2007 Roadtrek 190 Popular Transfer Switch

[BillNole]

Greetings. First post. Please be kind!

I recently purchased the indicated Class B. I also own a Class A and the difficulty in accessing and servicing components on the B is proving to be a bit of a surprise. I get that the size requires maximizing use of the available space, but dadgum!

To the point, I understand the transfer switch is located along the passenger side, in the box underneath the sofa/bed. After a great deal of swearing and contortion, I was finally able to get into the side of the box from under the sofa/bed and observe the Tripp Lite Inverter. However, to access anything else in this box, it appears the top of said box must be removed. I was able to remove 5 of the 6 screws, but one appears to only be accessible by removing the sofa/bed entirely. I don't mind carefully cutting that last screw to avoid this, but don't want to do it, if that doesn't allow me access to the actual transfer switch, which I suspect may be the reason I'm not getting any power from the generator, which starts and runs well. Per the previous owner, everything worked fine before I picked it up... (Just don't bother commenting on this please. It won't serve any useful purpose...)

 

[rowiebowie]

Welcome to the forum!

There is a breaker on the generator itself that can trip and needs to be reset. It stops power output, but the generator still runs. Have you looked at the Onan owners manual?

 

[BillNole]

Welcome to the forum!

There is a breaker on the generator itself that can trip and needs to be reset. It stops power output, but the generator still runs. Have you looked at the Onan owners manual?

Thanks. Have checked that already. Due to the location of everything, It's impossible to see which direction is "on" and which is "off", but I've tried it both ways multiple times with no success. I reached out to a Cummins shop and they were happy to check it out, IF I'd remove the generator and bring it to them. Just to check out a circuit breaker switch?!?!?!!! Due to recent health issues, there's no possible way for that to happen... Argh, I'm wishing I'd never bought this thing!

I was hoping to check for power on the inbound side of the transfer switch, but I'm beginning to wonder if this is going to be possible at all, without tearing things out in order to get to things, even if I ever find out exactly where it's located.

I get that these things are built to maximize space utilization, but wow!

 

[rowiebowie]

After six 1/2 years of working in the tight confined space of my class b, I've adopted the saying "If there's no blood involved, the job probably wasn't worth doing". And I have the scars to show for it.

I'm not a professional mechanic, so pardon me for stating the obvious, but: Are you allowing for a sufficient warmup period before the generator allows power output (2-4 minutes) and check all power breakers inside the coach?

 

[BillNole]

After six 1/2 years of working in the tight confined space of my class b, I've adopted the saying "If there's no blood involved, the job probably wasn't worth doing". And I have the scars to show for it.

I'm not a professional mechanic, so pardon me for stating the obvious, but: Are you allowing for a sufficient warmup period before the generator allows power output (2-4 minutes) and check all power breakers inside the coach?

Haha re the blood. I'm too familiar with that experience...

Good question re the warmup. I ran it a week ago for 1/2 hour as part of my monthly habit of cycling all my equipment that doesn't get used more regularly. No luck...

Really, I'm hoping someone can point me to the location of the transfer switch in an 07 Roadtrek 190 Popular. II don't want to pull the bed to get to it, if it's not actually in the box with the inverter.

 

[booster]

Haha re the blood. I'm too familiar with that experience...

Good question re the warmup. I ran it a week ago for 1/2 hour as part of my monthly habit of cycling all my equipment that doesn't get used more regularly. No luck...

Really, I'm hoping someone can point me to the location of the transfer switch in an 07 Roadtrek 190 Popular. II don't want to pull the bed to get to it, if it's not actually in the box with the inverter.

We have a 2007 190P also but ours is the newer style that did a lot work on the locations of the electrical parts so may not apply exactly the same. Does your van have the charger on the driver side in the same area as the transfer switch or is it in the very rear corner of the passenger side with a vented wood panel over it? The new style moved the charging stuff to the passenger side.


My guess is that the transfer switch is still close to the same place, and that would be to the rear of the water heater and out near the outer skin of the van. Ours was a black box with a plastic cover on it with the large shore power cable connected to it and a connection from the generator. Going out was a romex cable to the fuse panely.


We had the power sofa, but the switch was in the bolster so didn't matter much. We did need to remove the cover from the bolster to get at it. Your covers may be different but will probably need to come off which shouldn't be too bad a job.



Yours is certainly of an age where we do here of them failing so not all that surprising. We never had a problem with ours, but took it out nearly a decade ago when we did a big battery bank and got rid of the generator.

 

[BillNole]

We have a 2007 190P also but ours is the newer style that did a lot work on the locations of the electrical parts so may not apply exactly the same. Does your van have the charger on the driver side in the same area as the transfer switch or is it in the very rear corner of the passenger side with a vented wood panel over it? The new style moved the charging stuff to the passenger side.


My guess is that the transfer switch is still close to the same place, and that would be to the rear of the water heater and out near the outer skin of the van. Ours was a black box with a plastic cover on it with the large shore power cable connected to it and a connection from the generator. Going out was a romex cable to the fuse panely.


