Hi All,

I've had a couple issues with the electrical wiring on the 2013 178 and wanted to warn you all to check your outlets and connections looking for blackened/heat damaged connectors.

1. First issue - while camping in summer months I was connected to shore power and running AC, HW heater and refrigerator all on electric. As I exited from my shower the AC Fan shut off. I checked the breakers in the camper and on the pole outside and everything looked fine. It wasn't until I tried to remove the main power cable from the camper i noticed it was warm,  was stuck and difficult to pull off. The connector had melted fusing the plug and socket together. I concluded that the cable wasn't making a good connection and the fridge, HW heater and AC was too much draw for the connector and almost caused a fire. After purchasing a new plug and replacing the damaged one I noticed the female pins on the old plug were spread making for a bad connection. When running AC I now run the refrigerator and HW heater on propane to avoid overloading.

2. My second issue was just recently and I experienced the GFI next to the bed tripping off. I was running a small cube heater on the GFI outlet and thought perhaps a bad connection in the outlet was causing the issue. The breakers in the power panel were not tripping only the GFI. When I returned from camping and connected the RPOD to a house exterior outlet the house GFI  began tripping. I never had an issue before on this outlet. While troubleshooting i turned all breakers off in the camper and back on one at a time until finding the microwave ckt was causing the issue. Tracing the wires I found  a Molex (high current) quick disconnect connector under the sink melted and black.

The factory uses cheap quick install outlets and connectors and they are less than reliable. I recommend everyone inspect them in your camper.

In a campground connected to shore power the same thing happened to the surge protector that was plugged into there circuit breaker box.  The plug in was melted and the prongs were blue after using the A/C most of the day.  Generally what causes this issue it that the circuit breaker must be   switched off before removing the plug. This prevent arching of the connections and a high resistance area in the connection.  Luckily camping world has replacement pigtails that worked on the serge protector.  Not easy to replace thou. The refrigerator draws about two amps and the hot water tank operates intermittently, I would still run them on electric. 

2.  Might want to check the ground on the shore power circuit.  I have found one private resort that did have an open ground at the box.  Luckily I carry a 50 to 30 amp adapter that worked. Also carry a circuit tester, to check the plugins for proper ground, and some have a GFIC tester built in.

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. I appreciate the info you offer. I'm not an expert on electrical equipment design but having two problems that resulted in a near miss fire I want to warn people to pay attention to the connections and look for charring. Do not disregard the charred device as normal wear and tear. Replace it before a catastrophe occurs.