Custom Coach electrical system rant

richard5933 · June 10, 2019, 09:56:42 AM

Okay, I'll ask...

Who the $#$$%$ uses the 120v neutral wiring as a grounding point for the 12v system?

Custom Coach - that's who. Can't for the life of me figure out what they were thinking. No wonder I've seen more than one CC with evidence of fires in the electrical system.

I knew that things were wonky with the bonded neutral/ground on the 120v side, but using the 120v neutral as a grounding point for the 12v system is just stupid in my book.

I installed the new feed to the transfer switch last week. In that project, I installed a proper 4-conductor feed cable and mounted a grounding buss bar next to the breaker panel so that I could begin separating the neutrals from grounds. This weekend we plugged in at a campground using a adapter to plug into 30-a service. Suddenly the 'on' indicator on the generator panel glowed every so dimly. Couldn't figure it out.

Then I opened the panel and see the leads going to this little indicator light. The 12v positive is from the generator power switch. Makes sense. The 12v negative lead goes to, guess where, the neutral post of the 120v voltage meter. WTF?

I moved the 12v negative lead to a proper chassis ground, and now the switch functions properly.

Okay. Rant over. Now back to seeing what else they got totally buggered up at CC.

chessie4905 · June 10, 2019, 03:40:39 PM

So much for how great Custom Coach was. Like many other mfgs. they learned and improved. Some never improved, just learned how to make things cheaper.

richard5933 · June 10, 2019, 03:43:17 PM

And the whole neutral/ground bonding thing?

In the end the problem was four outlet circuits. Instead of installing a proper ground buss they just stuck them into the neutral buss. With the new grounding buss installed last week, the whole thing took only a few minutes in the end. With the transfer switch in the 'off' position now, there is zero connection between neutral/ground.

chessie4905 · June 10, 2019, 03:47:19 PM

Next time you talk to Luke, check on the price of clutch discs. Another owner of the Elvis Buffalo 4107 or 08, reported to me that were now priced like gold.

richard5933 · June 10, 2019, 04:18:22 PM

Quote from: chessie4905 on June 10, 2019, 03:47:19 PM
Next time you talk to Luke, check on the price of clutch discs. Another owner of the Elvis Buffalo 4107 or 08, reported to me that were now priced like gold.

With only 47,000 miles on mine, I'm hoping to go a few more miles yet. But thanks for the heads up.

Geoff · June 10, 2019, 04:29:13 PM

Are you getting a shock when you touch metal getting in your bus?

richard5933 · June 10, 2019, 05:36:05 PM

Quote from: Geoff on June 10, 2019, 04:29:13 PM
Are you getting a shock when you touch metal getting in your bus?

No. First thing I did when I bought the bus was confirm that there was not a hot skin situation. Luckily it wasn't a problem, but I sure kept a close eye on the ground connection to shore power.

Now that I have a proper 4-conductor shore power feed and have separated neutral/ground I don't expect future problems with a hot skin. I will keep testing though.