Electrical System Problem

[wvpel]

This is a much better place to solve problems than the dealership! Thanks to all the conscientious posts.
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I have a strange electrical system problem. I will likely be a ping-pong ball between dealer, Lippert, and others. I have a 2012 31SL (love it) and yesterday tried to raise the landing gear but control pad showed error "Low Voltage: Press Enter to Acknowledge." Checked batteries and they show full on inside panel. Connected power cable to truck. Still "Low Voltage." Turned control pad off, then on. Tried again - nothing. So cranked the generator and jacks worked. Today tried to raise landing gear while power cable connected to truck (truck running). "Low voltage" again and jacks would not move (grinding sound for a few seconds). Tried to start generator but not enough power to get it going! After 7th try, generator caught and could retract jacks. Moved rv and dropped it at another site. This time jacks worked and auto level worked with no generator needed. Terminals look fine, no loose connections but something is wrong.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Worried about next time!

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by wvpel

This is a much better place to solve problems than the dealership! Thanks to all the conscientious posts.
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I have a strange electrical system problem. I will likely be a ping-pong ball between dealer, Lippert, and others. I have a 2012 31SL (love it) and yesterday tried to raise the landing gear but control pad showed error "Low Voltage: Press Enter to Acknowledge." Checked batteries and they show full on inside panel. Connected power cable to truck. Still "Low Voltage." Turned control pad off, then on. Tried again - nothing. So cranked the generator and jacks worked. Today tried to raise landing gear while power cable connected to truck (truck running). "Low voltage" again and jacks would not move (grinding sound for a few seconds). Tried to start generator but not enough power to get it going! After 7th try, generator caught and could retract jacks. Moved rv and dropped it at another site. This time jacks worked and auto level worked with no generator needed. Terminals look fine, no loose connections but something is wrong.
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Thoughts? Suggestions? Worried about next time!

Based on your observations, it appears that you may have an intermittant connection in the wiring from the tow vehicle to the trailer.It could be anywhere along the wiring path. When you dropped it at the second site and the system worked, were you still connected to tow vehicle? If so, that would confirm the tow vehicle wiring issue. If not, it would seem to indicate an intermittant wiring problem in the trailer 12 Volt system.

[TravelinAnderson]

I was talking to the service manager at the dealership I bought our 2012 36FL from and he told me they discovered that the ground wires that bolt to the frame weren't making a good connection through the paint on the frame. He said they've been taking the grounds loose, grinding the paint off the frame and re-attaching the grounds wires.
According to him, they were replacing a lot of the ECMs for the LevelUp System due to faulty readings or just failing to work properly. He said they haven't had any issues with the LevelUp system since they started this practice.
I don't know if that is the cause of your problems but it doesn't anything to find out.
The ground wires are bolted to the frame and can be found at the rear of the battery compartment. They are the green ones.
I'd use the battery disconnect to kill any power before you decide to take the ground wires off, clean the frame then re-connect the wires. I'd also spray a little paint over the connections afterwards to cover any exposed metal.
good luck
Edited by: TravelinAnderson

[lillyputz]

Originally Posted by TravelinAnderson

I was talking to the service manager at the dealership I bought our 2012 36FL from and he told me they discovered that the ground wires that bolt to the frame weren't making a good connection through the paint on the frame. He said they've been taking the grounds loose, grinding the paint off the frame and re-attaching the grounds wires.

According to him, they were replacing a lot of the ECMs for the LevelUp System due to faulty readings or just failing to work properly. He said they haven't had any issues with the LevelUp system since they started this practice.

I don't know if that is the cause of your problems but it doesn't anything to find out.

The ground wires are bolted to the frame and can be found at the rear of the battery compartment. They are the green ones.

I'd use the battery disconnect to kill any power before you decide to take the ground wires off, clean the frame then re-connect the wires. I'd also spray a little paint over the connections afterwards to cover any exposed metal.

good luck

I check ours this morn. ground wire's were loose in there conector. removed the two screws and sanded the paint off at the mounts. reinstalled and tighten the screws that hold the wires.

Thanks for the tip. I sure it saved a problem later.



Lillyputz

[TravelinAnderson]

I've learned through the years that intermittent electrical issues are often ground related.
Makes me wonder if the people having flickering problems with their LED lights have loose ground wires..

