| [GMCnet] I found the electrical gremlin - it was me [message #275516] |
Thu, 09 April 2015 12:33  |
glwgmc
Messages: 1014
Registered: June 2004
Karma: 10
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Senior Member |
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A few days ago I posted about the 1200 mile junket over the Easter weekend and how well the now broken in S&J engine was performing in the Royale. I also said that while on that trip we encountered an electrical glitch that caused the lights on the drivers side in the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen to stop working.
While probing yesterday to find out why I also found that the master ground at the house fuse box was not providing a reliable path to ground even though all the circuits other than that one light circuit seemed to work fine. As I dug further I found that last summer while swapping inverters to find out why the Panasonic Inverter microwave was drawing too much power to run off of either of the inverters in the Royale and the Clasco (it draws waaay more amperage than the name plate states) I must have lost the end of that fuse box master ground and did not connect it to the shunt as I thought I had. It was just laying loose buried under a pile of stuff under the inverter where I could not see it. Somehow all those circuits were finding a path to ground somewhere, just not a reliable path to ground, and that was the root cause of the electrical gremlin. That was why the voltage at the furnace was off and unreliable and why the lights stopped working unexpectedly. It also e
xplains why the battery monitor seemed to show such a slow discharge rate. It was not seeing all of the draw from those house circuits which included lights and the furnace after I rewired it. It was seeing the draw from the inverter so it did show the batteries going down while parked, just not as fast as I thought they should be going down.
All is well that ends well, I guess, but it hurts a bit more when the wound is self inflicted! I am still curious as to where/how all those circuits were finding a path to ground on their own all this time from last summer to now. Must be 40 years of adding a ground to the aluminum ribs or the frame here and there.
Jerry
Jerry Work
The Dovetail Joint
Fine furniture designed and hand crafted in the 1907 former Masonic Temple building in historic Kerby, OR
glwork@mac.com
http://jerrywork.com
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Jerry & Sharon Work
78 Royale
Kerby, OR
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| Re: [GMCnet] I found the electrical gremlin - it was me [message #275539 is a reply to message #275516] |
Thu, 09 April 2015 20:56  |
Ken Burton
Messages: 10030
Registered: January 2004
Location: Hebron, Indiana
Karma: 10
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Senior Member |
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Probably 1/4 of problems I work on are self inflicted. I seem to have a problem getting something done right the first time. I need to have that shirt that Dan had on in his picture that said he did it right the first time.
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
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| Re: [GMCnet] I found the electrical gremlin - it was me [message #275548 is a reply to message #275516] |
Thu, 09 April 2015 22:49 |
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USAussie
Messages: 15912
Registered: July 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Karma: 6
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Senior Member |
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Jerry,
Last year I bought a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee from John Sharpe that he had purchased from his mother in law. She had driven it
without water and warped the heads. He helped me put the heads back on and it ran great. However, every so often it would just die
for no apparent reason, however, if you let it sit for several hours it would start right up again and run great - WTH?
We got it back to the shop and were troubleshooting it when one of us touched the large ground lead on the front of the right
(driver side head) and the engine stopped! The damn nut was loose! The Ace mechanic (me) forgot to tighten it , DOUH!
The older I get the more stupid stuff like this I do!
Regards,
Rob M.
The Pedantic Mechanic
-----Original Message-----
From: Gmclist [mailto:gmclist-bounces@temp.gmcnet.org] On Behalf Of Gerald Work
Sent: Friday, April 10, 2015 3:33 AM
To: Gmc Forum
Subject: [GMCnet] I found the electrical gremlin - it was me
A few days ago I posted about the 1200 mile junket over the Easter weekend and how well the now broken in S&J engine was performing
in the Royale. I also said that while on that trip we encountered an electrical glitch that caused the lights on the drivers side
in the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen to stop working.
While probing yesterday to find out why I also found that the master ground at the house fuse box was not providing a reliable path
to ground even though all the circuits other than that one light circuit seemed to work fine. As I dug further I found that last
summer while swapping inverters to find out why the Panasonic Inverter microwave was drawing too much power to run off of either of
the inverters in the Royale and the Clasco (it draws waaay more amperage than the name plate states) I must have lost the end of
that fuse box master ground and did not connect it to the shunt as I thought I had. It was just laying loose buried under a pile of
stuff under the inverter where I could not see it. Somehow all those circuits were finding a path to ground somewhere, just not a
reliable path to ground, and that was the root cause of the electrical gremlin. That was why the voltage at the furnace was off and
unreliable and why the lights stopped working unexpectedly. It also e
xplains why the battery monitor seemed to show such a slow discharge rate. It was not seeing all of the draw from those house
circuits which included lights and the furnace after I rewired it. It was seeing the draw from the inverter so it did show the
batteries going down while parked, just not as fast as I thought they should be going down.
All is well that ends well, I guess, but it hurts a bit more when the wound is self inflicted! I am still curious as to where/how
all those circuits were finding a path to ground on their own all this time from last summer to now. Must be 40 years of adding a
ground to the aluminum ribs or the frame here and there.
Jerry
Jerry Work
The Dovetail Joint
Fine furniture designed and hand crafted in the 1907 former Masonic Temple building in historic Kerby, OR
glwork@mac.com
http://jerrywork.com
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
Regards,
Rob M. (USAussie)
The Pedantic Mechanic
Sydney, Australia
'75 Avion - AUS - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
'75 Avion - USA - Double Trouble TZE365V100426
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