Where is the Circuit Breaker in My RV?

RV Owners

It’s important to understand your RV fuse panel location when you’re operating an RV. The fuse panel is one of the first places to check if you’re having electrical issues with your RV.

In many RVs, the RV fuse panel location is inside the RV on a wall near the floor. Some RVs have breaker panels under the refrigerator, under the bed, or under a pantry or cabinet. Others hide the panel away inside a cabinet. Still other RVs, especially motorhomes, place the breaker panel inside one of the exterior storage bays, making it a bit trickier to find.

If your main circuit breaker trips, you’ll lose all power in your RV. You can also trip one of the smaller breakers and lose power in various parts of your rig. You’ll want to know your RV fuse panel location in order to fix these problems.

What is the RV Fuse Panel Location in My RV?

If you’re new to RVing, or even if you’ve been RVing for a while but have never dealt with the electricity in your rig, you might be wondering about your RV fuse panel location.

Fortunately, finding your circuit breaker is usually pretty simple. In order to find your RV breaker, you need to locate your RV breaker panel. This will be covered by a piece of plastic, behind which you will find a series of breakers and fuses.

The RV fuse panel location is usually somewhere it won’t stand out against your RV decor. But it also needs to be accessible for owners so they can easily open it and get at the switches inside. It’s a good idea to locate your panel before even leaving on an RV trip, so you’re not stumbling around in the dark trying to find it with a flashlight.

Once you do have your RV fuse panel location, you should be able to locate a flipped breaker switch by feeling for the loose switch and flipping it back on.

RV Circuit Breaker FAQs?

Are you still having issues with your RV power? You might have to dig a little bit deeper to find the root of your problem. These FAQs might help you as you search for the problem and try to correct it.

What is an RV circuit breaker?

Understanding what a circuit breaker is might help you diagnose your problem. Essentially, an RV breaker is put in place to interrupt the power supply if there is a sudden electrical surge. This protects your family from electrical shock and protects your rig from fire or damage to the electrical system.

How do I reset my RV breaker?

To reset your RV breaker, find the breaker panel and then the tripped breaker (usually a loose-feeling switch), and flip it back on. Depending on the switches used in your rig, you might have to flip the breaker all the way to the ‘off’ position, then flip it back on.

My RV breaker isn’t tripped, but the power is out. Why?

If the power to your RV goes out suddenly but the RV breaker isn’t tripped, there are a few different things that could be wrong.

Some of the more common issues are:

  • Tripped breaker at the pole — Sometimes the breaker at the electric pole will trip before the RV breaker does. Be sure to check this out if flipping your RV breaker doesn’t do the trick.
  • Power outage — Power outages happen everywhere. There’s a chance your campground is simply experiencing a power outage. This is especially likely if a storm is passing through your area when you lose electricity.
  • Problem with the power cord — Sometimes wires inside an RV power cord will melt or break. If this happens to your cord, it will cease to deliver electricity to your rig, causing a power outage. In most cases, you can unplug the cord. Cut the head and broken part off your cord with wire cutters and replace just the head to fix the issue.

My RV circuit breaker keeps tripping. Why?

Does your RV circuit breaker keep tripping no matter how many times you flip it back? If this is the case, there are a few things that could be causing the problem:

  • Overloaded circuit — Try using fewer appliances and lights to see if this solves the problem. If so, you might just be overloading the system. (The air conditioner and microwave are good places to start, as they tend to use the most power.)
  • Appliances short circuit — If you suspect this is the case, stop using all appliances and locate and fix the problem right away.
  • Bad breaker — A bad breaker will trip repeatedly for no apparent reason. If this is the issue, you will need to replace the breaker with an identical one. Doing this can be dangerous, so be sure you are disconnected from shore power, not running a generator, and that any automatic inverters are shut off. If you feel unsure about this process, consider hiring a professional to do the work.

How do I know if my RV breaker is bad?

Not sure if your breaker is bad or not? If the breaker trips over and over again and you aren’t overloading it, check for an appliance short circuit. If this isn’t the problem, your RV circuit breaker probably needs to be replaced.

Luckily, a weak camper circuit breaker isn’t dangerous on its own, so if there are no other problems, you can finish your camping trip before attempting to replace the breaker. However, replacing a breaker can be dangerous, so be sure you know what you’re doing or hire a pro.

Hopefully, this article helps you discover your RV fuse panel location so you can reset tripped breakers and get back to enjoying your camping adventures as soon as possible.

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