[par]

I can't tell from these posts whether these LED lights are powered from DC or AC, I suspect it is AC. LEDs are DC devices, obviously they can work with AC but need circuitry in the base to convert to DC. I don't know if any of you have seen LED Xmas lights, especially the original ones, they were notorious for having that blinking affect and again I suspect the circuit in the base (which we can all bet was minimal) was simply a resistor to limit the current in the LED but since AC oscillates the blinking would show through. LED lightsthat are built to try and keep their cost down will blink. My 5 cents!

[Campers]

All the lights on your RW are dc. And the ground issue sounds like something to look into. Thanks for the heads up

[par]

Originally Posted by Campers

All the lights on your RW are dc. And the ground issue sounds like something to look into. Thanks for the heads up

Thank you for the update... I am currently a RW owner in waiting.
I did not realize that all lights were DC. So if anything goes wrong with my DC converter then we have no lights and probably a bunch of other stuff would die also. Has anyone looked at the output of the converter, that's probably a silly question since you need an oscilloscope, but if that is not a pure DC it could explain flicker.

[Blenhardt]

Par Wrote:


Thank you for the update... I am currently a RW owner in waiting.
I did not realize that all lights were DC. So if anything goes wrong with my DC converter then we have no lights and probably a bunch of other stuff would die also. Has anyone looked at the output of the converter, that's probably a silly question since you need an oscilloscope, but if that is not a pure DC it could explain flicker.

On most Rv's the lights and refrigerator come directly off the battery and will work without the converter. Not sure about Redwood.

[par]

I don't have any doubts about your comment... I skipped a few steps, but it your batteries are dead and your sitting at a campground with AC, basically we have no lights.

That's another good question, does therefrigerator on the RWrun on DC?

[Tall-Pines]

I have the 12 cu. ft. Norcold ... Runs on AC or LP ... NOT on DC.
Unlike a motorhome which have inverters to run AC from the DC, these trailers have only a converter to charge the battery (and run the 12v stuff).
My decision to go with the Gen-set allow me to run all the AC stuff regardless of the DC (assuming I have enough DC power to start the generator)
Edited by: Tall-Pines

[par]

Originally Posted by Tall-Pines

I have the 12 cu. ft. Norcold ... Runs on AC or LP ... NOT on DC.
Unlike a motorhome which have inverters to run AC from the DC, these trailers have only a converter to charge the battery (and run the 12v stuff).
My decision to go with the Gen-set allow me to run all the AC stuff regardless of the DC (assuming I have enough DC power to start the generator)

Tall-Pines,
What you really mean is that with a generator (assuming you have enough power to start it) you can run all AC and DC stuff (lights), right?

[Tall-Pines]

Correct. The AC regardless of source (plugged in cable or generator) feeds all the 110v loads. One of the loads is the converter which converts the power to DC and is then fed to the 12v system (and batteries)

[Campers]

But with out DC power the fridge will not work. You need a power source to run it, when you are moving, you are on auto. Unplug the rig and DC and LP kick in. To prove this, shut off your DC when not plugged in to AC and the fridge will stop even though you have the LP on. magic

[par]

Originally Posted by Campers

But with out DC power the fridge will not work. You need a power source to run it, when you are moving, you are on auto. Unplug the rig and DC and LP kick in. To prove this, shut off your DC when not plugged in to AC and the fridge will stop even though you have the LP on. magic

Sorry I don't follow your logic... I am missing something, your sentences contradict.
Can you please expand this a little... thanks!

[Campers]

DC and LP go hand in hand. AC is stand alone. For the fridge.

[Tall-Pines]

As Campers stated ... you need either "AC" or "LP AND DC".

On tri power fridges as I can recall when I was a kid and my parents owned a small trailer, the small fridge would run on AC or DC or LP. There were no fans or controls that required power. That is not the case on our large "residential" type fridges in the Redwoods. Fans are required and fans need electrical power either from AC or DC (when running on propane LP mode.)

[par]

We can probably assume that there are valves controlled by DC when operating the fridgewith LP. If DC dies, then it's probably a fail safe to shut the LP down???

[5th_Time]

You are right Bud.



If you are dry camping and your battery voltage drops off, the NORCOLD refrigerator will shut off and the display will flash "dc lo" on the screen. When you see this, you are screwedbecauseyou probably don't have enough battery to start the generator (which means you don't have enough battery to pull the slides in, etc). Panic time...



Luckily, I started my truck and plugged in for a couple minutes and was able to startthe generator. Kinda like watching"Trigger" saving Roy Rogers again...Edited by: 5th_Time

[Campers]

YupKeep that truck close. Looking forward to the rally.