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Archer2 · 02-29-2016, 10:32 AM

All three of the a/c units dead and HydroHot furnace dead. Everything on the Eflex touchscreen looks and acts normal but it will not even allow me to run in fan-only mode. I can't think of anything else that the A/C and the diesel furnace have in common other than the Eflex control system. By the way, the HydroHot works just fine as far as being a water heater.
Newmar says go to nearest authorized service center which is a 4 hour drive.
Anybody had anything like this?

Archer2 · 02-29-2016, 03:07 PM

Well, it would appear that I let the water level in the brand new house batteries get low. This caused the inverter/charger to not be able to charge them past about 12.5 Volts. Apparently that was right on the edge of the E-Flex control system to order the HVAC to fire up. Topped off the batteries with distilled water and now the Magnum inverter/charger is showing 22 amps of charging.
However I sure wish that Newmar had built in some way to bypass the touch screen controls but this Essex doesn't even have a thermostat other than the touchscreen.

lady puffin · 02-29-2016, 05:42 PM

Welcome to the Eplex club. Most of us with the system do not like it, but they cannot replace each component either. Some of the engineers out there are slowly working their way through it, but for the rest of us, we will struggle with the darn thing. Glad to have that little tid-bit about the batteries and inverter causing eplex trouble.

azSkier · 03-05-2016, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archer2

I have a 2006 Essex with EFlex. All of a sudden none of the air conditioners/heat pumps are running. Nor can I turn on the HydroHot heating system (although it works in so far as heating water). I thought it had to do with low battery voltage but today I came back from lunch to find the door and storage bays locked and non-responsive a/c. I later noticed that the dash switches were all back lit like the lights were on but they weren't. As soon as I sat down in the driver seat to troubleshoot they all went out. Is my coach haunted?

First of all, the controlling system is called E-Plex. I make this distinction so this thread will show up when someone searches for eplex.

Secondly, the eplex system does not interact with the dash lights nor the door locks. The door locks (including the storage bays) are controlled by a remote system that typical of many 2006 automobiles. I have a key fob that allows me to remotely lock and unlock the doors.

Last Summer, I had my coach stored in a facility that housed 300-400 RVs. I would visit every couple of weeks and would find my coach unlocked even though I know I locked it on my prior visit. This happened so many times, I concluded some one else had a remote system that was aligned with mine and their remote was opening my coach.

I suspect that is what is happening with your door locks and your dash lights.

The AC issues are definitely E-Plex related. To troubleshoot, I will need a lot of info.

First of all, you only have a few posts. So, I have to ask, how long have your had this coach and how well do you know its systems?

The problematic AC could be as simple as knowing the ACs will only work when the coach is hooked up to shore power or when the generator is running. I did not fully understand this fact until I purchased my coach a year ago.

E-Plex also has load shedding features if the loads are too demanding for the supplied power and the associated e-plex settings.

Stealth01 · 03-05-2016, 12:33 PM

Only posting so I can follow this thread... Every night I go to bed and thank God our coach was equipped with Silverleaf...

Archer2 · 03-05-2016, 02:36 PM

AzSkier thanks for the input. I've had this Essex just since December 15. Had a Tiffin before that. Thanks for the correction on the system name. I used to work with a television broadcast system Called Eflex so I guess my fingers mistyped it out of habit.
This situation gets curiouser and curiouser. Contrary to what I said above the prob is not low voltage related and is not resolved. I thought about the EMS system too but discounted that because the control panel will not order the burner to fire even when I select Furnace as the modes and EMS does not manage the HydroHot, right?
Through trial and error it seems that I can bring it to life by going into E-plex diagnostic mode (hold the Tanks button down for 10 seconds). If I then halt data streaming then wait for a few secs then restarting data streaming the ACs fire up normally after a couple of minutes.
So my semi-educated guess is either an intermittent data channel on the controller or an intermittent AC E-Flex slave module or an intermittent bad wiring connection.
So, do you know how the wiring is run between the screen and the A/C module? Is it Daisy-chained from A/C 1 to 2 to 3 and where is the A/C slave module(s) located?
Sorry for writing a book but any help would be appreciated, thanks again.

azSkier · 03-05-2016, 07:09 PM

No promises... as I know only a little bit about e-plex.

Behind the e-plex screen, is a cabinet that contains many e-plex modules... specifically the dometic interface.

I believe this 1 module controls all 3 ACs and the hydrohot (there is a hydrohot module underneath the sitting room sink.
I believe these 4 components are daisy chained using the RJ11 style phone cables.

Here are some pictures of this AC module. I have been researching replacing the e-plex AC setup with a standard Dometic thermostat module... so I have been studying this functionality.

The grey RJ11 cable will run from the slave module to AC1. Additional cables will connect AC1 to AC2. AC2 to AC3 and AC3 to the hydrohot module.

