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Help with Shore Power on 89 Marathon….
Okay, so I received my 50am to 15 am converter in today and thought thank goodness, now I can get shore power going… I opened the bay next to the generator and there indeed are the 2 freedom 25 model inverters and a LARGE 50A twistlock on the bottom of the panel under them. it is wound in a spool then plugs into regular 50AMP plug just under a box labeled Shore Power Disconnect with a breaker….
So I unplugged this cable from the outlet, installed my adapter, then plugged into outlet and BAM, no power 🙁
I’m sure I must be missing something simple… I played with the buttons on the generator control panel. there is one labeled “Shore Trans” but when I press it, the GEN light goes green…. Also when I press the “Gen Trans” it also turns the same light on… OF course if I run the generator, then kill it, I get a red alarm on same panel that says something like “no SHore Power”
Again, this is a marathon 89 coach… the generator powers the coach just fine, and the main engine powers the coach and inverters just fine… so it must be how I’m hooking it up…
any help appreciated… thx
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10 Replies
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This is a Liberty guy doing something dumb, which is trying to answer a Marathon question, but are you sure you are not plugged into your “buddy” plug?
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i posted a pic of the bay…. the cable is the one I disconnected from the wall jack on the left and plugged in my adapter to….
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Im probly wrong but i was asuming a buddy plug was an outlet that you could share power with a neighbor (BUDDY) ??
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If I understand you correctly you want to hook up your 50amp shore power to a 15 amp socket in your house? That can work if you dial back your inverters to only use 7 amps each otherwise your breaker (in your house panel) will immediately trip. You’ll have to go into your inverter setup and dial back your shore power current.
The picture that shows one side of the storage bay plugged into the other side puzzles me. What is that supposed to achieve? Which end are you plugging into the shore power/house outlet?
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I know, it is confusing right? the bottom of the inverter panel has the 50A twist lock…. so what I did was unplug the other end from the outlet on the left (which the box above is labeled shore power disconnect) and placed the adapter on that end of the cable and plugged into power. I assumed that would feed the inverters AC power and they inturn auto switch the ac into the coach and charge the batteries…. according to the heart inverter manual I found, that seems logical….
anyone else wanna chime in feel free… I don’t know we know yet how to proceed… not plugging anything else in until I know for sure… don’t want to blow anything up….
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Generalities here, so don’t take this to the bank.
The yellow end is what connects to the coach and brings power into the coach. If you do not have a mating receptacle outside the coach then that is apparently where Marathon expected you to hook up your shore power cord.
That opinion is bolstered by the fact there is a point of entry in the floor of the bay beneath the plug strongly suggesting that’s how the power cord is fed into the bus.
The other end of the power cord appears to me it is plugged into the “buddy” plug which is placed there so an adjoining coach without power can piggy back on the generator or shore power to your Marathon. That opinion is bolstered by its point of entry in the floor of the bus beneath it.
As shown in the photo it suggests to me you are attempting to lift your feet off the ground by pulling up on your bootstraps.
Unplug the plug in the “buddy” receptacle and plug it into shore power. If you are planning on using a 15 amp adapter expect you will trip a 15 amp breaker unless your inverters are set to the lowest charge rate or your batteries are fully charged. The breaker will trip is likely because the inverters will go into charge mode and unless they have been set at the lowest setting they are going to draw more than 15 amps.
When you ask how to reset the inverters plan on posting the information on the specific model inverters, plus the type of remote panel they have. Photos will help.
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I hope this is helpful and is meant to be a simple explanation of what you are trying to accomplish.
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1————–3—————2
1. The shore power connection from shore power to the coach. By any chance is there a round electrical connection on the exterior drivers side of the bus? Is so, that is where you need to connect the shore power cord.
2. The input from the generator to the coach.
3. Is either an automatic or manual transfer switch, that sends 1 source of power to #4.
4. The power panel inside the coach.
If number 3 is an automatic transfer switch, it may be set up to default to generator power if the generator is running. In that case, even if connected to shore power, the generator will still be the only source of power.
If number 3 is a manual switch, then to use shore power, you need to manually set it to use shore power.
There also may be large circuit breakers that need to be reset somewhere between # 1 and # 3 that is preventing power from getting to # 4.
Have you checked the 15 amp circuit from your home to make sure the breaker did not trip?
You may have to turn off all the circuit breakers in the coach, except for the main breaker at the top of the panel and then to test, leave just 1 15 amp breaker on for a simple circuit like lights.
There are a lot of things in the coach that could be drawing more then 15 amps. At that assumes you have the full 15 amps available from the shore connection.
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My recommendations: No. one. run your generator and charge your batteries before they are ruined, if not already so!
No. two. Drive to any camp ground with 50amp and plug in and see if everything works properly.
No. three. Install a 50A. outlet where you store your coach and keep it pluged in at all time in storage.
15A doesn’t cut the ice or frost the cake, it will cook you goose. smiley
JIM
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In your picture I notised that the shore power breaker is off? I hope it is this simple, the first (outboard breaker) on the front of your inverter bay is your shore breaker. On a Marathon, you should plug into shore power, check for 4 green lights on the shore power check, and then turn on the shore breaker.
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