Outlet troubles

I have a 48 Californian and over the weekend I lost power to 4 A/C outlets, 2 in the dinette and 2 in the galley? The breaker did not kick and I have no idea what could have caused it. They are all on the same breaker labeled Galley outlets. Thursday they worked fine and yesterday evening they were not. Everything else in the galley and dinette area works fine both A/C and D/C. Any help with trouble shooting would be appreciated.

They maybe gfis. Check each outlet and see if one needs to be reset.

Larry M said:

They maybe gfis. Check each outlet and see if one needs to be reset.

Click to expand...

X2. Happened to me. After starting to try to track down the problem with a multimeter, a little voice said "check the gfis" in the circuit. Bingo.

GFI was my first thought, too. My Californian has daisy-chained outlets on a GFI circuit.

Yes, I have checked the GFCI, yes they are daisy-chained. If I replace the GFCI outlet that could possibly solve the problem.

knotheadcharters said:

Yes, I have checked the GFCI, yes they are daisy-chained. If I replace the GFCI outlet that could possibly solve the problem.

Click to expand...

Meter the first outlet inline and make sure it's really getting 120v to it before you start randomly replacing things.

I agree the 1st oulet in-line should be the GFCI. Try re-setting it, some don't like inverters I believe Xantrex/ Freedom lists the GFCI's that will work with their faux non-sine wave units.
Bill

Capt.Bill11 said:

Meter the first outlet inline and make sure it's really getting 120v to it before you start randomly replacing things.

Click to expand...

X2
If its not the GFCI than it has to be a poor connection or the breaker. Basically where the voltage stops is the problem.

I have a few outlets that are my next project...

Anyone ever come across where you only have 1/2 voltage (60V or so) in a string of outlets?

I post this because the outlets act like they aren't working till you meter the voltage. May help the OP too.

Nothing wrong at the breakers...and of course getting to the boxes and wiring is more trouble than it's worth...I'll probably just redo the string as I'm redoing all the wiring anyhow...more curiosity than need of info...but a quick fix would be nice depending when I get to the rewiring.

psneeld said:

............. Anyone ever come across where you only have 1/2 voltage (60V or so) in a string of outlets?

I post this because the outlets act like they aren't working till you meter the voltage. ..........

Click to expand...

Voltage readings without a load on the circuit are pretty meaningless. Plug in a lamp and I'll bet the voltage goes to zero.

Other than a tripped or defective GFCI receptacle, it can only be a loose or corroded connection somewhere.

If you can figure out in what order the receptacles are wired, check in the middle. That will tell you if the problem is in the first part of the circuit or the last.

Ok checked the receptacles. All give a open neutral reading. I am a assuming a bad GFCI? I will get one tomorrow.

knotheadcharters said:

Ok checked the receptacles. All give a open neutral reading. I am a assuming a bad GFCI? I will get one tomorrow.

Click to expand...

I doubt it. Take the GFCI receptacle out of the circuit. Connect the incoming wires to the outgoing wires and see if you have power.

Or measure the voltage at the incoming (probably labelled "line") terminals of the GFCI receptacle. You should have 120 volts between the hot and neutral. If you measure this on the line side but not the side feeding the other outlets, the GFCI receptacle is defective (or just tripped).

Thanks Ron, I'll try that tomorrow

rwidman said:

Voltage readings without a load on the circuit are pretty meaningless. Plug in a lamp and I'll bet the voltage goes to zero.

Other than a tripped or defective GFCI receptacle, it can only be a loose or corroded connection somewhere.

If you can figure out in what order the receptacles are wired, check in the middle. That will tell you if the problem is in the first part of the circuit or the last.

Click to expand...

I agree Ron, AC voltage readings are pretty much meaningless unless you have no voltage otherwise a load is needed.
Bill

Replaced the GFCI. All outlets back on line.

knotheadcharters said:

Replaced the GFCI. All outlets back on line.

Click to expand...

Great! "Occam's razor (also written as Ockham's razor and in Latin lex parsimoniae) is a principle of parsimony, economy, or succinctness used in problem-solving devised by William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347). It states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Other, more complicated solutions may ultimately prove correct, but—in the absence of certainty—the fewer assumptions that are made, the better."