AC lost power (Duotherm Penguin)

[Terry W.]

88 Fleetwood Pace Arrow. I turned the front AC on then off right away. Never came back on. No power. The rear AC works fine except I get a low power light. Is there a fuse somewhere I can check. any suggestions... Have never had a problem before.

["007"]

Is there a switch which you operate to select your microwave or front AC. Could it be turned to Micro?

[RV Mech Tech]

Terry - check your breaker panel - the breaker for the front AC (usually a 30 amp) may have tripped - when you start up an AC unit and then shut it off and then try and start it again within a short period of time you can 'short cycle' the unit and overload the electrical circuit and the breaker trips - make sure that you turn the breaker all the way off then on again (sometimes you have to turn it on, then off then on again to reset it) - also when using your generator to power anything in the coach, let the generator run for a few minutes to stabilize and then put your load(s) on one by one and shut them off one by one before you shut off the genset - always let the AC unit run for a while after turning it on and wait for at least ten to fifteen minutes before restarting it to avoid this problem.

[RV Wizard]

The units have a built in time delay and may not come on for several minutes. If it does not come on in 5 minuets, then start troubleshooting the systems.

[Terry W.]

007,

The switch operates either the front or rear AC. The rear AC works but no the front.

[Terry W.]

RV Tech Mech,

Honestly, I cannot find the breaker for the AC unit. The main breaker panel does not indicate an AC breaker. No fuse seen under the hood in the Ele panel. The switch box seems to detatch from the coach but I have not removed it completely.

[RV Mech Tech]

Terry - sometimes in older coaches they may put a seperate breaker box outside the main panel in the wiring that is going to the AC unit(s) - look for another box somewhere - the breaker for the front AC (usually larger BTU than the back ) will in most cases usually be a 30 amp and the rear 20 amp- if these are not in the main electrical panel then look elsewhere possibly in a cupboard or under a bed or dinette table etc. - also if these AC breakers were in a seperate box and someone has removed them and the box they were in and just connected the wires ( I have seen this twice in the past!) then put breakers back in the circuit(s) - if the AC unit(s) fail and the electrical circuit overloads then you have a fire on your hands- let us know what you find.

[Terry W.]

I have power all the way to the unit itself. Could the "Touch Control Pad" be bad?
I tested it (I think) with a multimeter for voltage and saw nothing. No burn marks on the pad so I do not know. Going up on top to taqke the cover off and see what is there.

[Ray,IN]

Be careful around the capacitors, you could get a real life-changing shock.

[dulobast25]

i have a 1988 rockwood with the penguin 2 with touch pad and shur start

I have the same problem as above.


Anyone ever solve the no-power problem, no power to keypad problem on the ac?

[Terry W.]

Sadly, No one hase solved this problem. I ended up bying a new unit.

[dulobast25]

do you still have any of the parts from that ac?

[dulobast25]

I traced 120 back to the control board and a few relays, but nothing on the touchpad. I have a feeling the xmr on the board is a 120 to 24v xmr because the xmr is the first item the 115v comes in contact with.

In short I think the touchpad is controlled with 24 volts.

I checked by compressor and fan speeds low med and high and it all works.

In short its time to find a soluton to the bad control board.

It will prob come in the form of a ac to dc power supply, a few dc switches and a few dc relays and at long last, a 24 volt thermostat.

[dulobast25]

For those who are trying to troublesshoot the control board on the 610012.001 and 610015.001 dometic/duotherm rooftop ac units from the mid to late eightees, I have component names and data sheets for 95% of the components on the control board and keypad. I will post this info later in the week. In the event they cannot be repaired i'm working on a wireless solution. I'll keep everyone posted.