Monaco Air Conditioning

[Monaco38]

In April we took delivery of a 2003 Monaco Camelot from a dealer in AZ, and drove it to its new home in Washington State. Moved up from 10 years with Jayco 30 5th wheel. Since then we have been becoming familiar with all its systems. Went to check out the roof top AC units today and NOTHING. I mean NOTHING. Plugged in to shore 120v shore power on a 20amp circuit with a 30/20 adapter. (Have a new RV sub box ordered.) MH "house" switch is on. AC circuit breaker not tripped. The comfort control is "on" set to "Cool", zone 1, fan high, temp at 68, with outside temp at 90 today. Comfort control will not go to zone 2, I believe because it requires 50amp power source to excite the back AC unit, but zone 1 AC unit will not start. Not even the fan. ugh.

Just tried it with the gen set running and was able to get both units running. Current draw was 29amps. Turned off back unit at the comfort control, then turned off the gen set. Current draw dropped to 7amps. Only fan on front unit was running, then moments later current draw jumped to 17amps and unit started blowing cold air! Believe this is normal switch over unit operation, but do not know why I could not get the front unit to start initially from shore power. Apparently I am on the right track, but not because I know what I am doing. Got it working by trial and error, but don't know why it would not start in the beginning. Any Thoughts from those more familiar with this operation than I would be appreciated. Thanks

[gizmo]

if your energy management system senses other loads .it will shut systems down

automatically to match input connection. the air conditioner is one of the first to be shut down. running on generator shows you that the load from ground power was to high.

[MonacoMama]

Monaco38...Congrats to your new to you Camelot!! and Welcome to iRV2 and the Monaco Forum!!

I think you will find that the ACs do not like to run on 20Amps...no matter where you are. We have 30Amps here at the house. We won't try to turn both ACs on unless we are hooked to 50Amp.

You will find some great information with many of us having "learned things" the hard way already...so ask away - we may be able to save you some time!

Again..congrats & welcome.... we hope you visit & post often!

[WindsorDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monaco38 In April we took delivery of a 2003 Monaco Camelot ... Apparently I am on the right track... Got it working by trial and error, but don't know why it would not start in the beginning. Any Thoughts from those more familiar with this operation than I would be appreciated. Thanks

We're in similar situations - that is to say, recently purchased new-to-us motor homes. The one thing I remember about the rooftop A/C units is that there is a two minute delay before they light up in some, if not all, circumstances. Two minutes can seem like a long time when staring at something while waiting for it to respond to a command.

The point being to go through the motions (thermostat to "on", system to "1", fan to "auto", system to "cool", arrow to "68", for example) then wait at least two minutes before changing anything or doing something else.

HTH

[Monaco38]

I think I just didn't wait long enough for the time delay to allow the unit to "kick in". Thanks MM for your post also. Yes, I have learned that to run both a/c units requires being plugged in to a 50amp circuit or run off the gen-set. The front a/c draws about 12amps, and along with about 5amps of addition power requirements, we did run it on a 20amp circuit on and off for a couple of days without any difficulty.

Not the ideal situation but with the extreme heat we were having for us in the Northwest the last couple of days it called for extreme measures. I watched carefully that we did not over heat the 20amp circuit. Will be installing a larger outside RV plug in soon. Thanks all for the observations and comments.

[Sixpack98]

Monaco38,
You guys have been hammered for the past several days. I think the gods have shifted the climate between Washington and Texas. We have been in the mid to upper 80's the past week with rain in the area almost every day.
I think you have found that one AC can run on a 20 amp circuit but you really have to manage other appliances. One thing to look out for is the voltage when drawing so many amps on a 20 amp circuit. If it gets below about 108 volts the AC compressor is not happy and has trouble starting and can overheat if it is running. I have 20 amp available where we store the RV and use the AC all the time but turn off the battery charger, etc to keep the amps as low as possible.

[Monaco38]

"I think you have found that one AC can run on a 20 amp circuit but you really have to manage other appliances. One thing to look out for is the voltage when drawing so many amps on a 20 amp circuit. If it gets below about 108 volts the AC compressor is not happy and has trouble starting and can overheat if it is running."

Yes, we have been having some very unusual record breaking heat in the NW over the last week. It is starting to slowly cool down, or should I say "it's getting a little less hot." Cool yet it is not. Thanks for the tip on watching the voltage. We have been using the MH parked next to the house for surviving the daytime heat and for sleeping. Have not been living out there with heavy appliance use. Had not thought of watching the voltage drop along with the amperage draw, so thanks for that tip. Would not like to burn out the a/c blower motor or other components!