We just purchased a used 2020 Vanleigh Vilano 369FB and have been having issues for two days with the electrical system! It is constantly tripping, or going into “brown out” mode, it will work good for a hour then give us constant tripping for hours. Of course when we did the walk through at the dealership everything worked perfectly, we contacted the electric company and they verified we are getting the correct amount of amperage. The issue seemed to be internal. Sometimes we can’t get the GFCI plugs to reset at the plug and have to flip all the breakers to reset them. A few times we’ve had to unplug the trailer completely. At first the issue was triggered by the air conditioning system however now it seems to be random and was even been triggered by plugging in a cell phone.
Please help us with an easy fix! We did buy the warranty from the dealership however the trailer is parked almost 4 hours away at my husband’s job site. Spending a whole extra weekend hauling it back and forth again is the last thing we want to do after spending all Memorial Day weekend getting set up.
Hi Allidillatorres and welcome to the forum. I have a similar unit, just the Beacon version (39FBB).
I’ve got some clarifying question I’m hoping you could answer. That should help track down the source the source of the problem and reveal the solution.
RVs have two electrical systems 120VAC (shore power) & 12VDC (battery). It sounds like your issues are with the 120VAC side of the system. Do you have access to an electrical multimeter as that tool can assist in tracking down where the problem lies? Your floor plan uses two GFCI outlets that control 120VAC electrical outlets for the front and rear of the RV. The one on the kitchen island controls the rear outlets in the living area and the one in the half bath controls the bedroom and main bathroom outlets in the front. Are either of the GFCI outlets tripping? If they are then that would prevent any outlets receiving power in the areas controlled by that GFCI outlet. You can tell if they have tripped as they’ll have a light that indicates it has tripped.
Your breaker panel should look similar with the two GFCI outlets each having their own separate breaker.
When you experience the issue, is the GFCI outlet tripped or has the breaker tripped, or both? Are any other 120VAC still working when you experience the problem such as the TV, microwave, water heater, A/C units? Those use their own separate circuit breakers.
You said the RV is 4 hours away so that may make it harder to troubleshoot.
Stuart
So either the outlets or the breakers will trip. It’s like one will go then the next time it will be the other. Something it surging within the trailer just don’t know what. We unplugged the washer and dryer and verified the inverter is on in the storage area.
The appliances pretty much takes turns shutting down. When one breaker trips one half goes down and vice versa. But we haven’t used any of the appliances except the air conditioner
Which breakers trip would be the next thing to identify. If it’s more than just the GFCI controlled outlets, then the issue could be more widespread and might indicate a problem at the power pedestal (shore power).
You mentioned having an inverter. If plugged into shore power , you shouldn’t need or be using an inverter. That only comes into play when running off battery. Can you share the type/model inverter you have? If you have a residential fridge, it’s probably only used for powering the fridge when on battery.
Do you have any way to check the power at the pedestal? Are you connected to 30 or 50 amp service?
Alli, I would consider taking the trailer to a RV park and see if you have the same issues. As Stuart mentioned this could be a shore power issue. You mentioned the power company said you had 50 amps, did they mention the voltage at a 50 amp load? When using the trailer, were you running two ac units? They are normally connected on different legs of your power supply so some of the randomness could be which ac unit cycled and you have a voltage drop.
If you dont want to move the trailer, you can purchase a surge protector. The one I use is a Power Watchdog, it monitors both power legs on a 220 circuit, shows voltage and watts for both legs and it shuts off power to the trailer when voltage drops below 104 volts on either leg.
I have been in some RV parks where the power drops below 104 volts on one leg and it shuts off the power. It does this so you dont damage any of your appliances due to low voltage.