Location of fuse for '06 Essex Eplex front touch-screen control panel

[Archer2]

Today while on a trip the Eplex front control panel died. I opened the panel and verified that there is no 12V power to the control panel. Newmar said they would send a diagram for the location but something went awry with the email and it never showed up. I've looked all over 007's Quik Tips as well as Commet with no luck.
Can anyone point me to where the fuse for the Eplex panel is located? Based on what Newmar was able to tell me it should be in the Power cord bay and should be a 7.5 amp fuse but they all looked OK to me. So before I pull all of them out and check with an ohmeter one by one I hoped somebody here could verify which fuse is the one.

[charlie hamby]

If I am not mistaken mine is located in the power cord compartment. It is a inline fuse.

[Archer2]

But which fuse is it? And by inline fuse do you mean an automotive style 'blade' fuse?

[charlie hamby]

It is a blade type. My was behind the black panel that is velcroed up. The wire should have sticker on it that says eplex.

[Vettesniper]

Yes, power cord bay, pull black plastic panel off (held on with Velcro) in the back.

Behind that plastic panel is a nightmare of wiring! On the left side there is a 12VDC fuse panel. At the very left side of that fuse panel is a fuse labeled "SOFA". Pulling that fuse will remove power to your e-Plex controller in the overhead above the drivers seat.



The other option is to just unscrew the e-Plex screen and unplug the +12VDC connection on the back of the screen.

Why are you doing this? What symptoms/indications are you seeing?

[Vettesniper]

Ok, I see you have no power at the monitor. The "SOFA" fuse has a blade connector below it with a wire attached. That wire has a inline fuse holder in it. That fuse is the one that protects the e-Plex monitor/controller...7.5 amp I think and is the one that usually pops.

[Vettesniper]

If you are going to be sniffing around in your e-Plex system you will find the following very helpful!

[Archer2]

Hey 'sniper thanks for replying. Here is what happened. Main front Eplex screen went completely dead. Verified no voltage at the panel with voltmeter by unscrewing the whole over the drivers chair panel and checking between the 2nd and 4th connectors (red and white wires). Thanks to you I located the 7.5A fuse which was blown. Replaced it and the new one blew immediately. So the underlying culprit turned out to be an Avrel-Lindberg 12V to 24V voltage converter bolted to the back of the compartment which was shorted on the 12V side.
Apparently, early on Newmar decided that the Eplex system required a 24V supply, hence the voltage doubler. They eventually figured out that in fact 12V worked just fine so sometime around 2007 they eliminated the voltage converter.
Here's the bottom line. You can eliminate the possibility of having a problem due to the voltage converter by just bypassing it. It is NOT needed. Just tie the orange wire and red wire that are attached to the left side of the converter together and then also tie the brown wire to the black wire, replace all blown fuses (there will be the 7.5A in the fuse block plus a couple of in-line fuses, I think a 15A and 20A which are not needed but it's easier to leave them in line. Makes the wiring changes easier) and you will be good to go.

[Vettesniper]

That is good news! I wondered about that voltage doubler, I swear when I measured the input voltage at my e-Plex controller it has always been whatever my battery voltage was...Hmmm.

BTW: If the e-Plex screen up front ever reads "SHORT CIRCUIT DETECTED" go to the wet bay and disconnect all the tank sensor connections (fresh/black/gray). They're hidden behind the white plastic wet bay board. I've had two go bad and it took out the controller screen both times...at a cost of over $2,000.00 each time! That is just the cost for a new screen, the tank sensors are over $1,000 each! I have since abandoned the e-Plex tank sensors completely and transitioned to Seelevel tank sensors.

["007"]

I set this thread up for NEWMAR ESSEX OWNER's and I will now add this thread into it.
If you all link to Essex thread for future use.

[Archer2]

Newmar turned me on to a source for replacements for Eplex. Company called Nautitech in Ft. Lauderdale. I spoke with a really nice guy named Laurent who said he would sell a replacement front screen for about $800.

[Vettesniper]

This link has a 53 page document with some useful e-Plex information. Towards the end there are some useful schematics.

https://comnet2.newmarcorp.com/insta...2013EPHAND.pdf

-ron

[Vettesniper]

Originally Posted by 007";3608031]Iset this thread up for [B][URL="http://www.irv2.com/forums/f103/newmar-essex-old-to-new-plus-info-for-king-aires-334394.html#post3540008

NEWMAR ESSEX OWNER's[/URL][/B] and I will now add this thread into it.
If you all link to Essex thread for future use.

Thanks 007!

["007"]

Thanks for the links Ron.
If you have others in future or anyone else add them to the ESSEX OWNER's Thread and I will add in the master first post thread for you owners.
Thanks for the help.