We had the power sofa, but the switch was in the bolster so didn't matter much. We did need to remove the cover from the bolster to get at it. Your covers may be different but will probably need to come off which shouldn't be too bad a job.



Yours is certainly of an age where we do here of them failing so not all that surprising. We never had a problem with ours, but took it out nearly a decade ago when we did a big battery bank and got rid of the generator.

Yeah, it's on the passenger side in the back, underneath the couch inside a vented wooden box. Thanks for the info.

 

[booster]

Yeah, it's on the passenger side in the back, underneath the couch inside a vented wooden box. Thanks for the info.

That should make the transfer switch a bit easier to get at, I think, especially if you have the power sofa as the bolster wood cover is easy to get off on those, like ours was.



Do you have the power sofa, granite countertop and slanted roof windows? If so it would be a very early 2007 model after the midyear switch to the new style. There are some out there that don't have all the changes that were done eventually and on all 2008 models, as they seemed to use up the parts they had and switch once they were gone.

 

[BillNole]

That should make the transfer switch a bit easier to get at, I think, especially if you have the power sofa as the bolster wood cover is easy to get off on those, like ours was.



Do you have the power sofa, granite countertop and slanted roof windows? If so it would be a very early 2007 model after the midyear switch to the new style. There are some out there that don't have all the changes that were done eventually and on all 2008 models, as they seemed to use up the parts they had and switch once they were gone.

Yes re the power sofa, granite and slanted windows. However, getting into that box is far from easy on any level. I was able to get into the back end of it where the Tripp-Lite Inverter is, from under the sofa quite easily as it turns out. However, getting to the front end of it, where I assume the transfer switch is located appears to require removal of the sofa. Grrrrrr....

 

[booster]

Yes re the power sofa, granite and slanted windows. However, getting into that box is far from easy on any level. I was able to get into the back end of it where the Tripp-Lite Inverter is, from under the sofa quite easily as it turns out. However, getting to the front end of it, where I assume the transfer switch is located appears to require removal of the sofa. Grrrrrr....

If yours is like ours was, and the newer versions were, the Tripplite will be on the passenger side and the transfer switch in on the driver side in the floor cabinet just to the rear of the kitchen. The transfer switch is nowhere near the Tripplite. It is a bolster a couple of feet square or so, with a matching size cushion on it. When the sofa is in the bed position it butts up against the bolster but when the couch is up there is a gap to the bolster. Perhaps the cover on the bolster extends to the rear toward the couch, but I don't recall for sure.


If you have the surround sound in yours, which is likely, the subwoofer is also in the bolster with the water heater, water pump, transfer switch and water control valves. That bolster on ours has a drop down door on the aisle surface and a small hinged access cover on the top so you can get to the water valves.

 

[booster]

One more thing along with the surround sound question that might give a clue. Is your furnace in the front driver side armoir or under the bed/bolster on the passenger side. Moving the furnace to the front was also one of the changes in model update in 07.

 

[booster]

Here is a picture of the driver side bolster with the water heater on the right, the subwoofer on the left towards the bottom of the pic, the water pump just outboard of the sub, and the transfer switch on the plywood shelf as it was in our van from the factory. The water filter was our addition.

 

[MN1-ClassB]

Genny Breaker

Before you go to all that trouble....you should check the breaker on the genny....if it is tripped the genny will still run but not provide power.

 

[BillNole]

Here is a picture of the driver side bolster with the water heater on the right, the subwoofer on the left towards the bottom of the pic, the water pump just outboard of the sub, and the transfer switch on the plywood shelf as it was in our van from the factory. The water filter was our addition.

Thank you Booster! You have provided exactly what I was asking!! :thanx:

 

[BillNole]

Before you go to all that trouble....you should check the breaker on the genny....if it is tripped the genny will still run but not provide power.

Thanks. That was the very first thing checked. And the second... and third... and repeat to the point of idiocy. It turned out not to be the breaker.

 

[Tomsa]

Thanks. That was the very first thing checked. And the second... and third... and repeat to the point of idiocy. It turned out not to be the breaker.

So, this is a long post, I read it all. What WAS the issue? This novel needs an ending, I hope it was happy!

-TS-

 

[BillNole]

So, this is a long post, I read it all. What WAS the issue? This novel needs an ending, I hope it was happy!

-TS-

Given that it's an 8 month old thread, (and I have ongoing memory issues...) I honestly don't remember! To the best of my recollection, this was likely one of those instances I'm famous for through my life. That being, "I don't know what I did, but I fixed it!" Truthfully, I suspect it resolved itself.

Funny (or not...) the last trip I took, a couple weeks ago from Chicagoland to N Florida, I experienced the same issue. Genny starts and runs just fine, but I never get power. Argh! During that trip, I also noticed that the coach batteries wouldn't charge until I'd been driving for an hour or two, which I never noticed before. Everything is buttoned up for winter now. I'll take a look at it when things warm up a bit in another 2-3 months. I have a spare seperator onhand, which will help if that turns out to be the issue with the charging...