Coleman A/c start up problem

[Don L]

Hi,

I am new to this forum and hope someone can advise me of how to sovle a problem with the Coleman roof mounted A/C. Some times when the A/C unit tries to start the fan will not spin. If I give it some help it seems to work fine and will continue to recycle and start up each time. At other times it still will not go with a little help.
Is the problem more of a fan motor or something electronic?

[RV Wizard]

You could have a bad fan run capacitor. It is located in the top unit electrical box. If the fan has been running for a long time without it the windings in the fan may be damaged. You could however, have bearing issue in the fan motor itself. It just depends on how old the motor is and how long it may sit idle. Remove the capacitor and have it checked. Be careful to have the power off and the fan turned on as this will bleed off residual voltage the capacitor is designed to store.

[She and I]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV Wizard You could have a bad fan run capacitor. It is located in the top unit electrical box. If the fan has been running for a long time without it the windings in the fan may be damaged. You could however, have bearing issue in the fan motor itself. It just depends on how old the motor is and how long it may sit idle. Remove the capacitor and have it checked. Be careful to have the power off and the fan turned on as this will bleed off residual voltage the capacitor is designed to store.

Good note on discharging capacitor I was thinking of using a screw driver to short it out....Haha..thats what we did on 48 volt forklifts with scr controls. is there a standard value ohms test for capacitor? (value) I also have start up problems with rear AC....I think mine is the motor cause if you help start fan manualy it runs fine...but static the motor seems tight..
Richard

[RV Wizard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by She and I Good note on discharging capacitor I was thinking of using a screw driver to short it out....Haha..thats what we did on 48 volt forklifts with scr controls. is there a standard value ohms test for capacitor? (value) I also have start up problems with rear AC....I think mine is the motor cause if you help start fan manualy it runs fine...but static the motor seems tight.. Richard

An analog Ohm meter can somewhat check a capacitor by using a High scale setting and the reading upon testing will cause the needle on the meter to swing up and fall back. The best way to check them is with a capacitor checker (a separate meter).

[GPW]

Don , mine does the same thing .... usually after sitting idle for some time . I think it's just some type of corrosion on the whatevers... Once freed, it's good for the season ... Weird !!! But we have a LOT of Humidity here... may be a consideration ... ?