Auto transfer switch F50-ATS bypass

[robkathybat]

Well it appears my F50-ATS has failed. I have no power in the coach. After a lot of trouble shooting I finally figured out I have no power out of the ATS. I verified I have power to it. Has anyone bypassed the ATS, or can tell me if there is some sort of reset? I will never use it I have a Honda portable generator. I figure I can get some sort of electrical block and simply connect the incoming to the outgoing, but would like some input from the forum. Thanks

[Jim & Mary]

Take the cover of the ATS off and have a good look inside. There should be two cables coming inside, one from the shore plug, and one going to the converter/charger breaker box. Have a good look at all the connections on the contactor in the center. Pay attention to the coloration of the insulation. If the connection has failed, there will likely be some discoloration/burning of the insulation. Hopefully that's your problem. Make sure you have all four legs of the cable coming from the shore power plug. We had an issue with a partially burned neutral connection at the shore power receptacle (where the shore power cable plugs in). Good luck

[robkathybat]

Thanks for the reply Jim. During my troubleshooting I looked at all those connections. I started at the plug, moved on to the shore power connection on the trailer. I hooked up a long wire so I could check continuity from all the various connections. There was no continuity from the trailer connection to the breaker box. I was baffled, thought we'd had a mouse attack that chewed through all the wires, very unlikely since we were just camping last Wednesday and everything worked then. I was thinking there must be another breaker somewhere, and then I remembered the the ATS. When I checked it all out I discovered I had power on the line side but nothing out. I have to use about 300 ft. of extension cord to hook up electricity when I am parked at home. Enough for the refrigerator and to keep the batteries charged. When we got home and plugged the trailer in and put the slides out it must have cycled the ATS and it failed. I bought a 50 amp plug and bypassed the ATS. Now everything is powered up and I don't have to put up with the buzzing in the front of the coach.

[mhs4771]

Some have been successful beating on the ATS and getting it to latch on shore power, but if you don't have the built-in Genny and no plans, I would just bypass the ATS and move on.

[XCMARK]

depending on the ATS installed you should find it is mounted above the generator metal encloser in the front basement. If it was buzzing, there is some foreign part like a metal shaving in the contactor between the magnet's blocks. This can cause the coil of the contactor to fail. Often you can just take a drywall screw and put it in the face where the button that goes in and out. The screw is used as a wedge between the face and the button to hold it in. This is just a temporary fix. IF you really want this problem GONE get some polaris/Morris splice lugs and pull the wires off the contactor completely. I pulled the metal box out for the generator and installed a 3000 watt inverter and a bunch of solar equipment , I still have more room now in the basement with that box gone and the new equipment installed Its fairly easy to get it out and will make bypassing the ATS easy.

you need three of these!

https://www.amazon.com/Morris-97017-...s%2C70&sr=8-60

[Cactusjack]

In response to your question about bypassing the ATS I did that with my 2015 36 RL. I knew I was not going to need the ATS since I also use a Honda portable generator for the few times we dry camp. Initially I opened up the box and took the leads off of the ATS switch connectors and spliced them together as needed to resolve the problem,. Later I removed the ATS mechanics out of the box so the box now served simply as a junction box for the wires coming in from Line Power and going out to a GoPower inverter /charger that I installed in the RV and onto the circuit breaker panel from there.

A footnote to this story not related to your ATS question - When wiring directly from the inverter/ charger to the circuit breaker panel requires a little discipline when dry camping to make sure you switch both the refrigerator and water heater over to gas to not draw down your batteries when inverting to AC. I could have installed a sub panel for those two circuits to ensure they would never be able to draw from the inverter, but I felt that was not necessary as long as discipline was used.

[Nedshred]

Cactusjack - is your inverter single or split phase?
If split phase what make/model?
Thanks