Where there's smoke there's... Wait! What? There's SMOKE???

We were enjoying our morning - Joan was drinking coffee, I had just finished some hot chocolate, when the power went out.

OK, that's not so unusual at RV parks, but this is a pretty upscale place.  First thing to do: check our circuit breakers, even though we weren't overloading anything.  Nope, they're fine.  Outside to the power pedestal to see if there is power there.  Yep, the little indicator light on our adapter is glowing.  I got out the Winnebago book to see if it could shed any light on the situation.

Not so much.

Joan went out to check the inverter GFCI... and saw that there was smoke coming out of the compartment where our shorepower cord is attached.  Yeah, that is not a good thing.  She unplugged the coach from the power pedestal and the smoke dissipated.

We tried the inverter - it turns on, but doesn't power the receptacles.  Fired up the generator - the 120 power inside came on.  Well, we have something to go with for diagnosing the problem.

I called the dealer in Tucson where we bought this... they put me on hold for a very long time.  The service receptionist finally came back and said they would have to have our service writer call us back.

I called one of the Phoenix dealers from this same company... a very nice young lady told me they were "booked up solid for the next two weeks for service appointments."  I explained the difference between "the surround sound isn't working and there is smoke coming out of my new coach."  She said she would talk to the manager and call me back.

I called the Winnebago factory.  Talked to a nice service tech named Jake who talked with me about what we had discovered... and apologized for the fact that we were having an issue with a new motorhome.  He said that everything we did led him to believe it is a "fried automatic transfer switch."  Makes sense - it is the only thing inside that compartment besides the 30 amp cord.

While talking with Jake, the young lady from the Phoenix dealer called back and said, "We'll try to work you in, but you have to understand how busy we are... and we may not even be able to look at it until late today... and then we may not be able to fix it... and we are so busy."

I asked the Winnebago tech if he got all that - he agreed that going there was the best plan.  So, we unhooked all the utilities and headed on down the road.  Well, after putting away everything from living in the coach... and that is a bunch.

So, here we sit in the driveway to the Service Department...

Been here almost an hour; the young lady I spoke with on the phone said we could wait with the coach or in their customer lounge.  No one has been by to talk to us, yet.  More as the situation unfolds...

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 The service manager came by, told us he'd try to get someone on it after lunch, so we decided to head out as well.  Little Izzy got to spend time at Steph and Dan's place while we went out for lunch.  When he did call us, he said, "That is an upgrade transfer switch, and we don't have one like it in stock... and, it is fried."

Back at the dealership, he showed us the box that used to be the transfer switch - yep, it is fried.  He is unsure if any of our appliances are affected; if so, that is a sure sign that there was some kind of a major surge on the line.  I understand he is trying to determine if the problem is a faulty switch (covered by warranty) or due to something outside the RV.

It will be Thursday before they can get a new switch from Winnebago.  Decision: leave the coach with them or put it back on the RV site.  I felt there was less chance someone might mess with it or whack into it in the RV park - we'll bring it back on Thursday.

We let the RV resort know that there is likely an issue with that power pedestal.  Running the generator, we have power; can't run that in the park, but we were able to test all the appliances and entertainment stuff - it all checked out.  Can't plug in until the switch is replaced.  So, we are temporarily (and our friends Bob and Mary Ann used to put it) "semi-affluently homeless."

Pretty sure Steph and Dan will take us in.  ;-)