I actually don't know how the hydrohot module is connected, but I think we can replace the e-plex slave module with a dometic thermostat and control the 3 ACs and the hydrohot. It is my guess that the hydrohot is in the AC daisy chain.

Archer2 · 03-05-2016, 07:41 PM

Thanks AzSkier. That is very helpful. I appreciate it. I wonder whether it might be feasible to retrofit a Silverleaf or Crestron system using the existing wiring or alternatively use discrete thermostats. I know that the Magnum inverter has a remote control panel. I'll bet that the genset has a similar stand-alone remote and I can deal with the tank sensors and EMS systems manually if no remote sensor is available. That said, I believe that there exists about 3 e-plex distributors who may be able to support these systems. One I found is PRS Electronics and Automation in Decatur GA.

Archer2 · 03-05-2016, 08:07 PM

Also, this is just a guess but I'm thinking that there is a connection between one of the Dometic A/C control boards and the under-sink controller that senses when the heat pumps are no longer viable due to outside air temp and fires up the HydroHot furnace. Looks to me like Newmar just adapted a standard Dometic control system to manage the low temp transition from heat pump to oil-fired furnace.

shaman52 · 03-06-2016, 05:01 AM

I have a 2007 MADP with no E-Plex. I found and replaced one intermittent RJ-11 communication daisy chained cable between front and mid coach heat pump. For under a hundred dollars you can go to Home Depot and purchase a RJ-11/45 and coaxial cable tester. Recommend a Klein VDV Scout Pro 2 Tester Kit $79 + tax.

Often cutting off the end and crimping a new end on fixes the problem.

Archer2 · 03-06-2016, 11:16 AM

After doing a lot of online research I am convinced that the E-Plex system can be replaced fairly easily insofar as the basic A/C, heat and furnace control by substituting a Dometic Comfort Control Center (CCC2) 4 zone thermostat. Turns out that the E-Plex setup is like this: the touchscreen controller output connects to a 360ACI module which in turn connects via a 4 conductor phone jack type data cable up to the zone 1 A/C. The data cable then is daisy-chained to A/C #2 & 3. There is another data cable that goes from one of the A/C's down to the Dometic control box located under the stool room sink. The remote temperature sensors mounted in each zone are made by Dometic. So it looks like the E-Plex is basically just a multiplexed 4 zone thermostat. I think it may be as simple as disconnecting the data cable from the E-Flex 360ACI module and plugging it into the Dometic CCC2 thermostat. All of the other functions like load shedding are handled directly by the A/C units.

I'm going to discuss this with my RV technician tomorrow to get his opinion.
It would sure be nice if I can work around this problem for $100 or so rather than paying For E-Plex repair parts. I might even repair the E-Plex and put the Dometic in as well as a future backup. It's getting hot down here in Southern Alabama without air conditioning.

azSkier · 03-06-2016, 02:48 PM

I think your assessment for the AC wiring topology is correct except for the temp sensors. There are 5 e-plex specific sensors; 4 inside and 1 outside. These sensors are capable of communicating with the e-plex comm standard. They are specifically addressable. I just purchased a zone 1 thermostat sensor for $168 and then decided to not use it.

So, to replace the e-plex system with a dometic controller, you will need a dometic controller for starters. But, you will also need a new thermostat sensor for the zones associated with each AC (1,2,4). Each AC unit will need its own thermostat sensor.

Here is a note I found by a tech who performed this task;

Route ac data cable to dash location and install Dometic ac thermostat, install 3 remote temp sensors in ceiling and route each one to the ac control board in each ac, remove zone 3 heat only for bath and install mechanical thermostat for bath heater and reprogram rear ac for zone 3, clean all ac
condensers and evaporators with compressed air, test system, system works good now

azSkier · 03-06-2016, 02:58 PM

Load shedding.

I doubt load shedding is handled by the AC units. I think moving functionality away from e-plex causes a loss in the load shedding functionality.

For instance, My block heater is not working. I traced it back to the e-plex device for shedding the block heater load. I had to by pass this switch to get my block heater to work at all.

E-plex is the only device montoring power and is the only device making the decision to shed a device.

So, moving to the dometic controller will most likely cause power management to be a manual task.

azSkier · 03-06-2016, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archer2

Also, this is just a guess but I'm thinking that there is a connection between one of the Dometic A/C control boards and the under-sink controller that senses when the heat pumps are no longer viable due to outside air temp and fires up the HydroHot furnace. Looks to me like Newmar just adapted a standard Dometic control system to manage the low temp transition from heat pump to oil-fired furnace.

E-plex does not provide a transition from heat pump to furnace (Hydrohot). The user (you!) selects heat pump or furnace for a zone. And the system stays there.

I experienced this in Sedona last year. I could run the heat pumps to around 40 degrees. Below 38, the heat pumps would strain (totally different sound) and I would manually switch from heat pump to furnace.

Keep in mind, the only thing adopted by Newmar was e-plex. All the interface modules are e-plex specific and are increasingly difficult to replace (and expensive if available).