it should have been. One thing that says it is "JUST" the ground wire is the way it is covered with what appears to be a sleeve of material while other wires have insulation formed on them. the ground wire is normally left bare as it is not expected to carry any current!
But when it gets into a tight space and there are other wires and connections that do carry the power, we don't want the ground to flop around and make contact with the others!
In that way, the wiring looks a bit better than expected, as the norm is to see bare!

When I say Just a ground, I do not mean to belittle the purpose as it is a good one!
Normal idea is that power is flowing on the hot wire to an item and then goes back on the neutral. In a bad case, one of those makes contact with the metal of some item like a stove and then that metal gets touched by somebody nearby. Even then there is no big problem---unless that person also makes contact with something like a water pipe which is grounded. Or in an RV that might be something like the metal siding!
In that case we can easily find a lot of current going into the stove metal to the person and then through them to get to ground.
That is one to work hard to avoid as it is really bad!
One way to avoid that whole thing is to make the metal of the stove also grounded!
Instead of that person getting a really nasty shock, we let the current flow into the stove, find ground and often draw enough current to trip the breaker until things are fixed. Idea is that the ground wire is a much better way to let the current flow and stop flow before going through somebody!
So your ground wire safety item is setting there and not ready to do it's duty but also it has no duty as long as a second bad thing doesn't happen!
Better to avoid blowing off one of the few life chances we get!

Since 110 AC voltage is the one most likely to kill us, we tend to be "belt and suspenders" folks?
You've now reconnected your suspenders and should be a bit safer!